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<\/a>Veterinarian Jan Allen has had a varied career, working around Australia and the South Pacific, but it is her work in Indigenous communities which she has found most rewarding.\r\n\r\nAllen is currently the One Health Program Manager for Animal Management in Rural and Remote Indigenous Communities (AMRRIC). The organisation is a national, non-profit charity founded to improve the health and welfare of companion animals in communities where access to veterinary care may be limited to absent.\r\n\r\nAllen grew up in Kempsey with family on a dairy farm before moving to Nelson Bay then to Sydney (Harbord) where she went to high school to ensure she got a good education.\r\n\r\n\u201cI was applying for a Commonwealth Scholarship for a Bachelor of Education but Dad said I might as well try to get into veterinary science,\u201d she recalled. \u201cIt was a big surprise to me when I got in.\u201d\r\n\r\nAfter graduating in 1976, Allen took a six-week \u201capprenticeship\u201d at the RSPCA\u2019s Yagoona shelter before taking a mixed practice position in Tasmania.\r\n\r\n\u201cThey shouted me a flight down for an interview which really impressed me,\u201d she said. \u201cThey really needed vets. The caseload was trotters, smallies, greyhounds and wildlife \u2013 a bit of everything.\u201d\r\n\r\nAfter a couple of years she headed back to Sydney where she locumed around before hanging her shingle at Seaforth Veterinary Hospital with Terry Collins.\r\n\r\n\u201cThat was back when it was a tiny practice, just Terry and I,\u201d she said.\r\n\r\nTwo children and several locums later, Allen relocated to Nana Glen, north west of Coffs Harbour. She worked in mixed practice in Grafton and Coffs Harbour areas for around twenty years.\r\n\r\n\u201cIn 1988 I opened my own practice in Nana Glen,\u201d she recalled. \u201cThat was pretty cool, people would knock on my door at all hours of the day or night and say Jan, you won\u2019t mind coming out to have a look at this\u2026\u201d\r\n\r\nThat lasted for around two years, when Jan closed the doors and the family took off for a year wandering around Australia. She grew increasingly interested in the big picture of human and animal health and the environment.\r\n\r\nLooking for a change in direction, Allen did a Masters of Environmental Management externally through University of New England.\r\n\r\n\u201cI did some pro bono work on environmental impact studies but I wasn\u2019t really getting anywhere so I applied to volunteer overseas with AVI (Australian Volunteers International) \u2013 something I had always wanted to do,\u201d she said. \u201cI didn\u2019t hear anything for a few months, but then I got a call between Christmas and New Year. Someone said \u2018we have a position for you in blah blah\u2019 and I said yes. Then I got off the phone and thought, \u2018did they say Somalia or Samoa\u2019?\u201d\r\n\r\nIn a sense, it didn\u2019t really matter.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe kids were old enough and not leaving home so I decided to leave home instead\u201d.\r\n\r\nAt the time Samoa\u2019s tourism industry was growing. Stray dogs were becoming something of a public nuisance and public relations nightmare. The Lonely Planet guide at the time warned tourists to be wary of the dogs in Apia, the capital of Samoa.\r\n\r\nAllen became the volunteer veterinary manager with the APS -Animal Protection Society – who provided the only small animal veterinary services in the developing country of Samoa.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe did mostly house calls,\u201d she said. \u201cThere were no street numbers or street names, so people would tell us to turn off the airport road near the big breadfruit tree and go to the first blue house. Thank goodness I had a Samoan vet nurse who became my best buddy.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe case load was a little different.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe saw a lot of parvovirus, botulism, mange, animal welfare problems, and machete wounds,\u201d she said. \u201cWe also saw many paraquat poisonings because farmers would poison dogs that wandered onto their plantations.\u201d\r\n\r\nIt was not uncommon to see puppies with severe hookworm infestation and ventral oedema. The team also treated wildlife admitted by the public.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe had a lot of after hours, but people were really grateful.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe resources were fairly rudimentary. Surgery was often conducted on a baby change table outside of the owner\u2019s house.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe only had rompun-ketamine for anaesthesia because there wasn\u2019t anything else,\u201d Allen said. \u201cI remember my partner Craig topping up the rompun-ketamine on a Saturdary afternoon leg amputation. When we took the dog back the owner said, \u2018whatever, just put him out the back there\u2019. It was very casual.