With hospitals at the breaking point, hundreds of veterinarians in Illinois have joined a statewide recruitment drive for extra medical support in combating the deadly COVID-19.
It’s not that much of a shift from treating animals patients after all.
‘Our ventilator, for instance, is a human ventilator; our high-flow oxygen is for humans; our operating rooms are human-standard operating rooms,’ one veterinarian said.
‘The vast majority of the pieces of technology that we use actually initially were made for the human healthcare side.’
Working alongside doctors, vets can operate vital medical equipment and aid in other tasks. Now that the US leads the world in coronavirus cases, with 245,356 people infected, and 6,056 deaths, we can use all the help we can get.
Elaine Holmes, veterinary surgeon with MedVet Chicago who has volunteered her services.