SHS eyes telehealth for veterinary care

Saipan Humane Society’s Lauren Cabrera and Ruby Ma pose with leading members of the Saipan ‘s Rotary Club after their presentation at the club’s luncheon last Tuesday at the Hyatt Regency Saipan. (CHRYSTAL MARINO)

With the high demand for veterinary services on the islands and the current lack of veterinarians to address that demand, the newly-formed Saipan Humane Society is taking a cue from human medicine and is looking at telemedicine as a potential game-changer for animal care in the CNMI.

SHS outlined that goal, among others, in a presentation to the Saipan Rotary Club during the club’s luncheon last Tuesday at the Hyatt Regency Saipan, with the main hope being able to provide services to the underserved animals and pet owners in the CNMI by bringing in vets and one day bringing pet care to every village.

Lauren Rose Cabrera, who is the SHS founder and clinic manager and co-founder of the Boonie Flight Project, as well as incoming SHS director Ruby Ma, shared with the Rotary that, soon after starting only in February, they began by administering high demand vaccines and providing flea and tick medicine.

Cabrera said doing these services required certain requirements and cost quite a lot for shipping, but they were able to do it.

She said that she and Ma, as a two-member volunteer team of SHS, are so swarmed with patients that they spend an average of 40 hours a week at the clinic, which at the moment is a side hustle from their daytime jobs.

“We have moved very quickly to being a full-fledged vet clinic without a vet,” she said.

As a certified nurse, Cabrera said they have modelled their clinical practices after what she has seen in human medicine during and post-pandemic, which was the use of telemedicine.

“So here we’re doing the same thing. If you bring a sick dog into our clinic and I don’t know what to do because I’m not a vet, I will gather the necessary information for a physical exam, take a video, do whatever diagnostic testing we have available, and send it all to the vet. You’ll wait for like 10 minutes and then I’ll come back to you with like a voice memo from the vet or…a summary of what they told me and will develop a plan of care from there. So this kind of gives us high-quality veterinary care for our pets, instead of just kind of being stuck with nothing,” she said.

Cabrera and Ma said they are working on increasing access to more diagnostic testing. “We really want to be a legit real veterinary clinic here as much as possible,” Cabrera said.

Another need they are trying to fill is getting clinical veterinarians here. “I am very fortunate through my work with [Guam Animals In Need]. …I’ve developed great relationships with many, many, many vets,” Cabrera said, adding that they will be having some veterinarians visiting this year, including U.S. mainland-based organization Animal Balance, which will be sending a veterinarian hopefully once a per month.

“We will be hosting their [Animal Balance] first vet for two weeks in August,” she said.

Another SHS dream is to provide a mobile clinic for patrons don’t have transportation. Cabrera said they hope to bring services and vaccines closer to those who ay need it.

“We are getting so many requests for home visits. A lot of clients here cannot afford care and our care is priced very low. So low, in fact, that we are not even paid, yet we are hoping this can become our full-time job. But right now we are working jobs on the sides so we can do this and this takes well over 40 hours a week of our time. But the price of our services are reasonably low so people can afford the care,” she shared.

Cabrera and Ma said they understand the effects of the overpopulation of animals on the islands and the lack of resources to help control it.

“We founded this organization with the intention of being here long term and being able to meet the needs of the community,” said Cabrera.

Ma and Cabrera said that SHS is open to receiving volunteers, donations, and sponsorship. To learn more, visit saipanhumanesociety.org. On the website you can also see scheduling and learn how you can sign up for the next spay and neuter clinic this month until June.