Policy In The Event That A Patient Being Treated By The Paths Community Medical Centers: Fill & Download for Free

Here are one or two or a hundred:I’ll start with some that I’ve already written about, and then I’ll move to a bunch more I found on the internet.First, here is the link to the Cornell University project: ZooniverseThey are calling the project “Hawk Talk”!That link takes you to the “About” page, which describes the project. In the right top corner, you’ll see a link to the “Classify” page. That’s where you’ll want to go to participate. It allows participation from anonymous volunteers if you wish, or you can also register and have your contributions noted by name.Basically, what’s going on is that they are trying to collect additional data about the vocalizations that Red Tailed Hawks make (their sounds, or calls), and what the various calls mean. Normally, this would almost be impossible… or at the very best, it would require researchers to spend thousands of hours just watching a cam. There’s not enough hours in anyone’s day to do that, without missing something. So, they have set up this project, where any of you can help collect the data. What they’ve done is… they have broken up hundreds of hours of nest cam footage, into 10-second clips. Clearly, this results in many thousands of clips. What they hope is that enough people will get involved and that each person will run through these short clips, hoping to catch a moment when either one of the parent hawks, or one of the chicks, is calling out in some way. There is a set of four questions next to each clip, which are to be answered. Then, when the project is over, they will have caught every single instance of red tail vocalization, and exactly what they were doing at that exact moment. It’s quite a brilliant project plan. But it requires the help of hundreds of people who want to spend 5 or 10 minutes of their day or night, running through the clips one by one and clicking on the various possible answers.Okay, so this one is a whole lot of fun. It’s actually a sub-section of Zooniverse, above. But there are a lot of menu items in Zooniverse, so I wanted to point this one out in particular as I’ve had a lot of fun and spent quite a few hours playing with it. It’s basically photos taken by a automatic Trail Cam. Each photo was set off by something moving, and they are asking you to look at each still-shot and try to find what it was that set off the camera. Sometimes it was just the wind on a weed or something you can’t see. But they have thousands of photos to go through, so they’re asking for the public’s help in flipping through them. There are two cams here… one for mammals and one for birds. Give it a try! I found it to be a bit addicting, sort of like finding Waldo! Sometimes you need to adjust the contrast, or maybe change it into a negative photo. Usually you find nothing, but sometimes you’ll see a bobcat, coyote, or maybe just a hare’s or rabbit’s butt running off the photo’s edge. This was set up by Sky Island Alliance, an environmental group I worked with for a number of years, out of Tucson, AZ: Help Us ID Species - Sky Island AllianceNext… I’ll give you the best kept secret I know for nature lovers; how easy it is to VOLUNTEER for wildlife. It can change your life and give you adventures & knowledge you never thought you’d have access to. No matter if you’re a banker, a soccer mom, a grandma, a student or an electrician… there are groups you can join near you. Most people have no idea.Volunteers Home Page, US Fish & Wildlife ServiceThere are infinite ways to learn about nature. School, reading, asking, etc. But nothing beats DOING. And this is extremely easy. The number of opportunities to volunteer in nature-related work are more than I can count. If you are in the USA, look at the link above; The US Fish & Wildlife Service Volunteer Opportunities page. I’ve used it. Whether you live in Mississippi, Alaska, the deserts of Arizona, or anywhere in between, there are ways that you can volunteer your time out in the field and get the best education about nature that you could imagine. Get your boots in the mud. Walk the prairies counting antelope. Scramble over rocks looking for tortoises. Wade though rivers picking up trash or fixing bank erosion. Change the ground bedding at a Wildlife Rehabilitation Facility. Spend two hours a week, and go home after. Spend a weekend a month and camp out with fellow volunteers for a weekend project. Spend a two week stretch in the wilderness on an advanced project. Be the car pool driver for your fellow volunteers. If you have a little time and no money, or a lot of time and can help with supplies… it doesn’t matter. Go out and help and you will learn more than you can imagine.US Fish & Wildlife is but one resource. One of hundreds or thousands.Water SentinelsThe picture above is a group I’ve helped with. Water Sentinels. It’s part of the Sierra Club Near YouVolunteering Opportunities Government Agencies Various outdoor opportunities in your stateWorking with Us | US Forest Service Self-explanatory. Much of this volunteer work is in National and State Parks. Also involves the planting of seedlings, a vital task usually done by volunteers. Programs for kids, too!Wildlife Conservation Volunteering That one is for international projects. However… please be aware that most of what you’ll find on this site internationally requires you to pay a considerable fee to participate. From $2000 - $8000. I can’t really wholeheartedly endorse these types of programs… at least not all of them. Since they are businesses, and they give you a grand adventure, they are “for profit”, so the animal’s welfare isn’t necessarily the first priority. I’ve provided this link just so you know that these programs exist. Some may certainly be worth a look, but my preference is to volunteer locally (and for free!). Every area has wildlife volunteer opportunities of their own, close to where you live.United States wildlife habitat Volunteer Opportunities That one covers everything from taking a whole summer to be a care-taker, to meet-ups on weekends to do local projects for a few hours.Get Involved That one is for locals in FloridaVolunteer Opportunities There’s for MichiganVolunteer - Sky Island Alliance A fantastic group I spent years with in Arizona. This is where I got introduced to someone who eventually recommended me for a spot on the jaguar research team:Volunteer Opportunities at Texas State Parks There’s one of the many in TexasI could go on, but I think I’ve made my point. Google “Wildlife Volunteer Opportunities in ______” or “Environmental Volunteer Opportunities in _____” (fill in your city or state)…and you will find the way to learn about nature, with other people who also care, also want to learn. You’ll be amazed at the adventurous things you will end up doing.Do you live somewhere other than America? Then try some of these:Here’s one of the resources in India: List of wildlife volunteering programs across India..Try this one in Brazil: ▷ Volunteer in Brazil | Top 10 Projects for 2018 | Volunteer WorldHow bout Norway? The Norwegian Wildlife HospitalOr South Africa? 7 Places To Volunteer With Animals In South Africa (Just don’t go swimming, wearing a seal suit!)Keep Calm and Volunteer in England: Animal Volunteer Work UKCheerio!Whether you’re in India, Norway, Chile, Australia or the USA, every place has people, groups and agencies that will give you these adventures if you offer them a bit of your time and effort. 13 year-olds can help and learn. 75 year-olds can help and learn.You can stay on Quora and read the hundreds of awesome nature and animal articles I’ve written (some are quite good, if I do say so myself!)