Emergencies & Disasters
-
Hurricane Maria's effects minimal on veterinary drug supply
12/18/2017
But sterile IV bags reportedly on back order
-
Veterinarians focus on rebuilding after California firestorms
10/12/2017
Efforts under way to shelter, save animals
-
Out of disaster, humanity emerges
9/25/2017
Stories of veterinarians impacted by Hurricane Irma
-
Lost and found Harvey pets in new central listing
9/7/2017
Ohio veterinarian single-handedly collects entries
-
Waters recede; animal rescues expected to rise
9/1/2017
Veterinarians take stock in storm's aftermath; new ways to help emerge
-
Devastating floods swamp Houston-area veterinarians
8/28/2017
Louisiana braces for rain as shelters take in displaced animals
-
Burglar to veterinarians: Don’t display lavish stock of flea-tick products
7/13/2017
Prisoner shares his views in letter
-
Veterinarians brace for Hurricane Matthew
10/6/2016
Survivor of past flooding opens clinic to pets of evacuees
-
Veterinarians offer, accept help during 'Great Flood'
8/25/2016
17 veterinary practices reportedly impacted by Louisiana flood waters
-
Alberta wildfire still out of control
5/19/2016
Veterinarians and veterinary staff pitch in to help affected pets
-
Storms like Jonas challenge veterinary practices
2/3/2016
Practitioners discuss staffing, transportation during inclement weather
-
Veterinarians rally for uprooted colleague
11/12/2015
Somali practitioner-turned-refugee needs better prosthetic leg
-
South Carolina veterinarians dig out from epic flood
10/9/2015
Water rose almost to roof of one clinic
-
Veterinary community rallies to combat burglaries
9/25/2015
Thieves target flea, tick, heartworm products
-
Veterinary clinic recovering from deadly fire
6/19/2015
Rebuilding can take years
-
MRI explodes at Oradell Animal Hospital
3/6/2015
Contract worker reportedly critically injured; hospital evacuated
-
Fending off a riot
12/5/2014
Around Ferguson, veterinarians prepared for civil unrest
-
First canine Ebola quarantine met with good luck
11/17/2014
Texas veterinarians recount 16 days with Bentley
-
Dog under Ebola watch gets high-level caretakers
10/20/2014
Pending quarantine protocol for pets unlikely to involve private clinics
-
Changes coming to common rodent poison
10/16/2014
Potent anticoagulants to be discontinued
-
Tornadoes a reminder to veterinary clinics: Plan for disasters
4/29/2014
Experts suggest ways to prepare
-
Human medical emergencies pose conundrum for veterinarians
6/7/2013
Many are unsure of their responsibility and liability
-
Animal death toll unknown after Moore twister
5/21/2013
At least four veterinary clinics still operating in devastated area
-
Tornado missed veterinary hospital by 70 yards
2/11/2013
Doctor and staff huddled with surgery patient
-
Free pet food offer brings deluge of requests
12/26/2012
All 10,000 pounds now spoken for
-
Free pet food available by the ton
12/21/2012
Surplus from Hurricane Sandy relief sits in warehouse
-
Storm recovery focus of NYC symposium
11/15/2012
Veterinarians, physicians, dentists invited to free event
-
Battered, not beaten: Veterinarians brace for new storm in Sandy’s wake
11/7/2012
Ravaged areas of East Coast evacuated ahead of nor'easter
-
Veterinarians, clinic staff recount effects of Sandy
10/30/2012
ACVS cancels annual symposium
-
Veterinarians recount Pentagon 9/11 search and rescue
9/11/2012
Effort less publicized than Ground Zero’s but equally intense
-
Louisiana authorities checking Isaac's effect on livestock
8/29/2012
Mississippi shelter transfers pets to New York
-
Colorado wildfire livestock refugees treated for free
6/25/2012
Tales from fire include donkey heroics
-
Duluth veterinarian corrals zoo animals during flood
6/22/2012
Polar bear breaks out, seals swim in street
-
Ohio Veterinary Medical Association building burns
6/1/2012
Flames destroy more than half of structure
-
Company asks veterinarians to stop using its hyperbaric oxygen chambers
2/14/2012
Fatal explosion a 'wakeup call' for safety, training
-
Veterinary practice digs out from Alabama twister
1/24/2012
Animals unharmed; massive cleanup ensues
-
Veterinary 9/11 first-responders were local
12/1/2011
Shared experience forged lifelong ties
-
Preparedness urged for Australian bushfire, cyclone season
10/6/2011
Experts advise reviewing insurance coverage, readying for evacuation
-
9/11 brings first responder to ‘emotional brink’
