Pet Blood Bank
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Jan qualified from Glasgow Vet School in 1993, before starting work at a practice in Ayrshire. The sunny climes then drew her over to a practice in New Zealand & Australia for a year, before she returned to the UK to work in both practices and in emergency clinics. Jan likes to spend her time running regular blood drives, sending around 20 pints a month of fine Scottish blood down to the Pet Blood Bank processing lab in Loughborough! When she's not running blood drives, Jan tries to juggle 3 kiddies, 2 vizslas , 1 cat & too many chickens!
Animal Care Assistant "Hi, I am Laura McDonald and I volunteer as an Animal Care Assistant for Pet Blood Bank. This involves taking part in donation sessions by caring for and handling the dogs during the pre-donation checks, the donations themselves and then making sure the dogs get some treats after (the doggie equivalent of tea and biscuits!), and by generally assisting the Vet / Phlebotomist throughout. It also involves meeting and greeting pet owners, helping to make them feel at ease with the whole process.
This makes for a busy and tiring day, but also one that is thoroughly enjoyable and fulfilling. To see the 20 or so bags of blood that have been so generously donated be shipped off, knowing how many lives it could save, is a good end to the day!
As well as helping out at the collection sessions, I work as an IT Analyst. I first heard of PBB via my work, Vets Now, who support the charity, and knew it was something I would love to be involved in. Vets Now provided my training to become an Animal Care Assistant…….. I have two dogs myself (unfortunately either too old or too small to donate!), and know how vital the PBBs work is in saving much loved pets lives.
When I'm not working or helping out at PBB, I enjoy walking my 2 collie cross dogs, Tyler and Gypsy, spending time at home watching films (horrors preferably!) and volunteering at a local dog rescue kennels."
"Hi everybody, I'm a part-time Animal Care Assistant with the Pet Blood Bank team in Scotland. I'm a mature full-time vet student at Edinburgh University and I help out at blood donor sessions between studies and on Saturday sessions. My role involves helping to handle and relax donor dogs and also to perform some minor laboratory tests and administration that takes place on-site at the session venue. I thoroughly enjoy the work and it helps to develop some of the skills that I need for my veterinary studies at University. I started working with Pet Blood Bank after I did a year or so volunteering at the PBB Loughborough office before I started university. This culminated with my successful application for sponsorship from the Vodafone 'World of Difference' charity, that paid for me to complete a 2-month internship at PBB; giving me an insight into the organization, the blood processing and management that takes place at the hub. I now help members of the team when they run sessions in Scotland and the Borders."