BY ANUM AZAM
Correspondent
Dr. Jenine Avellini examines a patient at Red Bank Veterinary Hospital. She was honored recently for her work with animals displaced by Hurricane Katrina. When Dr. Jenine Avellini volunteered to assist animals hurt by Hurricane Katrina, last year’s Category 5 storm that destroyed several southern U.S. coastlines, she wasn’t greeted by a landscape that she remembered from her days at Louisiana State University’s veterinary school.
Dr. Avellini, a 2000 graduate of Ross University, took an unpaid leave from her position at Red Bank Veterinary Hospital in Tinton Falls to assist in the treatment of animals injured or displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
She received the Robert R. Shomer Award of the New Jersey Veterinary Medical Association (NJVMA) at the Association’s annual meeting in Florham Park on March 5. The award is given to a recent graduate who brings credit to the veterinary profession. The NJVMA is a professional organization representing the state’s veterinarians.
Dr. Avellini, a resident of Eatontown, is involved with general medicine and surgery at the Red Bank Animal Hospital. She graduated with a bachelor of science degree from Delaware Valley College in 1997, and then pursued her graduate education at Ross University, from which she obtained a degree in veterinary medicine in 2000.
She joined the animal hospital in 2005.
“I spent some of my time in vet school at Baton Rouge, and grew to love that area of the country. I just wanted to do as much as I could,” said Avellini about her choice to help Katrina victims.
“I wasn’t expecting something in return for my work; I just wanted to help out,” she added.
Dr. Avellini spent a week on a military support base south of New Orleans, La., right across the Mississippi in a ship called the USS Tortuga. She took her own car to the area, driving down with a rescue team, she said.
“Starting in Mississippi, you could see the areas of destruction. These were areas that I had known very well and traveled, torn up and demolished,” said Dr. Avellini.
“Where I was on the base, I was helping animals being rescued with their owners. These animals had benefited from their owners’ care all of their lives,” she added.
Dr. Avellini cited dehydration, starvation and fright as the major problems with animals that had been rescued and brought to the ship for treatment.
“They were hungry after being hit by the storm, dirty and scared. Most of it was just the need to get them eating and drinking. There were also toxins in the water. Otherwise they were staying with owners and being rescued in pretty good condition,” she said.
However, the catastrophic damage that Katrina wreaked on the land and in families was indubitable.
“I think the worst part was having to see the desperation of the owners, and them having to deal with the animals and the families being taken care of. They weren’t allowed to take the animals to shelters, foster care, or other safe locations. That was pretty hard to watch every day,” said Dr. Avellini.
Most of the animals that the doctor worked with were former pets, cats and dogs. Her job was to nurse them back to health and transport them to new homes, she said.
“I was able to rescue a couple of animals the Navy gentleman working on the boat had found. A couple of people adopted dogs. I was instrumental in getting the animals to their families,” said Dr. Avellini.
She added that seven animals were transported to new homes in Virginia, and that they appear to be doing well a couple of weeks later.
Shortly after Avellini returned, two other staff members at Red Bank Animal Hospital answered the call for additional volunteers for the rescue operation at the USS Tortuga.
Dr. Mary Beth Morgan, Clark, and Kim Fred, an oncology technician from Atlantic Highlands, also traveled to Louisiana to continue the rescue work with animals left affected by Katrina.
“We worked at a makeshift kennel on the side of a levee right outside the U.S. Naval base,” said Morgan, who left her husband and four children at home to spend five days helping the homeless K-9s.
“When I asked if I could bring a technician along with me, there was only one person I wanted to bring,” Morgan said. “I’ve worked with Kim for 11 years and she is one of the best technicians.”
“We were there for five days and we dealt with dogs left behind. The 82nd Airborne had processed through all the evacuees and pets. We were mainly taking care of dogs that didn’t have owners or homes. Several were brought in that were found loose or ran onto the naval base.
“It was an awesome experience. I have a new found respect for the military.”