… but instead of that, I would suggest you start searching for a group near you who go out and make a difference and who need your help. It’s a win/win situation. It’s easy and fascinating. You just have to get started. Take a friend with you! You can thank me later, for helping you discover a world of adventure that was right under your nose the whole time. I highly recommend it!EDIT: One important additional point… once you volunteer for any of these government agencies, non-profits, groups, etc., you'll become privy to many more fun opportunities directly from them, which aren't advertised on the websites. Once you are in the inner circle, get to know people, and start building a reputation as being dependable and passionate… you will get good references for the really good stuff at other organizations. This was my experience as well, and as an example, it's how I got a tip and good reference for a job with the US Fish & Wildlife Service. It was a month long research project that took me by helicopter to the bottom of a branch off the Grand Canyon. I was put on a waiting list, and about 6 months later, got the call. I felt very privileged, as the other members of the small team of seven were all reputable biologists and researchers from all over the country. This is also where I had my adventure of being stalked by a mountain lion that some of you may have read about, elsewhere on Quora. It was a thrill of a lifetime, and all due to having volunteered diligently, and building a solid reputation in that inner circle of wildlife professionals and volunteers, the year prior. All of this experience and reputation also eventually made me a shoe-in for, years later, getting a position at the Carolina Raptor Center, which was also life changing. So I urge you… just get started! Good luck! It's extremely satisfying.These are the Non government Organizations you should keep an eye out for if your passion is helping animals. Find out who they are to start saving lives today!World Wildlife Fund (WWF)One of the largest organizations in the world dedicated to save nature and ensure endangered species.You can go to their site and there you will find many different ways to contribute, amongst which are signing petitions or contacting officials to save endangered species, travel with WWF to natural habitats, make donations, adopt an animal, and many other ways to help make a difference.Humane Society of the United StatesCompletely dedicated to animal protection, this organization offers the opportunity to help in three big ways: Animal rescue and care, Animal advocacy, and Pets and shelters.Animal rescue and care – You can be a part of the rescue team, disaster response, mobile vet clinics, or sanctuaries and care centers.Animal advocacy – You can help advocate through public policy, corporate reforms, and major campaigns.Pets and shelters – Providing humane residence for animals in need.Go to their site to find out more.Read more on Activism with Compassion: Volunteering at Farm SanctuariesAmerican Society for the prevention of cruelty to animals (ASPCA)This society is a huge advocate for animals in need, ASPCA offers nationwide volunteer opportunities where you can advocate in legislative and public policies, get on the investigations and response team, advocate to protect horses from slaughter, volunteer at adoption centers, and be a pet foster parent.Find out more here.Animal Welfare Institute (AWI)The AWI seeks better treatment for animals everywhere, in the laboratory, on the farm, in commerce, at home, and in the wild.Though you should know that because AWI is the country’s leader in obtaining laws to benefit animals in need, it is slightly a less hands on kind of experience, the kind of help they encourage you to give is donating to their causes or getting involved with their initiatives and raising awareness for their cause.You can find all the information you need here.PetSmart CharitiesTheir goal is to end animal homelessness by investing in animal welfare charities all over the country to get pets adopted, and fund spay/neuter surgeries to prevent unplanned litters and reduce overpopulation from the start.And the best part is that they have a really good web page where you can easily find the adoption center or spay/neuter clinic closest to you, so you can waste no more time and start saving lives today.Teens Making a DifferenceAre you an animal-loving teen who wants to make a difference? Well, you’ve come to the right place!The Anti-Cruelty Society has been providing shelter and medical care to hundreds of thousands of animals since 1899. This is only possible thanks to hard-working, dedicated individuals who share a passion for helping animals and the people who love them. Volunteers have long been a backbone of the Society, providing much-needed assistance in every department to ensure that the shelter continues to operate smoothly and that the animals in our care stay happy and healthy while they wait for their forever homes. We encourage anyone--of any age--to volunteer! If you love animals and want to help, we have a number of different programs for you to participate in.Have questions? Email [email protected] for answers regarding this or any youth program at The Anti-Cruelty Society!Virtual OpportunitiesLIVE! At The Anti-Cruelty SocietyCalling all classrooms, community groups, and youth clubs! Are you looking for an engaging activity for your group to learn more about animals and animal welfare? Look no further than LIVE! at The Anti-Cruelty Society. This unique virtual program offers a behind-the-scenes look at some of the important facets of the work we do to help people and pets at The Anti-Cruelty Society. Click here for details and more!Service ProjectsThe Anti-Cruelty Society offers a wide range of home and classroom-based service learning projects. They are ideal for students in need of service learning hours, scout troops looking to earn a badge or teachers in search of a classroom project. Each different project is worth a specific amount of hours, but you can mix and match to suit your needs.Service Project DetailsWeb WarriorsWhether you’re stuck at home or are simply looking for unique ways to learn and volunteer this program may be just what you are looking for. Explore animal welfare topics, and make a positive impact in your community through our Web Warriors program!Read Web Warriors DetailsVeterinary Mentoring ProgramThe Anti-Cruelty Society, in partnership with The University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine, offers an exciting program for high school students with a serious interest in veterinary medicine or animal science-related careers. The Veterinary Mentoring Program is an academic program that introduces students to the many areas of science that they will encounter in veterinary school. Students attend seminars one Saturday a month at which they explore various topics and learn how clinical science is used to diagnosis and treat injury and disease in animals.Veterinary Mentoring DetailsTemporarily Suspended: (next four)After School AdvocatesThe After School Advocates program empowers teens ages 13-18 to explore animal welfare issues that affect the Chicago community. After School Advocates gives participants the opportunity to gain valuable insights into animal shelter operations, positive reinforcement training, animal careers, animal abuse in the community, and animal advocacy, while learning from professionals in the field. This limited admission, 4 week programs takes place on Tuesdays and Wednesdays with three sessions per year.After School Advocates DetailsJunior Crafting CrewIf you’re looking for a one-day, on-site volunteer opportunity for your group at the Society, consider signing up to for a Junior Crafting Crew! This onsite program engages youth clubs or classes to help shelter animals in a practical way by crafting enrichment projects using common everyday materials.Junior Crafting Crews DetailsShelter Service DayThe Anti-Cruelty Society welcomes teens to our Shelter Service Day! This unique volunteer opportunity occurs one Thursday per month from 4:30-6:00 p.m. Use your crafting skills to create toys and beds for the animals at The Anti-Cruelty Society so that they can stay cozy and happy while they are in our care.Shelter Service Day DetailsTeens Who CareThis program aims to provide a hands-on volunteer experience for high school youth ages 13-18. Participants will help our animals find homes by performing supportive tasks throughout the shelter departments such as cleaning, animal socialization, administrative assistance, and more.Teens Who Care DetailsVolunteering Opportunities with AnimalsWe know there are TONS of animal lovers out there who wish they could help every single animal in need. If that's you, know that, while you may not be able to help all animals, you can certainly make a difference for many right in your own community.Before looking for volunteer opportunities with animals, think about the type of involvement you want and how much time you realistically have available. For example, would you prefer working directly with animals or providing behind-the-scenes support doing administrative work or fundraising? Would you rather work in a group or do tasks you can perform alone? If you don't have a lot of time for a big commitment, volunteering for a one-time event or for two or three hours here and there can still make a difference.Once