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe team provided a desexing services, visiting communities to provide on-site desexing.\r\n\r\n\u201cI remember one occasion where we had set up in a village school and the teachers invited us to come in and show the kids what we did. So we did some desexings on the front desk. All of the kids from the school were there, standing on tables surrounding us. It was a great opportunity to talk about anatomy and dog behaviour and control while the teachers had an extended morning tea!\u201d\r\n\r\nNearing the end of her stint in Samoa, Allen heard of AMRRIC\u2019s work in Australia and attended an AMRRIC conference.\r\n\r\n\u201cI flew over and met so many great people, and worked in a dog program in Maningrida.\u201d\r\n\r\nAllen returned to Australia permanently in 2006.\r\n\r\n\u201cBy then the kids had taken over the house. I went to work at Grafton Veterinary Clinic which was so supportive,\u201d she said.\r\n\r\nBut the prospect of doing work in remote indigenous communities within Australia appealed more and more. Allen attended more dog programs and workshops, and finally moved to Darwin where she has been based since.\r\n\r\n\u201cI was very attracted to AMRRIC because there was such a need, the conditions of dogs over here was actually worse than in Samoa \u2013 we saw dogs with a lot of mange, a lot of transmissible venereal tumours, and the living conditions were poorer,\u201d she said.\r\n\r\n\u201cIt was a real surprise for me. There was and is a massive need for services in communities where people just don\u2019t have a choice. Things are certainly improving but compared to Samoa the politics and culture are way more complicated here. There are so many different clans and tribes and languages and groups of people to factor in.\u201d\r\n\r\nAllen was particularly impressed with AMRRIC\u2019s community consultation, but also with the concept of improving one health.\r\n\r\n\u201cIndigenous people say that when there are sick dogs there are sick people, but in the Northern Territory that link is not readily acknowledged. Animal health is not on the Territory government\u2019s agenda (as it is in WA and Queensland), animal control is left up to the local councils to organise which is a major ask.\u201d\r\n\r\nAccording to Allen there is no question that human and animal health are closely linked.\r\n\r\n\u201cOur programs can have an impact on human health problems like dog bites, scabies, ringworm and ticks. These agents can contribute to skin sores in humans which often involve Streptococcal infections. This can result in drastic long term outcomes for community members. Repeated Strep infections especially in young children can lead to rheumatic heart disease and glomerulonephritis (chronic kidney failure).\u201d\r\n\r\nAMRRIC supports research into one health. Over the years volunteers have collected samples to investigate staph and strep infections for Menzies School of Health Research; for MRSA research at Flinders University; and Canine Transmissible Venereal Tumour samples for Cambridge University. Thousands of ticks have been submitted to Murdoch University for a study on vector borne diseases, many of which are zoonotic. Samples have been collected for research into strongyloides through Flinders University and Melioidosis through Charles Darwin University. AMRRIC is involved in cooperation with rabies research projects through Sydney University and the University of New England.\r\n\r\nThe organisation also allows veterinarians, nurses and other volunteers to participate in community work. It\u2019s a great opportunity to provide services where they are most needed, while enjoying the experience of vetting in the field.\r\n\r\n\u201cYou have to be really practical,\u201d Allen said. \u201cVolunteers need a lot of tolerance \u2013 of heat, dust, flies \u2013 the flies are terrible at times. We also have to be very flexible as plans often don\u2019t go accordingly, arrangements can get cancelled because of Sorry business or because people have moved away for ceremonies.\u201d\r\n\r\nA number of universities sponsor regular community programs, allowing students to participate in programs and experience bush surgery in some of Australia\u2019s most remote locations.\r\n\r\nOf all of her career achievements, Allen is most proud of the work done by AMRRIC.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe health of the dogs has improved across the board,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople in communities have seen the improvement, they call the dogs cleanskins because they are desexed, fatter, healthier and no longer have mange. It\u2019s wonderful to go back to an area and see shiny coats, dogs playing and not scratching.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cThe management of dogs has improved \u2013 not just because of AMRRIC but I think we\u2019ve helped up the level of respect and cultural sensitivity by setting an example.\u201d\r\n\r\n