9/9/2011
Memories from Ground Zero haunt veterinarian
-
Veterinarians encounter Irene
8/29/2011
Accounts mixed on storm's impact
-
North Carolina veterinarians brace for Hurricane Irene
8/26/2011
NCVMA collects names of volunteers
-
Colorado State to examine rubble in fire's wake
8/2/2011
Source of blaze that destroyed Equine Reproduction Laboratory unknown
-
Zoo stranded by titanic flood
8/2/2011
Displaced animals won't return for a year or two
-
Joplin marches forward
7/12/2011
Adopt-a-thon finds homes for 745 displaced pets in two days
-
Wildfires: Veterinary volunteers urgently sought in Arizona
6/21/2011
Pharmaceuticals, supplies needed
-
Veterinarian tells story of chaos, relief in tornado's aftermath
6/1/2011
Dr. Ben Leavens sets up makeshift ER while family is missing
-
Tornadoes strike again; veterinarians shaken
5/25/2011
Oklahoma veterinarian escapes twister by jumping into kennel
-
Veterinary relief under way in deadly tornado’s wake
5/23/2011
At least one Joplin, Mo., veterinary practice destroyed
-
Recovery continues for wildlife affected by Gulf oil spill
4/22/2011
Rescuers able to release most animals back to sea
-
Fearing overseas radiation, Americans seek potassium iodide for pets
3/18/2011
Veterinary experts say medication isn’t warranted
-
Normalcy returns to Queensland veterinary school after epic flooding
2/17/2011
Most pets reclaimed by families
-
Pet rescues undertaken in flooded Queensland
1/17/2011
Veterinary school becomes ad hoc shelter
-
AU veterinary student missing in Thailand
7/30/2009
-
Australian vets treat victims of deadly Victorian bushfires
2/18/2009
At least one veterinary clinic reportedly succumbed to blaze
-
Colleagues Beset by Disaster Set Bitterness Aside
One forgives employee who set clinic on fire
10/31/2008
-
Ike promises depressed economy for Texas region
9/24/2008
17 veterinarians practice in Galveston, TVMA reports
-
Ike's aftermath
9/17/2008
Veterinarians endure post storm
-
Generators wanted, Texas veterinary officials say
9/17/2008
More than 1,000 DVMs in devastated counties, TVMA reports
-
Texas gears up for countdown to Ike
9/10/2008
Animal care agencies prepare for storm's strike
-
LSART to assess damages before taking on new volunteers
9/2/2008
Aide workers should wait, officials say; supply donations not needed at press time
|
Somali practitioner-turned-refugee needs better prosthetic leg
|
November 12, 2015
By: Edie Lau
For The VIN News Service
 Photo courtesy of Dr. Mohamed Ali Nur
Far from their native Somalia, Dr. Mohamed Ali Nur and family now live in the northern Swiss city of Basel. Front row from left: Ishwaaq, 12 (in orange scarf); Shadiyo, 10; Miriam Jama Siyad (wife); Shirwac, 14. Back row from left: Libaan, 16, Jabril, 18; Mohamed Ali Nur. Click here for larger view The story of a veterinarian who narrowly survived civil unrest in Somalia and now wears a 33-pound crude artificial leg moved Dr. Cathy Wilkie so deeply that she immediately offered help.
“Wow,” Wilkie wrote on a message board of the Veterinary Information Network, an online community for the profession. “I would contribute to get him a prosthesis that doesn’t weigh as much as a spaniel.”
Wilkie’s idea caught on. Within days, more than a dozen fellow veterinarians who read about Dr. Mohamed Ali Nur, a 60-year-old Somali refugee living with his wife and five children in Switzerland and eking out a humble living as a street vendor, requested a way to assist him.
In response, the VIN Foundation, a nonprofit established in 2005 by members of VIN, set up the Dr. Nur Fund to collect donations to help him obtain a better prosthetic leg. The fund received $1,875 in its first five days, according to Jordan benShea, the foundation's executive director.
“It’s clearly something the community wants,” benShea said. “This is fantastic across-the-board. I think it’s great to help a colleague, and it aligns with our mission.”
The story of the Somali veterinarian, who uses the nickname Dr. Man, originally was published by the German-language magazine Surprise, a Swiss street publication sold by homeless and indigent people. Man described working for a Swiss non-governmental organization (Vétérinaires Sans Frontières Suisse) in Somalia when the country broke out in civil war. The terrorist group al-Shabaab, apparently believing him to be a spy for the United States, brutally assaulted Man while he was home alone.