you've determined what type of volunteering you want to do and how much time you can devote to volunteering, look for volunteer opportunities with animals in your area and identify ones with missions you feel most passionate about.Below are some ideas for volunteering with animals to get you started. Many non-profit organizations that work with animals will need volunteers to help with one or more of the tasks below.Transport Animals to Appointments - Help shelter animals stay healthy by driving them to and from their vet appointments.Volunteer at a Pet Adoption Event - Shelters often organize adopt-a-thons and other events, many of which require setting up of booths, tents and displays. This is a perfect way to help out for a day if you aren't able to volunteer on a regular basis.Become a Foster Parent - Many animal shelters and rescue groups rely on caring foster parents to provide a loving home for the animals in their care. By volunteering to be a foster parent to an animal, you help keep him out of cages and kennels.Help with Laundry - Shelters go through a lot of laundry, all of which needs to be folded and put away. When volunteers help with these tasks, staff members are free to focus their efforts and attention on caring for the animals. A lot of shelters also rely on volunteers to wash the laundry, as hiring a laundry service often isn't in the budget.Use Your Photography Skills - Help animals find homes by capturing their personalities and overall adorableness with your camera. Photography can increase adoption rates, helping to save animals' lives.Become a Board Member - If you love fundraising and networking and have great management skills, consider becoming a board member at your local animal shelter.Social Media Management - Do you possess excellent social media and advertising skills? You can use these skills to bring attention to the cause of your favorite animal shelter by managing their social media accounts. Share the stories and photos of animals to help promote the shelter's cause and help more animals find homes.Sources:13 Creative Ways to Volunteer for Animal Shelters & RescuesHow Photography Can Save Pets' Lives | PetfinderVolunteer StoriesTestimonialsLocal Volunteer OpportunitiesHoliday Volunteer OpportunitiesB-Corp Partnerships5 Benefits of VolunteeringDownloadable ToolkitSimply put, volunteering your time saves precious lives.In 2018 alone, PAWS volunteers contributed a staggering 74,000 hours toward helping cats, dogs and wild animals in need.HOURS & LOCATIONSEach year, PAWS cares for more than 7,600 cats, dogs and wild animals, and we couldn’t do it without our compassionate and dedicated volunteers. Volunteers work side by side with PAWS staff caring for wildlife and companion animals and helping with education and outreach to the community. We provide the training for all volunteer positions – no prior experience required. Whether you’re feeding orphaned wildlife, helping find homes for cats and dogs, or contributing to the success of an event, you can play an important role in the life-saving work of PAWS.Ready to volunteer?Become a volunteerAre you looking to help animals in need, feel inspired, and meet like-minded animal lovers? Find the requirements for volunteering at PAWS and how to get started.LEARN MOREVolunteer opportunitiesFrom feeding baby birds at the PAWS Wildlife Center to making donor thank you calls from your home, PAWS has volunteer positions for anyone who wants to make a difference. Check out the many opportunities and get involved today!LEARN MOREInternships and externshipsPAWS has a variety of opportunities for those wanting to gain hands-on experience in the fields of companion animal sheltering, wildlife rehabilitation, veterinary medicine, and outreach/education.LEARN MOREPopular Ways to Volunteer with AnimalsLending a hand at the local animal shelter may be the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about volunteering with animals, but there are tons of different settings and roles beyond the shelter for prospective volunteers to explore. Wild and domestic animals alike need help from human volunteers, and even those who want to help animals without handling them directly can find their niche.Explore Animal Volunteer PathsAnimal Shelter VolunteeringFostering Pets in Your HomeAgricultural Animal VolunteeringVolunteering with a Therapy PetVolunteering in Wildlife ConservationVolunteering with Animals Abroad1Animal Shelter VolunteeringApproximately 6.5 million animals enter shelters annually according to the ASPCA. Caring for and homing shelter animals is a collaborative effort, so volunteers are needed to fill many different types of roles. Hands-on behavior modification, animal handling at off-site adoption events, educational outreach, groundskeeping, veterinary transportation, photography, administrative work and everything in between are crucial to the success of animal shelters and their furry residents.Common Volunteer Tasks & ResponsibilitiesSocializing catsWalking, running and playing with dogsTraining and behavior modificationBathing and groomingTransporting animals to vet appointments and adoption eventsCleaning and maintaining groundsCommunity outreach and educationWorking in the shelter retail storeWorking off-site adoption and fundraising eventsAdministrative and office workPet photographyGathering background data on adoptable animals through observation and interactionYou’re a good fit for this type of volunteering if …You’re at least 16-18 years old, depending on the volunteer positionYou can commit to a consistent volunteer scheduleYou can bend, lift and spend multiple hours on your feetYou work well with people as well as animalsYou communicate effectively in person and via email and textYou enjoy hands-on workReal-Life Animal Shelter Volunteer ProgramsVolunteer programs will vary from shelter to shelter, but the following examples of real-world programs can give future volunteers an idea of the opportunities that may be available in their area. Volunteers can find a program type that aligns with their interests, skills, and schedules and ask their local shelter if they have similar opportunities available.Animal Shelter Group VolunteeringGroup volunteering opportunities are great for students, office teams, clubs and other small organizations to lend a hand and build comradery. These are typically single sessions that last a few hours. Group volunteering at the Oregon Humane Society is open to small and large groups and can entail socializing animals and maintaining grounds.Youth Volunteer ProgramWhile many opportunities require volunteers to be at least 18 years old, many shelters have youth programs that allow kids and teens to help out in a variety of capacities. At Lucky Dog Animal Rescue in Virginia, youth volunteers can participate in adoption events and help with administrative work in the shelter office. Fundraising, educational camps and even birthday parties where kids make treats and toys to donate to the shelter make for hands-on volunteer opportunities off-site, too.Animal PhotographyShelter animals often get a quick photo snapped when they enter the shelter to help them get adopted, but these animals are often scared and uncertain when they first enter a shelter. Volunteer photographers play a key role in taking nice photos that make shelter pets look more appealing to prospective adopters. Photographers, like the ones at Peninsula Humane Society and SPCA, may also take photos at special events.Off-Site Adoption Events & Special EventsOrphans of the Storm shelter in Illinois notes the unique impact off-site and special event volunteers have on getting animals adopted. Volunteers develop relationships with animals outside of a shelter environment, get to know their histories and personalities and hype them up to potential adopters who either can’t or prefer not to visit shelters directly.Retail or Thrift Store VolunteeringShelters often have a retail component to help fund shelter operations. Volunteers may help out in these stores, taking in and selling merchandise. The Humane Society for Southwest Washington’s ReTails Store has been consistently voted the best thrift store in Clark County thanks to its volunteers, and proceeds go to help the shelter’s animals in need.Reading with RescuesReading programs are nice ways for kids to spend time with animals who can benefit from the soothing effects of a human voice and company. Kids can also gain confidence in their reading and speaking skills since animals are a non-judgmental audience. Minnesota’s Animal Humane