Memorable Patients

Dear All,

I am leaving the gorilla doctors project team as of the end of July 2009. Dr. Jan Ramer, also an American zoo and wildlife vet, will be taking my place as regional field veterinary manager, and I know she will be blogging. So please stay tuned for Jan’s updates. She arrives in Rwanda in early August.

In the meantime, I’ve got several stories I haven’t had time to write about. I’ll post these over the next few weeks.

So what am I doing next? My chief concern is to continue to promote and practice one-health medicine. From my work with the gorillas and people of central Africa, I’ve learned what it takes to make this approach work.

For example, the health of the mountain gorillas is tied to the health of everything in their ecosystem, including humans. Healthy gorillas mean healthy ecotourism, which in turn translates into a more prosperous economy and improved health for the local people. The key is to recognize that funds need to be invested in every aspect of a one-health program. The gorillas need doctors; their forest needs to be better protected. The people who live near the gorilla parks need better medical care; they also need better education about avoiding the spread of diseases by practicing good personal hygiene; they need sustainable agriculture and improved farming practices. As long as people are poor and hungry, they’ll sneak into the forest to set snares or cut wood for charcoal. Obviously, no one institution can meet all of these needs. We must work together.

As I see it, the way to achieve a healthy planet is to meet the needs of all species, including humans. By making decisions that benefit more than one species, we can create a healthier environment for all.

In the short term, I’m going to be a college professor! I’m sure I’ll learn as much as my students, since all this will be new to me. For the 2009-2010 academic year, I’ll be serving as visiting Associate Professor at Brown University, where I’ll teach two seminar courses for undergraduates. The first is "Comparing Primates: From Lemurs to Gorillas," the second "One-Health Medicine: Connecting the Health of People, Animals, and the Environment." I’ll also be looking for opportunities to work in the field as a wildlife vet — and writing a new book.

Lastly, I have a new blog called "Animals in Peril" that will be launched on Discovery Channel’s website on Aug 1. There I’ll report about current events in wild animal health. I hope you’ll all check it out, and that it can somehow be linked to Wildlife Direct.

Meanwhile, here’s my next post. A slide show focused on interventions — the gorilla patients on whom I did hands-on work along with various members of the MGVP team.

Comments

[TheWildSource]

Thanks Dr. Lucy - As one of your regular readers, I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts - you'll be missed!

I hope I can easily find the Animals in Peril Blog...

I'll be leading a group for a gorilla trek in Rwanda at the end of August as part of a larger overall safari trip - I'm really looking forward to it.

[Paul]

why don't we introduce Gorillas into are Forest somewhere around here?

[Male Sexual Health]

Very interesting is a shame you left!
I hope everything stays the same or better
debra