He wrote: "They attacked with grenades. I lost my right leg and my whole stomach was hanging out of my body. I pretended to be dead. They thought I’d died in the attack, and they fled."
Following a long recovery in the hospital, Man resettled as a political asylee in Switzerland in 2012. His wife and five of their six children later joined him. (Their eldest, a son, remains in Somalia because as an adult, he was ineligible to accompany the family.) The family of seven lives in a 3½-room apartment in Basel.
The VIN News Service contacted Surprise and Man to request permission to reprint his story. The resulting article combined parts of the original article with details about his veterinary background and present plight.
(The veterinarian’s name in Somalia was Dr. Mohamed Ali Nur. Due to differences in naming conventions in Somalia and Western countries, his Swiss name is Ali Nur Mohamed.)
Wilkie, owner of clinics in Vancouver and West Vancouver in British Columbia, said she was struck by the sudden change in his life.
“Here's a veterinarian going about his business looking after animals who are truly in need, training farmers to care for their stock, and looking after his family, just being an ordinary guy,” she mused in an interview by email. “Then, through no fault of his own and with great violence, his life is profoundly changed.
“One moment, he's a veterinarian helping animals and people, and the next, he's a veterinarian with critical injuries and without a leg. Then he's a veterinarian recovering from his injuries without a place to live or work, who can't make a living in the profession he's worked at for many years. Then he's a veterinarian unable to work who isn't even in his home country. His friends, most of his family, his professional, industrial, and academic connections are all somewhere else.”
Wilkie continued: “I thought about how I would handle such a complete uprooting of everything I know and how emotionally devastating it would be. He has survived, though, and with grace. I thought about how resilient he must be. Then I thought about how we could help him, but the problem is immense (how do you give someone back an entire life?) and it seems so far away, physically.”
Her thoughts settled on his prosthesis. “That's something that we might change even from thousands of miles away,” Wilkie said. “We could give him some degree of physical relief, and maybe knowing that people from all over the world are thinking about him and wishing him well might give him some emotional relief, as well.”
She added: “I hope that we can get him a prosthesis that is light, that will allow him to walk and get around with much more ease, and that he can feel good about when he sees it and puts it on. I hope that it will be associated with good thoughts and memories to replace some of the bad ones.”
Man reported that a more modern prosthetic leg costs about $21,500, a sum his government health insurance declined to pay. Whether the price includes the cost of fitting and follow-up medical visits is unclear. The VIN Foundation is awaiting details on the full expense, process and timeline from Man’s physician.
Meanwhile, a veterinarian in northern Pennsylvania, Dr. Ronnie Schenkein, reached out to Man by email to send words of encouragement and ask if he and his family needed warm clothes for the approaching winter. Schenkein ended up sending seven parcels within three weeks at an estimated cost of $1,000.
“You know,” Schenkein said with a modest shrug in her voice, “it made them very happy. I can’t imagine how it would feel to have left everything behind, including part of your family, and being physically traumatized. ...
“I just figured, something good had to happen. I can’t totally fix their life but if it gives them an emotional boost to know they’re not alone and somebody cares, I think that’s a really good place to start.”
Reaching out to Man and his family also gave Schenkein a lift when she needed it. Until this spring, Schenkein ran her own practice. She retired, reluctantly, due to health problems. “I really missed it,” she said. “This thing really perked me up. This was fun. You have a tendency when you’re tired to feel useless. I don’t feel useless!”
Events in her family history also compelled Schenkein to help. Her grandfather’s brothers and sisters and their families, she learned recently, died in a Nazi gas chamber. Coming to grips with that fact, then reading about the monstrous attack on Man “rang all sorts of bells in my psyche,” Schenkein said.
Her response was to try to bring about a bit of redemption in Man’s world. Beyond corresponding with him and sending care packages, she’s donated to the Dr. Nur Fund and solicited donations from friends in person and on Facebook. She hopes others will do the same.
“People can be so hideous, and they can be so wonderful,” Schenkein said. “I guess having experienced some of the worst, I want him to experience some of the best.”
VIN News Service commentaries are opinion pieces presenting insights, personal experiences and/or perspectives on topical issues by members of the veterinary community. To submit a commentary for consideration, email news@vin.com.
Sorry, but you do not have authorization to view the news article you requested.
|
|

Search VIN news
All news categories
Follow us
|