Society Rescue Readers program offers a low-cost season pass for young readers who want to visit regularly.Teaching Animals Basic Behavior SkillsEast Bay SPCA puts a strong emphasis on behavior modification to help animals get adopted faster and thrive in loving homes. After receiving training, volunteers help in training, socialization and enriching animals during their shelter stay.Exercising PetsAnimals in shelters don’t usually have the ability to roam freely and get exercise on their own, so they rely on volunteers to help them stay healthy. Pet exercise can include walking dogs, running with high-energy dogs, playing with cats, and helping prospective adoptees burn off excess energy during adoption events. The San Clemente-Dana Point Animal Shelter’s Pet Project Foundation even has volunteers who set up safe exercise pens for their rabbit residents.2Fostering Pets in Your HomePet foster parents are essential players in the animal adoption and shelter system. When shelters don’t have room for new animal intakes, or they have animals who could benefit from being in a temporary home rather than a shelter, foster parents step in and open their homes to hundreds of thousands of pets each year. Keeping animals in foster homes rather than shelters gives them a chance to let their true personalities come out, which is key in finding permanent homes. The Fairfax County Animal Shelter in Virginia found that after placing 52 dogs thought to have behavioral problems in foster homes, 90 percent turned out to be normal and were adopted within a month. The shelter environment was simply too stressful. Foster homes are needed for all types of animals, not just stressed dogs, so it may be a great option for people who like the idea of having a significant impact on animals without the long-term commitment.Common Volunteer Tasks & ResponsibilitiesUnderstand the individual needs of your foster pet and ensure you can meet themProvide basic care, including exercise and vet visits, as well as a safe and loving homeSocialize foster pets with other animalsWork on trainingTake pictures of your foster pet to help them get adoptedLearn about your foster pet’s personality and behavior and talk about them to potential adoptersYou’re a good fit for this type of volunteering if …You want a flexible way to help animalsYou like caring for animals but don’t want or are unable to take on the full commitment of a permanent petYou can commit to care responsibilities for different animals, like walking dogs, administering medication, or nursing kittens.You have experience training animalsYou are patient and empatheticYou are able to promote your foster pets to help them get adoptedSources & Further ReadingBestFriends.org – Pet Fostering Q&AFoster Dogs, Inc. – Know Your Role as a Foster ParentOneGreenPlanet – Why Fostering Dogs and Cats is So Important and How to Get InvolvedPetFinder – Before You FosterPetFinder – How to Prepare Your Home for a Foster Pet3Volunteering with Animals in Agricultural SettingsThere are many opportunities for people to volunteer in agricultural settings, particularly at farm sanctuaries. These sanctuaries provide care and enrichment for animals who have escaped or been rescued from factory farms or other inhumane animal agriculture facilities. There are farm sanctuaries around the country, but since they strive to let animals live out their lives in the most natural way possible, more opportunities exist in rural areas, where animals have space to roam freely. Volunteers typically help with animal care, grounds maintenance and guided tours and education for the public.Common Volunteer Tasks & ResponsibilitiesBarn cleaningGrounds maintenance and minor repairsFeeding, cleaning and providing other care for animals in the shelter’s hospitalHospital chores, like cleaning and laundryFeeding barn animals and cleaning troughs and food dishesEgg collectingAdministrative supportPublic educationGuiding toursRunning the gift shop or visitor’s centerAssisting with special eventsAnswering visitor questionsYou’re a good fit for this type of volunteering if …You meet minimum age requirements or plan to volunteer with an adult parent or guardianYou can work in all types of weatherYou are physically fitYou are interested in volunteering on a regular basisYou are invested in the welfare of agricultural animalsSources & Further ReadingOneGreenPlanet – 10 Farm Sanctuaries in the U.S. That Are Great For VolunteeringThe Farm Sanctuary4Volunteering with a Therapy PetUnlike the other volunteer opportunities addressed here, where volunteers help with animals that live in sanctuaries or don’t have permanent homes, volunteering with a therapy pet typically involves pet owners working with their own pet to help people in their community. Therapy pets can play many helpful roles, like helping young students learn to read, relieving college student stress, calming nervous fliers at airports or enriching patients at hospitals and residents of elder care facilities.Common Volunteer Tasks & ResponsibilitiesParticipate in handler trainingParticipate in regular therapy pet training, including the American Kennel Club’s Canine Good Citizen training for dogsTalk with visiting people while remaining attentive to their petVisit hospitals, schools, assisted living facilities, airports and other participating locationsEnsure that both human and animal participants are calm and safeYou’re a good fit for this type of volunteering if …You have a well-behaved pet, and you work well togetherYou can commit to trainingYou can pass a criminal background checkYou and your therapy pet can commit to regular visits to participating organizationsYou are okay with others touching and interacting with your petSources & Further ReadingAKC Recognized Therapy Dog OrganizationsAlliance of Therapy DogsK9to5 National Therapy Dog RegistryLove on a LeashPet Partners Therapy Animal Program5Volunteering in Wildlife ConservationVolunteers can play important roles in animal care and wildlife conservation, both directly and indirectly. There’s a huge range of volunteering opportunities where you can help protect wildlife. Some volunteers may work in enclosed wildlife sanctuaries, caring for animals that can’t survive in the wild, while others may work in fish hatcheries or nature refuges ensuring animals can continue thriving in the wild.Common Volunteer Tasks & ResponsibilitiesVisitor educationWorking in the retail shop or visitor centerGrounds maintenance and restorationFeeding and food preparationCleaning enclosuresCommunity outreachGrant writing and fundraisingObservation and data gatheringSpecial events coordinationRehabilitation and medical carePreparing animals and facilities for seasonal changesYou’re a good fit for this type of volunteering if …You can meet the physical demands of volunteer work, such as lifting heavy objects, bending, twisting and navigating different terrainsYou are comfortable working on different types of tasks as neededYou can commit to training and a consistent volunteer scheduleYou can work in different climates and types of weatherYou communicate effectively with visitors and fellow volunteersSources & Further ReadingCalifornia Wildlife Center – Become a VolunteerU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service – VolunteersAnimal Ark Volunteer Program6Volunteering with Animals AbroadVolunteering with animals can be a global adventure. Wildlife and domestic animal populations around the world can benefit from volunteer efforts in a range of capacities, from caring for street dogs to making sure that newly hatched sea turtles survive the dangerous journey from beach to ocean. Because of the incredible breadth of ecosystems, animals, organizations, and needs around the world, international volunteers can offer specialized aid that they may not be able to provide in the U.S. Upon returning home, volunteers can continue spreading awareness of global ecological and animal welfare issues and apply their skills in local settings, too.You’re a good fit for this type of volunteering if …You have a passportYou are at least 18 years old or will be traveling with a parent or volunteer organizationYou are interested in ethical volunteerism abroad, not just social media cloutYou are flexible and adaptableYou can pay travel feesYou can get any requisite vaccinesYou can work in all weather conditions4 Rewarding Ways to Volunteer with Animals AbroadBecause there are so many ways to volunteer with animals abroad, you may find it helpful to narrow your focus to one of the following areas of interest before