Indiana University Athletics
Natalie Whalen Summer Experience
11/8/2017 9:40:00 AM | Women's Tennis
This past summer, junior Natalie Whalen worked at the LePar Animal Hospital, where her dad works. She talks about the experience below.
The first few mornings I wandered around completely baffled by how the clinic worked. Technicians were running around carrying dogs and cats, starting off appointments, putting animals under anesthesia, clipping nails, brushing, cleaning feces, cuddling the list goes on forever. The doctors calmly joked at computers as they prepared to handle their long day ahead. Everything seemed so busy yet under control and I didn't realize how many factors and people it took to run such a fast-paced business.
One of the main difficulties I had was at the beginning. It was especially difficult to figure out where everything was located, as technicians and doctors had more important things to do than to help me locate the poop bags, syringe needles and remind me to check-in. I felt like I was in the way at first because I wasn't much of a use, unless I was handling animals during appointments. But just like training, with practice I started to learn my lay of the land and I gained enough confidence to ask technicians if they needed help. Having little experience prior to working here I was able to learn about diets of animals, diagnoses, perform blood draws and tests, and even helped perform an autopsy all within a few months.
Most of all, I learned there were tough situations I didn't realize veterinarians were put in so often.
A big obstacle most people don't realize with veterinarians is dealing with animal behavior. No matter how many science courses and animal courses I have taken this far, nothing prepared me for this. This was by far the scariest and most memorable moment I have had so far working; I was taking acupuncture needles out of a massive Rottweiler who was known to be angry and so he was muzzled. The entire time I was crouched over pulling the needles out, the owner was trying to hold him back as much as possible to keep him from doing anything, and yet he kept letting out this monstrous growl. But knowing that the dog was releasing a growl because he was scared, I kept going as quickly as possible to get it over with.
Eventually, I must have touched a sensitive spot on him because the dog lunged forward and attempted to chomp at my neck, which I then flew back onto my bottom. Nothing in my life terrified me more than this moment because the only thing that stopped my flesh from those teeth was the beautiful, angelic muzzle that saved me. After the patient left I ran to my dad freaking out like a daughter and not an employee. Even though this was a scary moment that I would learn from, it was also pretty cool because it made my day a bit more exciting.
In a way what I was doing in the clinic relates to the hectic schedule all of us endure at IU, because of the long hours, unpredictable events and work ethic. While, like the clinic, we have very set, standard working hours, there is always some funny event or joke on the team to add to our memory box. And similar to the technicians and doctors that work hard to help the animals, there are so many people at IU including the staff and my fellow teammates who put in crazy effort and time to want the best for us. Although there are obvious differences between working in a vet clinic and being a student athlete at IU, the work ethic and selflessness ingrained in me at IU will be implemented into my (hopefully) future career as a veterinarian.
The first few mornings I wandered around completely baffled by how the clinic worked. Technicians were running around carrying dogs and cats, starting off appointments, putting animals under anesthesia, clipping nails, brushing, cleaning feces, cuddling the list goes on forever. The doctors calmly joked at computers as they prepared to handle their long day ahead. Everything seemed so busy yet under control and I didn't realize how many factors and people it took to run such a fast-paced business.
One of the main difficulties I had was at the beginning. It was especially difficult to figure out where everything was located, as technicians and doctors had more important things to do than to help me locate the poop bags, syringe needles and remind me to check-in. I felt like I was in the way at first because I wasn't much of a use, unless I was handling animals during appointments. But just like training, with practice I started to learn my lay of the land and I gained enough confidence to ask technicians if they needed help. Having little experience prior to working here I was able to learn about diets of animals, diagnoses, perform blood draws and tests, and even helped perform an autopsy all within a few months.
Most of all, I learned there were tough situations I didn't realize veterinarians were put in so often.
A big obstacle most people don't realize with veterinarians is dealing with animal behavior. No matter how many science courses and animal courses I have taken this far, nothing prepared me for this. This was by far the scariest and most memorable moment I have had so far working; I was taking acupuncture needles out of a massive Rottweiler who was known to be angry and so he was muzzled. The entire time I was crouched over pulling the needles out, the owner was trying to hold him back as much as possible to keep him from doing anything, and yet he kept letting out this monstrous growl. But knowing that the dog was releasing a growl because he was scared, I kept going as quickly as possible to get it over with.
Eventually, I must have touched a sensitive spot on him because the dog lunged forward and attempted to chomp at my neck, which I then flew back onto my bottom. Nothing in my life terrified me more than this moment because the only thing that stopped my flesh from those teeth was the beautiful, angelic muzzle that saved me. After the patient left I ran to my dad freaking out like a daughter and not an employee. Even though this was a scary moment that I would learn from, it was also pretty cool because it made my day a bit more exciting.
In a way what I was doing in the clinic relates to the hectic schedule all of us endure at IU, because of the long hours, unpredictable events and work ethic. While, like the clinic, we have very set, standard working hours, there is always some funny event or joke on the team to add to our memory box. And similar to the technicians and doctors that work hard to help the animals, there are so many people at IU including the staff and my fellow teammates who put in crazy effort and time to want the best for us. Although there are obvious differences between working in a vet clinic and being a student athlete at IU, the work ethic and selflessness ingrained in me at IU will be implemented into my (hopefully) future career as a veterinarian.
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