Transparency: As a key to building trust

August 28, 2024

Camryn Seymour, AVC 2025, traveled to Nain and Postville in 2024 as one of the student participants on the Chinook Project.  As part of the experience, the students craft various pieces of reflective writing. 

I am pictured performing my final canine spay of the Chinook Project in Postville, Labrador. The setup of the Postville clinic, in a local community center, was amenable to an open concept clinic, where community members were able to stay with their pet, if desired, for their entire medical or surgical procedure. For surgical cases, we encouraged owners, depending on their comfort level, to stay with their pet throughout the various stages of the procedure including surgical preparation, the surgery itself and recovery. This ranged from owners holding their animal while it got sleepy from their initial sedative medication to some owners watching and petting their animal throughout their entire surgery. I was a little apprehensive at first about the idea of an open concept clinic, as a student with still lots of learning to go, I thought that it would be quite anxiety-inducing to have community members watch me perform surgery. I wondered if the owners being present would shake my confidence and negatively impact my ability to perform surgery effectively. After one day in the clinic in Postville, I quickly changed my perspective on the open concept clinic from several interactions of my own as well as other Chinook team members. 

One of the most memorable experiences that demonstrated the value of an open clinic occurred during my final surgery at the Postville clinic. My patient was an extremely sweet but equally nervous golden retriever. Her owner was very kind and indicated to me that she was also very nervous about the surgery. I told her that she was more than welcome to stay as long as she wanted, hoping this would provide her some comfort. She stayed while her girl was sedated, an intravenous catheter was placed, some of the surgery, only leaving to get lunch in between, and for most of her recovery. Being able to see her anxieties visually reduced by being able to see exactly what was occurring at each stage of the procedure and being able to talk her through any of her fears actually put my own mind at ease, the opposite of what I had expected. I was able to connect with her owner and talk her through any concerns in ways that would never have been possible without the absolute transparency of the Postville clinic. Not to mention, seeing first-hand how having a familiar face present improved the recovery of my patient. The relationships that the team was able to build by having owners intimately involved in each procedure was incredible. The Postville clinic clearly demonstrated to me the importance of complete transparency when building trust within communities. I feel so blessed to have gotten to connect with so many amazing individuals in both Postville and Nain. I will never forget your kindness, laughter, and ability to make strangers feel like family.