seeking volunteer positions.Wildlife Sanctuary VolunteeringWildlife sanctuary volunteers help care for sick, injured and orphaned wild animals. Volunteers can work with a wide range of indigenous wildlife in a single area, which makes sanctuary volunteering unique and exciting. Some sanctuaries focus on rehabilitation and release into the wild while others care for animals through the remainder of their lives. Australia, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Costa Rica are popular wildlife conservation destinations.Volunteering with Street AnimalsMany areas around the world do not have the resources to care for and house homeless animals. International animal care volunteers typically provide care to street dogs, but opportunities to work with other animals may be available as well. Volunteers generally feed, wash and play with street animals and may help shelter staff with cleaning facilities and providing medical care to animals. Opportunities are common throughout Asia and South America.Volunteering with Marine LifeCoastal regions around the world need volunteers to help preserve and study turtle populations and collect data on reefs, fish and other aquatic life. Volunteers may go on deep dives, comb beaches or help in rehabilitation and care facilities. Marine life volunteer opportunities are common in Costa Rica, Seychelles, Thailand, Fiji, Sri Lanka and Mexico, but opportunities are available in many other island and coastal areas.Farm and Livestock CareThose who volunteer on farms abroad often do a combination of animal care and farming work. Volunteers may learn about sustainable farming practices and help ensure animals are fed and tended. Volunteers may herd goats, milk cows and gather eggs as well as build and repair farm buildings and infrastructure. Farm and livestock opportunities are available in Thailand, Kenya and Nepal.Examples of Animal Volunteering Abroad ProgramsAustralia – Wildlife Animal SanctuaryVolunteers help out at Walkabout Wildlife Park, a wildlife sanctuary and Aboriginal cultural site, for 1 to 4 weeks. Volunteers spend half their on-site time working directly with animals and half maintaining sanctuary grounds. They have weekends free to explore the surrounding areas. Living accommodations are provided on-site.Location(s): Calga, AustraliaGet more infoAnimal Care/Animal Rights in GuatemalaAnimal care volunteers are placed in high-demand facilities, including dog and cat shelters, exotic animal refuges and veterinary clinics, and may perform many basic care duties. The facilities commonly rely on volunteers to clean enclosures, help with vet care, bathe and play with animals and work on small construction projects. Volunteers live with host families during their stay.Location(s): Antigua, GuatemalaGet more infoElephant and Endangered Sea Turtle Coastal Conservation in ThailandVolunteers can have a direct impact on two endangered species: the green sea turtle and the Asian elephant. The program begins on Thailand’s southern coast, where volunteers work with turtle conservation groups, like turtle nurseries. Then volunteers head to northern Thailand to help trainers reintroduce Asian elephants to semi-wild habitats.Location(s): Chiang Mai, Thailand and Phang Nga, ThailandGet more infoMarine and Coast Conservation Volunteer Program in SpainThis volunteer opportunity involves working with marine wildlife as well as studying coastal plants and animals nearby. Volunteer work focuses heavily on gathering data and monitoring wildlife like whales, turtles, dolphins and seabirds. Volunteers also help improve wetland ecosystems and work on underwater and beach cleanups.Location(s): Denia, SpainGet more infoThe Little Farm Friendly ProjectFarm volunteers assist with both animal care and sustainable agricultural work. Animal-focused duties can be hands-on, like feeding, bathing and raising, but volunteers also help with building enclosures and cleaning up after animals. Simple living accommodations are provided along with two meals per day. Volunteers are asked to commit to at least one week of work.Location(s): Ratchaburi, ThailandGet more infoHow and Where to Find Animal Volunteer OpportunitiesOnce you’ve decided how you want to volunteer with animals, it can sometimes be difficult finding organizations and programs that are located nearby and/or offer the exact type of volunteer work you’re looking for. Here are some tips and resources for tracking down the perfect animal volunteering opportunity.Look online for animal volunteering opportunitiesWhether going directly to an organization’s website to check their volunteer positions or searching through a volunteer database, looking online can be a great way to find a wide range of animal volunteer options. These websites can get you started in your search:Best Friends National Network: Find a Best Friends volunteer program in your area, or search for a Best Friends Network partner.The Humane Society of the United States: Search for over 60 types of Humane Society animal volunteer opportunities across the United States.Vet Set Go: Vet Set Go is a resource aimed at aspiring veterinarians, but anyone can use their volunteer opportunity search tool.Audubon Society – Audubon Near You: Ornithological enthusiasts may want to hone in on bird-specific volunteer opportunities. Local Audubon societies are a great resource.GoEco – Animal Volunteer Opportunities: Discover a range of opportunities to volunteer with animals abroad and read past volunteers’ experiences.Volunteer.gov: Get involved in government-sponsored wildlife and conservation volunteer projects through http://volunteer.gov.VolunteerMatch: VolunteerMatch is an extensive database of open volunteer positions. Narrow your search to find animal-focused opportunities in your area.GoAbroad – Animal Welfare Volunteer Programs Abroad: A popular resource for international teachers, GoAbroad also helps connect volunteers with animal welfare projects around the world.Petfinder: Unfamiliar with shelters in your area? Petfinder’s shelters and rescues search can help you find a place to volunteer.ASPCA: Learn about and find ASPCA volunteer opportunities by location and area of interest.International Volunteer HQ – Wildlife and Animal Care: International Volunteer HQ facilitates many animal volunteer opportunities abroad and provides helpful information to future volunteers.World Animal Net Directory: Search for animal protection agencies domestically and abroad to help narrow your volunteer opportunity search.Corporation for National and Community Service: This government resource helps volunteers find local opportunities in their area of interest.The Nature Conservancy – Volunteer and Attend Events: Find events and ways to volunteer with The Nature Conservancy, which has chapters around the country.Projects Abroad: Find international volunteering opportunities focused on conservation, animal care, marine life and more.Oceans 2 Earth: Oceans 2 Earth is a nonprofit organization that works exclusively with wildlife habitat conservation and animal welfare organizations around the world.Inquire in-person about volunteer needs near youStopping by an organization in person can often be the most direct way to get information about different volunteer positions. Staff or volunteer coordinators may even be able to give prospective volunteers more detailed information in person. Consider asking about opportunities by visiting a variety of places within your community, including:Animal sheltersWildlife sanctuaries and refugesVeterinary officesConservation organizationsFarm sanctuariesAnimal rehabilitation centersLocal fish and wildlife department or parks and recreation departmentHospitalsAnimal Volunteering ChecklistVolunteering with animals can be exciting and you may be eager to get started, but volunteers typically have to do some prep work before they can lend a hand. Specific procedures vary by organization, but these steps can help potential volunteers get ready to work with animals in need.Research the volunteer requirements and responsibilitiesBefore settling on an opportunity, prospective volunteers need to make sure they meet the position’s requirements and can fulfill all responsibilities. Volunteer coordinators can help potential volunteers find positions at their organizations that may be a good fit.Fill out a volunteer applicationVolunteer applications may be available online or at the volunteer organization. Applications often include requirements, codes of conduct and liability waivers, so be sure to carefully fill out and read through the