We can do hard things ... part 2
October 14, 2024
Camryn Seymour, AVC 2025, travelled to Nain and Postville as one of the student participants on the Chinook Project. As part of the experience, the students craft various pieces of writing.
Our two “slogans” of the 2024 Chinook project clinic were “teams choose to succeed”. and “we can do hard things”. Practicing veterinary medicine without our typical slew of fancy monitors, machines, and other amenities that we take for granted at home is hard. Setting up a clinic in a facility that was not built to be a hospital with limited supplies is hard. Not to mention the students were performing difficult surgeries that many of us had not yet encountered at home. For example, some of the students had not performed an ovariohysterectomy (spay) in a large breed deep chested dog before the Chinook project. If you can imagine this description matches a large portion of dogs in Northern Labrador and just so happens to also be one of the most difficult forms of ovariohysterectomies. Every member of the Chinook team was pushed out of their comfort zone. But what I found so incredible about our team is that even though I was not in my comfort zone, because of the deep strength of the team as a unit (and amazing mentorship from the senior clinicians) I always felt like I had the ability and tools to meet each new challenge every day.
In this photo and video , I am performing surgery. I had not experienced an ovariohysterectomy (spay) on a pregnant large breed dog before. I know that before the Chinook project it would have shaken my confidence... even at home with all the fancy monitors and access to referral care centers. However, with the support of the Chinook team, I felt like I could do anything. I can hear myself say, “I am being brave, but not too brave because I know there are big blood vessels here”. This makes me feel deeply emotional because there were so many moments on the Chinook Project that I had to have courage, but I am so grateful that I had a team and community behind me that gave me the confidence to do hard things and have fun doing them. This clinic is proof that teams really do choose to succeed, and I am so proud to have been a part of this team. I wish to carry forward this notion of choosing to succeed in the face of adversity to the many future teams that I will be a part of whether it be professionally or personally.
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