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Talk about meeting by accident

Cathy Wright is used to getting strange looks at car crash scenes.Stepping out of an ambulance with first aid gear in tow, the emergency medical technician from Olds has appeared oddly familiar to some of the injured. They’re not sure where they’ve seen her before — until it dawns on them that she’s looked after their pets as well.
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Deer Park Pet Hospital veterinarian Cathy Wright examines an abandoned cat.

Cathy Wright is used to getting strange looks at car crash scenes.

Stepping out of an ambulance with first aid gear in tow, the emergency medical technician from Olds has appeared oddly familiar to some of the injured. They’re not sure where they’ve seen her before — until it dawns on them that she’s looked after their pets as well.

For 30 years, Wright has been a veterinarian in Central Alberta. A little over six years ago, she also became an EMT.

Providing medical care for people and animals has been an enjoyable and interesting challenge for this medical professional and volunteer.

One thing is for certain, Wright says she never knows “what’s coming in the door” for both jobs. And that suits her just fine.

She grew up bringing home lots of stray animals. She later went to veterinarian school at Western College of Veterinary Medicine-University of Saskatchewan because she knew this would be a career full of versatility and learning.

Wright’s career has been expansive — starting out with a mixed practice in Innisfail, teaching animal health technology at Olds College for a while, and opening Bowden’s first and only vet clinic (which has since closed).

At one time, she owned Chinook Country Veterinary Clinic in Olds and after selling it and going part time, she continued on with a house practice for longtime clients and referrals.

She spent 30 years as one of the veterinarians for the RCMP Police Dog Service Training Centre at Innisfail. She’d be on call whenever the female dogs were having their babies, plus she taught first aid and CPR to the new dog handlers.

The Medicine River Wildlife Centre also approached Wright and over a span of two decades, she treated various critters. She pinned a broken wing on a bat and sutured a porcupine struck by a car. She’ll never forget about the baby orphaned red squirrel either.

“We were feeding this squirrel about every two or three hours. My son would wake me up at 2 a.m. to feed it . . . with a little syringe of milk,” said Wright.

After going part time at the Olds clinic, Wright decided the time was right to take EMT training at SAIT in Calgary.

“I had always had an interest in medicine but I had never had the opportunity to do it before,” said Wright. “You have to use it or you don’t remember anything, so I got a job as an EMT.”

She works an average of one day a week with Mountain View County Regional Emergency Services, which has since been assimilated by Alberta Health Services. She also spends several days a week at Deer Park Pet Hospital in Red Deer. One weekend a month, she works a 12-hour shift at Red Deer’s Animal Emergency Services. Wright teaches first aid and CPR with St. John Ambulance.

And if she’s not busy enough, she’s wife to husband Blair and mother to their two children — Amber, 16, and Justin, 22.

Last month in Kenya, Wright volunteered with Central Alberta-based A Better World, which hosted a half dozen medical clinics. She jotted down patient history, conducted initial examinations and presented findings to the physician. She was also keenly aware of animal conditions in the East African country — the cattle, sheep and goats generally looked good but many dogs appeared very thin. She had hoped to meet with staff of the donkey hospital on the island of Lamu, but it was closed. Perhaps next time she’ll get to see how donkeys are cared for, she said.

Wright sees some similarities between veterinary and human medicine.

“The process of diseases is similar and the anatomy is quite similar. Medications that we use are the same, just under a different name.”

Plus, she finds dealing with small children is comparable to how she must handle pets in the clinic.

“You have to approach them quietly and gain their trust before you can touch them — and animals are the same way.”

One of the differences she has found — cardiac and respiratory diseases are more common in humans.

“With motor vehicle accidents, you don’t know how severe they’re going to be until you get on scene,” said Wright.

Her first call as a student EMT was to a rodeo event where an individual suffered a brain injury and was flown out by STARS air ambulance. Her second call involved a man who suffered a heart attack.

She figures 90 per cent of ambulance calls are routine while the rest comprise severe emergencies.

Sometimes, it can be more hectic as a vet, particularly when she works at Animal Emergency Services. She could be dealing with five emergencies at a time and she’s the only vet in the hospital. Fortunately, there’s other staff to help her.

As a veterinarian, she likes how she can see her patient all the way through the process — from diagnosis to treatment and follow-up. As an EMT, she’s working with staff about half her age. Plus, it’s a more physically demanding job that requires heavy lifting of patients, sometimes on the side of a road.

She’d like to acquire more education in the human medical field.

But if Wright has it her way, she’ll be treating humans and animals for a while.

“As long as I’m physically able, I’d like to do both.”

ltester@www.reddeeradvocate.com