form.Pay volunteer feesDepending on the organization, volunteers may have to pay a fee. For local organizations, this may cover training and supplies. International volunteering fees may be greater but can cover room, board, and extracurricular activities.Complete a background check, if requiredSome organizations require background checks. Background checks can take a while to process and may require an additional fee, so be sure to inquire about this when researching volunteer requirements.Attend any required volunteer trainingMost organizations require volunteers to attend training sessions before letting them help out. These training sessions are essential in preparing volunteers to provide the best help they can.Get ready to volunteer!Depending on how you volunteer, this can be as simple as putting on animal-friendly clothes or considerably more involved. Fosters, for instance, need to prepare their house for their new animals. International volunteers may need to get passports and vaccines squared away. Careful research and planning can make for a smooth and rewarding volunteer experience.IAdditional Resources and Reading for Volunteering with AnimalsVeterinary Volunteer: 4 Great Ways to Start Volunteering with Animals TodayHumane Society of the United States: What to Know Before You VolunteerWhy We Need More Animal VolunteersSo You Want to Be a Photographer in an Animal Shelter?How to Get Your Dream Job Working in Animal ConservationHow Animal Rescue Volunteers Create Happily Ever AftersAfter that… read through all these articles that I wrote on related subjects. You should find some helpful info in at least a few of these.Stefan Pociask's answer to How can I learn more about nature?Stefan Pociask's answer to Would volunteering at wildlife/nature centers improve my chances of getting a job working with birds?Stefan Pociask's answer to How hard is it to get a job in wildlife conservation? (US)Stefan Pociask's answer to How do you start a career in wildlife conservation?Stefan Pociask's answer to Where can I interact with animals in the wild, and contribute to their well-being?Stefan Pociask's answer to What is it like to be a birds-of-prey rehabilitation specialist?Take any job you can find, even the dirty ones that aren’t as popular… like cleaning trash from a river or riparian area. You will get a good reputation that way, and more and better things will come your way. Good luck!EDIT: ARRGH! I just checked google maps, and this is what has become of my beautiful wilderness full of Bald Eagles and endangered Gopher Tortoises and Indigo Snakes:Ah, well… we gave them a couple of extra decades I guess : (Some final excellent suggestions for you:Wildlife Rehabs. Do some research in your area, and I’m sure you can find at least one of several types of Rehabilitation Centers. Near me I have a Waterfowl Rescue, a Raptor Center and several Wildlife Rehab Centers. There are all sorts of Rehabs specializing in many different things, depending on where you live. You will get to interact with wild animals when they need you most, and when the time comes for them to be set free, you will interact with them when you go to release them into the wild. It’s very satisfying.BLM (Bureau of Land Management) Contact your local office and ask what types of field work opportunities they might have that you can volunteer your time to.Your State Wildlife agency. Same as above. Ask about volunteer opportunities.USFWS. Again, ask for volunteer opportunities.Local Universities. There are often grad students looking for volunteers to help them with projects. Check Natural Resources departments, or Wildlife Biology departments.Call these places and put your name on all their lists. Someone will eventually call you. Enjoy!Now… all you have to do is stop just reading about it, follow up on these websites… … contact them until you find one in your area that needs you… get up off your quarantined butt… and DO something!SO… THOSE ARE A FEW THAT SHOULD GET YOU STARTED!! GOOD LUCK!

My pathologist colleague believes Canada is harder to match into.In fact, his residency program in the United States included Canadian medical graduates who failed to match in Canada.All the best!2017 NRMP Main Residency Match the Largest Match on RecordMore than 43,000 applicants registered and more than 31,000 positionsoffered.National Resident Matching ProgramWASHINGTON, March 17, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today the National Resident Matching Program® (NRMP®) announced the results of the 2017 Main Residency Match®, the largest in its history. A record-high 35,969 U.S. and international medical school students and graduates vied for 31,757 positions, the most ever offered in the Match. The number of available first-year (PGY-1) positions rose to 28,849, 989 more than last year.2017 Main Residency Match InfographicMatch Day, celebrated around the world, is when applicants learn the location and specialty of the U.S. residency programs where they will train for the next three to seven years. Seniors at U.S. allopathic medical schools participate in Match Day ceremonies and open their Match letters in the company of family, friends, and advisors."We are honored to be part of this life-changing event for young physicians, and we wish them success in their residency training," says NRMP President and CEO Mona M. Signer. "There no doubt will be wonderful cause for celebration at the nation's medical schools today and for all Match participants as they commemorate this defining moment in their careers." Joint NRMP, American Medical Association (AMA), Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) celebrations take place on social media, this year with the #Match2017 hashtag.Program HighlightsResults of the Main Residency Match are closely watched because they can be predictors of future changes in physician workforce supply.Primary CareIn 2012, the NRMP implemented a policy requiring Match-participating programs to place all positions in the Match, spurring significant increases in the number of primary care positions offered. In the six years since implementation of the policy, Internal Medicine, Family Medicine, and Pediatrics have added a combined 2,900 positions, a 25.8 percent increase. Highlights from the 2017 Match include:Internal Medicine programs offered 7,233 positions, 209 more than in 2016; 7,101 (98.2%) positions filled, and 3,245 (44.9%) filled with U.S. allopathic seniors.Family Medicine programs offered 3,356 positions, 118 more than in 2016; 3,215 (95.8%) positions filled, and 1,513 (45.1%) filled with U.S. allopathic seniors. Since 2012, the number of U.S. allopathic seniors matching to Family Medicine has increased every year.Pediatrics programs offered 2,738 positions, 49 more than in 2016; 2,693 (98.4%) filled, and 1,849 (67.5%) filled with U.S. allopathic seniors.Other HighlightsEmergency Medicine offered 2,047 first-year positions, 152 more than in 2016, and filled all but six. The overall fill rate was 99.7 percent, and 78.2 percent were filled by U.S. seniors. Since 2012, the number of Emergency Medicine positions has increased by 379, or 23 percent.Psychiatry offered 1,495 first-year positions, 111 more than in 2016, and filled all but four. The overall fill rate was 99.7 percent, and 61.7 percent were filled by U.S. seniors. Since 2012, the number of Psychiatry positions has increased 378, or 34 percent, and the number of positions filled by U.S. allopathic seniors has increased by 307.Specialties with more than thirty positions that achieved the highest percentages of positions filled by U.S. allopathic seniors, which is one measure of competitiveness, were Integrated Plastic Surgery (93.1% U.S. seniors), Orthopedic Surgery (91.9% U.S. seniors), and Otolaryngology (91.5% U.S. seniors).Applicant HighlightsAlthough the 43,157 Match registrants was the most ever, the increase was due primarily to growth in U.S. allopathic medical school seniors and students/graduates of U.S. osteopathic medical schools.The number of U.S. allopathic medical school senior registrants was 19,030, 362 more than last year; of those, a record-high 18,539 submitted program choices, and 17,480 (94.3 %) matched to first-year positions. The 94 percent PGY-1 match rate for U.S. seniors has been consistent for many years.The number of U.S. osteopathic medical school applicants was a record high 5,000, and 3,590 submitted program choices, an increase of 608 over 2016; 2,933 (81.7%) matched to PGY-1 positions, also a record high.The number of U.S. citizen international medical school students