Beth Lozano has been volunteering at the sterilization campaigns since February 2021. She learned about Amigos from a friend and then wrote to Sandra Ward, who connected her with Julia Salido, the campaign coordinator.
Beth enjoys volunteering by doing actual tasks and is less interested in attending meetings. Amigos de los Animales seemed to be an organization that was making a difference in the community. Beth loves animals, so the campaigns seemed like her kind of volunteer opportunity.
She expected the campaigns to be hard work as they would be sterilizing lots of animals, and she was correct. As a new volunteer, she found her first day at a campaign to be like controlled chaos. She wondered how everything would come together. But it did.
Clients and their pets had already been waiting a couple of hours when the volunteers began setting up. There was a big rush to get ready when the veterinarians arrived. The team often works in a new location, so the layout of the clinics varies.
As there was little in the way of training for her first campaign, Beth just jumped in and filled needs as she saw them. Her training was all on-the-job. As chaotic as the first day seemed, the system works well.
Everyone worked hard, and in the sun, for most of the day. At the end of that first day, Beth was tired. Still, it felt good to have sterilized so many animals. She met some great people, and it was rewarding to be part of a team that got things done. She was impressed by the dedication of the volunteers and the veterinarians and how hard they worked. The volunteers are all animal lovers, and some of them rescue abandoned animals, bringing them in to be sterilized, and then fostering them until they are adopted.
She was impressed by the dedication
of the volunteers and the veterinarians
and how hard they worked.
A typical campaign day for Beth starts early in the morning. Various communities want to offer these clinics to their neighbors, and so sometimes her first challenge is finding the location of a campaign that is scheduled in an out-of-the-way area.
Registering the clients and their pets
When the volunteers arrive, someone from the host community has usually given out numbers to the pet owners in order of their arrival. As soon as Julia’s van arrives with the equipment and supplies, the team starts unloading and setting up. An Amigos volunteer begins registering the clients and their pets in a slightly revised order, prioritizing cats for surgery early in the campaign because they take longer than dogs to recover from anesthesia.
When the vets arrive, a couple of volunteers begin weighing the animals, putting a piece of masking tape on each animal’s head, and writing its name and weight on it. Another volunteer collects the owners’ donations and has each owner read and sign a waiver. One of the vets anesthetizes each animal as its turn for surgery approaches, and then a volunteer prepares it for surgery by shaving the surgical area and swabbing it with an anesthetic. The animal is also given an injection of antibiotics before it goes into surgery.
When a surgeon signals that he or she is ready for an animal, a volunteer carries it to surgery. After surgery, the patient is carried to the recovery area, where it is covered with a blanket and its vital signs are monitored. When the patient starts waking up, the owner is called and given a packet of post-surgical medications and oral and written instructions on how to care for it during the next 10 days.
Becoming a campaign volunteer
Beth would encourage anyone who is considering volunteering at the campaigns to contact Julia Salido (julesma300@gmail.com) and participate in one to see if they like doing it. It’s a good opportunity to volunteer without making a long-term commitment. Beth (bethlozano@gmail.com) would also welcome any questions that a prospective volunteer may have.
What keeps her coming back to the campaigns is the interaction with the families and their pets. She admires the patience of the clients and their willingness to spend a whole day taking care of their pets’ needs. She also gets to visit Guanajuato city neighborhoods and villages that she might not see otherwise.