As the new service head for the small animal emergency and critical care service, I have lots of good things to report! For one, the hospital renovation currently under way will bring emergency and critical care areas together in a new space by the end of 2020.
Our service faculty are also relatively new. After earning my DVM at Illinois in 2003, I was happy to rejoin the Illinois family in 2017. Over the past 12 months, Dr. Jenica Haraschak and Dr. Meghan Fick have also joined the team.
In the article We have High-Flow!, Dr. Haraschak gives an update on high-flow nasal oxygen, a new modality available for our critically ill hypoxic patients who would benefit from non-invasive ventilation.
Dr. Fick has been teaching our house officers and students point-of-care ultrasound for the emergent patient, new techniques for cage-side diagnostics in oxygen-dependent patients that may not tolerate radiographs, or other advanced imaging approaches.
We are so grateful to have these two new faculty who bring their knowledge to our students.
We are also grateful for our referring veterinarians who have grown along with us. We are always happy to discuss your critical care questions or to assist you in managing a difficult case that might benefit from our help.
Sometimes referrers send patients to the ER service as a means to access other specialty services at the hospital. We do our best to facilitate these specialty consultations, but it is not always possible. We ask that you call us before sending your client for this purpose, so that we can make sure that the expectations of the client align with ours and those of the other specialty services.
Please do not hesitate to contact our service by calling the hospital (217-333-5311) or by emailing uianimaler@illinois.edu. We look forward to continuing to work with you!
By Caroline Tonozzi, DVM, DACVECC