and graduates (IMGs) who submitted program choices declined by 254 to 5,069; however, 54.8 percent (2,777) matched to PGY-1 positions, the highest match rate since 2004.The number of non-U.S. citizen IMGs who submitted program choices also declined, from 7,460 in 2016 to 7,284 this year, but 3,814 (52.4%) matched to first-year positions, 45 more than in 2016 and the highest match rate since 2005.Unmatched ApplicantsApplicants who did not match to a residency position participated in the NRMP Match Week Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program® (SOAP®) to attempt to obtain an unfilled position. This year, 1,177 of the 1,279 unfilled positions were offered during SOAP. SOAP results will be available in the full Match report published in May.View the Advance Data Tables, Match by the Numbers, and infographicThe Match ProcessThe Main Residency Match process begins in the fall for applicants, usually during the final year of medical school, when they send applications to the residency programs of their choice. Throughout the fall and early winter, applicants interview with programs. From mid-January to late February, applicants and program directors rank each other in order of preference and submit the preference lists to NRMP, which processes them using a computerized mathematical algorithm to match applicants with programs. Research on the NRMP algorithm was a basis for awarding The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel in 2012.About NRMPThe National Resident Matching Program® (NRMP®) is a private, non-profit organization established in 1952 at the request of medical students to provide an orderly and fair mechanism for matching the preferences of applicants for U.S. residency positions with the preferences of residency program directors. In addition to the annual Main Residency Match® for more than 43,000 registrants, the NRMP conducts Fellowship Matches for more than 60 subspecialties through its Specialties Matching Service® (SMS®).Contact:Diane [email protected] Performance in the 2017 Match - ECFMG NewsCharting Outcomes in the Match for International Medical Graduates 2016 (www.nrmp.org)[DISHEARTENING DISCUSSION FROM STUDENT DOCTOR NETWORK PATHOLOGY FORUM]2017 Pathology NRMP statisticsDiscussion in 'Pathology' started by Doormat, Mar 17, 2017.Doormat Status: Attending Physician It's official. Pathology is the worst of the worst. The bottom of the barrel. Statistics for the 2017 match are available on the NRMP website. This year, a paltry 231 US medical graduates applied for pathology residency positions. 35.9% of all pathology residency slots were filled by US applicants this year. That’s nearly 10 percentage points less than the next lowest major specialty -- family medicine, with 45.1% of positions filling with US grads. 21% of all pathology training programs in the US went unfilled. In recent years Pathology has been commoditized like no other specialty and US grads are taking notice. They are avoiding our specialty in droves.#1Doormat, Mar 17, 2017jupiterianvibe Status: Post Doc That's why I'm leaving. better late than never.I can assure you that every single one of those unfilled positions is going to be filled with an IMG. This field is a joke. Should be a PhD program.#2jupiterianvibe, Mar 17mikesheree Physician Gold Donor Classifieds Approved Status: Attending Physician Very sad but no surprise at all. #3mikesheree, Mar 17, 2017coroner Peace Sells...but who's buying? Physician Status: Attending Physician I wonder why it was so low this year. I remember when I matched, it was actually majority AMG's i.e. about 55%. This shouldn't be anything to get too depressed about...competitiveness and interest of specialties tend to wax and wane over the years with the exception of the few steady ones at the top e.g. derm, plastics, etc.jupiterianvibe said: That's why I'm leaving. better late than never. Care to tell us your backup plan? For all we know it could be anything from real estate to freelance hacking for the Russians...#4coroner, Mar 18, 2017postbacpremed87 Status:Medical Studentgbwillner said: ↑Definitely a down year and recent downward trend. CAP and other groups should be alarmed by this. When I joined this specialty, it wasn't competitive, but certainly more so than pediatrics and IM. Now it certainly seems like US students are staying away. Think they will consider cutting spots now? 1/5 of all spots didn't fill. I think US students would be open to Pathology if they started limiting Path spots. #6postbacpremed87, Mar 18, 2017Thrombus Member Status: postbacpremed87 said: ↑Think they will consider cutting spots now? 1/5 of all spots didn't fill. I think US students would be open to Pathology if they started limiting Path spots. Big Academia thrives on the labor and the 6 figure pay checks that come with it. No way they cut. We don’t need pathologists for 10 years at least. Pathology is run by fools!!!#7Thrombus, Mar 18, 2017jupiterianvibe Status: Post Doc Thrombus said:Pathology is run by fools!!! I disagree.The pathology rank-and-file are fools, but its overlords are geniuses. #8jupiterianvibe, Mar 18, 2017jupiterianvibe Status: Post Doc gbwillner said: ↑Definitely a down year and recent downward trend. CAP and other groups should be alarmed by this. When I joined this specialty, it wasn't competitive, but certainly more so than pediatrics and IM. Now it certainly seems like US students are staying away.They're gonna do the same thing they do every year. "it's just a bad year, let's get more data".Meanwhile every unfilled spot is going to go to whatever IMG walks through the door. We've no standards in this field. None.I wonder if the ivy leagues like that the rest of the field is populated by dumbasses so that they can have more consults sent to them (kidding, kind of) #9jupiterianvibe, Mar 18, 2017Pathman1000 Status: Resident [Any Field]docprincess said: ↑Please stop spreading rumors about this speciality.if you are not happy, please leave this field and apply for another speciality. But realize that everyone doesn't want to go for Internal medicine or family medicine. People are frustrated in those fields too. Every field has its prons and cons. You can't tract any speciality down based on no reasons. This is a field of interest and skill. US grads don't apply much to pathology because they do not have Pathology in their medical school curriculum. Many of them don't know what this field is about. Foreign grads have extensive exposure and so they do have interest. You show a slide to one us grad and one foreign grad, you will see the difference. Still those US grads who are applying to this field do rotations in path and they really like it. I personally know many who switched from SURGERY or other speciality to Pathology. So please please stop this negativity on this forum. This is still great field for those who have skills to make diagnoses. It's not easy. You look under microscope and you realize it's not easy. People who are new to this field , do not go by any negative posts.We all know it's interesting, but few are hiring. Talk to the fellows; the people on this forum are not lying. Jobs are not plentiful and 2-3 fellowships is common! US medical students aren't stupid. They see the writing on the wall! #12Pathman1000, Mar 19, 2017DrfluffyMD Status: Resident [Any Field]docprincess said: ↑US grads don't apply much to pathology because they do not have Pathology in their medical school Parked at Loopia derm curriculum during my us med school either#13DrfluffyMD, Mar 19, 2017Granular Status:Attending Physician@ docprincess: Are you kidding? In executive suites, pathology is seen as a commodity, regardless of your opinion of the field. Hospitals are contracting out their labs to "industry" or "expert" management teams as mechanisms to reduce costs. They go to the lowest bidders - like they do for food service or cleaning/environmental services. Do the hospitals' electricians need a medical director? Informed US med students do not want to go through all the expense and training for the reality of being viewed/treated like technicians or servants. For US grads, the high cost of med school raises the bar for what fields they should pursue to get the proper ROI; for FMGs, perhaps the financial barriers to entry are lower, so the ROI of becoming a pathologist is adequate.The medical-academic-industrial complex does not want this situation to change. UROs, Derms, GIs, are all profiting enormously from the current situation, at the expense of pathologists and pathology. Train more folks, and "per slide" bids will go lower. The field is doomed, and the problems are not analogous to the situations docprincess is invoking - frustration due to other factors (perhaps documentation, billing, etc). To correlate with path, imagine too many derms. Rather than refer patients to a dermatologist, family practitioners hire them in their practices as non-partners, bill for their work, and pay them 20% of their professional fees. Until they can find one to do it for less. Get real, docprincess!