Page 14 - Paws and Hooves - Spring 2024

Your support in action...

The Myers K9 Training Sherpa’s

Family Club Money Box

Dennis and his late wife, Pat, have
been huge supporters of the Blood
Donor Programme donating the
funds needed to purchase the team’s
centrifuge and the Cell Saver machine.
The centrifuge is used to separate the
donated blood into plasma and red
blood cells. The Cell Saver is used
during surgery to collect any blood
lost which is then filtered and cleaned
before being infused back into the
patient. We are incredibly grateful to
the Myers for their support.

The K9 Care Dog Training Club, ran by
The Rumba Joan and Paul, has been an incredible Sherpa
supporter, raising over £14,000. They
Foundation organised events to raise funds including Geoff and Karen have a unique
an annual dog show. They told us:
“It was wonderful to see so many people
A year after launching, the Rumba talking, laughing and coming along to and special way they support the
Foundation gave their very first our stall to say hello to the dogs. Even we programme. When a beautiful German
shepherd named Sherpa came into their
donation to us to fund a sterile tube were noticed sometimes!” lives, they learnt that his uncle, Caesar,
welder for the Blood Donor Programme Their dog show raised funds to help had been a blood donor at the RVC.
in 2017. The welder allows the team purchase a fridge for the programme.
to split full units of packed blood into Charlotte Russo, Head Transfusion They attended training sessions with
smaller units in a sterile way to support Medicine Nurse, said: “This fridge Sherpa, but when Covid-19 struck
our smaller patients. By splitting the enables us to store blood in the best they could no longer go and they
units, we can provide the precise possible conditions. Donations like decided to collect the pennies they
amount of blood for smaller patients this are invaluable to us; without had saved in a money box. Every year
without any waste. This has had a them we wouldn’t be able to advance to celebrate his birthday and to honour
huge impact on our Emergency and transfusion medicine or keep up Caesar’s memory, they kindly send
Critical Care Service who are now with the hospitals demand for blood us ‘Sherpa’s savings’. Sherpa will be
able to provide blood products to our products that save the lives of so many celebrating his fifth birthday this June
smaller patients on demand. critically ill animals every year.” and hopes to continue raising money.

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