VETERINARY EMERGENCY TEAM (VET

The Texas A&M VET serves our state and nation every day through deployments of the largest and most sophisticated veterinary response team in the country. We provide service-oriented educational opportunities for veterinary students through collaborations with Texas agencies and jurisdictions, and build regional preparedness/response capabilities through partnerships with other Texas A&M University System universities and private-sector veterinary medical professionals. We continue to support the Texas Task Forces by providing veterinary medical support to their canine teams during trainings and deployments. We also help Texas communities develop emergency plans for animals.

Overview

2020 was the busiest year yet for the VET, with COVID-19 solely responsible for two deployments and making other deployments more difficult. However, while difficult, the year was exceedingly productive.

2020 Deployments

Butte County California Wildfire Deployment

• 28 days • 18 members including Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Agents • Three shelter locations: two small animal and one large animal • Over 500 total animals

The 2020 wildfire season was one of the most active in U.S. history, and the North Complex Wildfire in Butte County, California, covered an area about twice the size of Austin, resulting in an extended duration of animal sheltering and veterinary medical support requirements. Operational needs overwhelmed local and regional response capabilities, with the primary problem being inconsistent animal shelter leadership and inconsistencies in veterinary medical support.

VET members assumed leadership roles at three existing emergency animal shelters. A particular challenge of this deployment included containment and elimination of pre-existing disease transmission cycles (Bordetella bronchiseptica infections at two household pet shelters and Parvovirus infections at one household pet shelter).

Oregon Wildfires (October 2020)

• Dr. Debra Zoran deployed to Oregon to provide medical support for 24 urban search and rescue dogs during wildfires.

Jefferson County (August 2020)

• 21 team members • One of the first times that a county has used an emergency plan to request help in anticipation of a storm. Ultimately, the team was not needed, as impact was less than expected, but the short deployment showed the advances in preparation by

Jefferson County. 72 volunteers had already been contacted and were standing by, if needed.

Texas Panhandle (May 2020)

• Dr. Bissett deployed to serve as the operations section chief for the epidemiology unit working to trace how COVID-19 was circulating in the region. First deployment dealing mostly with human impact. Dr. Bissett oversaw 85 people per shift who dealt with over 5,000 contacts and 1,500 cases. Butte County, California, deployment

California deployment

Polk County Tornado (April 2020)

• 5 days • 84 animals • 22 team members

An F3 tornado impacted Polk County during the night of April 22, and the VET arrived on-scene early in the morning on April 25 after local veterinarians that had initially dealt with the injured animals were reaching the point of being overwhelmed and requested assistance. This was a unique response given that it was the first with additional PPE requirements due to COVID-19.

Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital (VMTH) (March 2020)

This deployment was a new experience, as the call for aid was from within. The mission was to help maintain clinical operations at the VMTH at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was a daunting task given the complexity of the VMTH and the interconnectedness of the different clinical services. The VET’s experience in training for and responding to high-consequence infectious diseases proved valuable to the process and the VMTH was able to maintain operations throughout.

In an additional role, the VET was providing personal protective equipment (PPE). The team trains for, and is prepared to respond to, high-consequence infectious disease incidents at the state and national levels. As a result, the team had developed a cache of PPE. The team was able to provide N-95 respirators and Powered Air Purifying Respirators to Texas A&M-affiliated human health care providers.

Counties – Deployments Counties – Deployments & Emergency Planning Counties – Emergency Planning Cities, Universities, or Other Entities – Emergency Planning as of October 2020

Brazoria

This map of Texas details VET deployments, as well as counties and cities where the team has helped develop emergency preparedness plans for animals.