2009 Boiler Vet Camp Schedule
June 7- 13
(an in-residence camp)

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Event descriptions

Picnic
A time to meet your Boiler Vet Camp fellow campers, counselors and people from the Veterinary School.  We will have plenty of food to eat and time to meet everyone.  After eating, your counselors will lead you in interesting and exciting outdoor activities.”

“Cud It Out” Dr. Mark Hilton; Dr. Nour; Rachel Heitkamp, RVT; Bill Reese, RVT
An action packed session where you get to touch, smell, see what cows eat and learn why they eat it.  You will even get to reach into a “real” cow’s stomach.

“Dissecting to the Heart of It!” Sue Sanders, BS, RVT
Have you ever wanted to work with a real heart.  This session gives you the opportunity to learn the different areas of the heart and their functions as you dissect the heart.  You will have great fun learning just how similar a cow’s, dog’s or horse’s heart is to your very own heart.  With the fun and excitement of this session, your heart is sure to beating fast!

“Fair Oaks Dairy”
During this visit to one of Indiana’s largest operating dairy farms (a mega dairy), you will get to learn many facts about cows and their health as well as get to see a operating dairy in person.  There will be many activities to show you how milk gets from the farm to your refrigerator.  With this many cows in one place, there is sure to be many fun opportunities to learn and explore. 

Purdue Swine Farm Dr. Darryl Ragland
The Purdue Swine Farm is a functioning pig farm with many pigs of all ages present.  You will learn the basics of how pigs live and the issues of health which veterinary healthcare professionals investigate at swine farms.  You will even get to interact withpregnant pigs and help preform an ultrasound, to see the piglets which have yet to be born.  

“Fish Need Doctors Too!” Dr. Lori Corriveau
It is not your typical patient, but veterinary healthcare professionals also treat fish too.  During this session, you will learn how to evaluate the water which fish live and why it is important to keep not only a fish tank clean, but how this also applies to large ponds and lakes which hold thousands of fish.   You will see how a fish is anesthetized for surgeries as well as you will get to learn about the body and structure of fish by dissecting various types of fish.

“What is in Your Heart” Dr. Nour, Dr. Green
A session which will allow you learn how blood works for you and especially how the hearts of dogs just like your own work to pump blood throughout the body.  Not only will you learn about the electricity of a heart but you will get to get to look at your own heart’s electrical activity through an ECG.

“After They Are Gone” Dr. Leon Thacker
Sometimes in order to learn why an animal dies, we have to conduct a necropsy (an autopsy).  You will watch a veterinary pathologist perform a necropsy and learn the various parts of the body and what is normal and abnormal.

Equine Treadmill & Bronchoscopy
During this session, you will get to watch a horse run on our horse treadmill.   As you watch this horse reach 35 mph, you will feel the power of these great animals as they are running.  In addition, you will get to see how veterinary healthcare professionals use small cameras to look into a horses airway to understand how it is breathing.

Indianapolis Zoo
As future veterinary healthcare professionals, you will get to see and experience this outstanding zoo from all angles.  Our appreciation for zoo animals is important and as we learn about those veterinary healthcare professionals who take care of them, you will also learn and see why zoos are so important.

“Where Did That Drug Come From”
Have you ever wondered where from or how a drug you may have taken when you were sick was made.  Well veterinarians play in a role in  almost all medications which people take too.  During this session you will get to develop your own medication and learn how it is proven to be safe and  then how it is packages and marketed to people.

"The Amazing Trace" Indiana Board of Animal Health

Diagnosis of a disease or other problem is only the beginning. Where did the disease come from? Where has it spread? What was the source of contamination?

The Amazing Trace will introduce some of the situations and mysteries faced everyday in regulatory veterinary medicine and how this specialty protects our food supply, as well as human and animal health.

“Welcome to the Blood Bank”  Dr. Nolie Parnell
Animals need blood at times too, so let’s learn how we collect blood from donor dogs and then give it to dogs who are in need of a blood transfusion.   During this session you will look at blood cells through a microscope, determine blood types and even get to practice giving an intravenous injection into a model.

“From Our Farm to Yours” Dr. Darryl Ragland
During this learning session, you will have the opportunity to practice many hands-on skills and techniques used daily by food animal veterinarians and veterinary technicians.  If you have never had the opportunity to give a cow a give a cow a  inch pill, then this is your chance.  You will have a great deal of fun learning and doing in this session.

“Wolf Park”
During this special opportunity we will travel to the nearby Wolf Park.  The park was established in 1972 to host several packs of gray wolves, fox and bison.  During our visit we will be attending a “howl night.”  You will get to learn about the normal behaviors of wolves and see how they interact with each other.  This up close real life experience will leave you howling yourself!

“Follow the Clues”
During the entire camp, you will learn and experience many new things.  A fun way to pull it all together is working alongside of your fellow campers to “work through” a real medical case.  Whether it be a dog with a fractured leg or a cow with a sick stomach, you will investigate the case, receive the diagnostic test information and determine the appropriate treatment.  Working with you will be faculty from the School of Veterinary Medicine who will help you make the right decisions about how to best treat your patient.  On Saturday morning, you and your group members will present your case to the assembled campers, parents and faculty.