#14Granular, Mar 19, 2017jupiterianvibe Status:Post Doc DrfluffyMD said: ↑No derm curriculum during my us med school either. I know right? Academic pathology likes to attribute the lack of interest in our field to a lack of exposure in medical school (there are tons of articles saying this), all the while ignoring any evidence that refutes their stupid hypothesis, such as the fact that derm/ophthal/uro/anesthesia always do better yet are off the radar in most schools. They also ignore the fact that family medicine is right down there with us yet most schools have a heavy family medicine component in their curriculum. So exposure does not correlate with interest. Dead theory. Put it to rest.Students don't want to become pathologists because we are about as professional as a lab tech nowadays. monkeys.can't live in a decent place.can't get a job with professional respect.always having your income shaved by businessmen.working as a servant for your former classmates.all garbage.docprincess sounds like one of those 'grateful' IMGs. #15jupiterianvibe, Mar 19, 2017Thrombus Member docprincess said: ↑I am US grad for those who have concerns regarding IMG/AMG. But I did rotations in Pathology. I was just trying to say that those rotations helped me to decide my career and I like what I am doing. Everyone might have their own opinions regarding this field but it doesn't have to be bad for all. I am third year resident at prestigious institute and The advances in this field are beyond imagination unless you have worked in top ten institutions in this country.Are you aware of the number of private pathologists and their groups being forced out of their hospitals thanks to the large number of foreign nationals willing to work for pennies on the dollar, a direct result of overtraining thanks to reliance of Big Academia on the welfare rolls?#18Thrombus, Mar 19, 2017 Last edited by a moderator: Mar 19, 2017path24 Status:Attending PhysicianGo into pathology and you have no control/stability over your entire career. The truth is getting out some? A pathologist is just a glorified lab tech that can easily be replaced.#19path24, Mar 20, 2017jupiterianvibe Status:Post DocAZpath said: ↑Our leadership is stupid. Less spots for sure. Membership has got to be more vocal. If practicing docs don't press the issue the status quo will rule.Contact the CAP HOD members. We need to give CAP an enema. How can this be done when the CAPs major revenue source is big labs?i recently read the book 'the rape of emergency medicine'. what happened in that was the emergency medicine national society was corrupt in that corporate interests were superseding the professional interests, so a bunch of emergency docs got together to form their own thing, and it worked out for the field as a whole.Pathologists should follow suit.#21jupiterianvibe, Mar 21, 2017pathstudent Sound Kapital Status: Pre-Health (Field Undecided) I think it was even worse before. I think only a little over 100 applied in the late 90s. But there were 25% less spots back then #22pathstudent, Mar 21, 2017Thrombus Member KeratinPearls said: ↑Man there's a lot of negativity on here nowadays. Starting to think dudes like jupitervibes is Thrombus' second screenname. Nope, not me! Although I have been trying to sound the alarm for 10 plus years now. Now crazy Thrombus is proving to be sage as pathologists are forced to take drastic pay cuts, forced out of their jobs, lose their practices, consolidate, etc all due to the massive overtraining that has been taking place for decades thanks to government/resident subsidized Big Academia.#24Thrombus, Mar 22, 2017WEBB PINKERTON Status: Non-Student It could be our dead outlook on life..Maybe you are right.I really don't care what people believe but I have lost count of the "card carrying" atheists I have ran into in this field. There are other pathology listservs/blogs online with these liberal dbags who love to show their intellectual superiority over the "believers". All they accomplished was chasing away the decent posters on the sites.#28WEBB PINKERTON, Mar 23, 2017gbwillnerPastafarianModerator Emeritus Status:Attending PhysicianWEBB PINKERTON said: ↑It could be our dead outlook on life..Maybe you are right.I really don't care what people believe but I have lost count of the "card carrying" atheists I have ran into in this field. There are other pathology listservs/blogs online with these liberal dbags who love to show their intellectual superiority over the "believers". All they accomplished was chasing away the decent posters on the sites.Don't worry- they won't be renewed at the time of carousel.#31gbwillner, Mar 23, 2017pathstudentSound Kapital Status:Pre-Health (Field Undecided)does anyone have the data? I always like seeing which top tier programs didn't fill.And to the woman above who said that we couldn't believe how advanced they are at a top ten academic facility, I couldn't disagree more. I came from a place like your and am now in a quaternary care private practice and the physicians in my community are way more advanced than the ones from where I trained.#34pathstudent, Mar 23, 2017yaahBoringAdministrator Physician Status:Attending Physician Sometimes institutions technically list that they have "residency spots" even though they don't plan on filling them, I think the reason being that it's a lot harder to get a spot back once you give it up than to just not fill it for a few years. At my residency program, they always had two dermpath spots but only filled one until starting a few years ago. So maybe this is a good thing - some programs are actually shrinking their residency. I am not in academics though, so I don't really know.#42yaah, Mar 26, 2017icpshootyz Status:Attending PhysicianWEBB PINKERTON said: ↑It could be our dead outlook on life..Maybe you are right.I really don't care what people believe but I have lost count of the "card carrying" atheists I have ran into in this field. There are other pathology listservs/blogs online with these liberal dbags who love to show their intellectual superiority over the "believers". All they accomplished was chasing away the decent posters on the sites.When do I get my card? I must have missed when they were handing them out...#43icpshootyz, Mar 27, 2017dr.weiner Status:Attending PhysicianI'd say this forum goes a long way in contributing to the decrease in US grads applying. It's one of the few online resources out there with practicing pathologists. Unfortunately the trolls are the loudest and discourage people from even doing a rotation. The happy people in path (the vast majority) have better things to do than troll this forum. Unfortunately people like yaah who constantly offer the reasonable contrarian opinion are few and far between. I don't blame them. It has to be exhausting.I guess I should relish my personal job security and marketability but I just feel bad for the lack of self respect that people have for their own livelihood and whatever circumstances lead them to this level of self loathing. I also think pathologists have the most free time at a computer than any other field and this contributes to the problem.Life isn't perfect, but path was the only field in medicine I could actually enjoy on a daily basis, I make more money per hour (40-45 hours a week) and have more vacation than most people in medicine. I have absolutely no regrets about my specialty choice. SDN was helpful for me but I had to sift through the doom and gloom 10 years ago to check the field out for myself to really figure it out what it entailed. I recommend that anyone the least bit interested should do the same.But what I do I know, I'm just a practicing pathologist and have been a member of this forum for over a decade.#45dr.weiner, Mar 28, 2017y2k_free_radical gbwillner said: ↑I think a point that is often overlooked is that, despite the market issues/pressures on our field, as noted above, we tend to do better monetarily than most other docs. We might make 70 cents on the dollar sometimes, but those dollars tend to be great in number. Peds and family docs in general don't make anywhere near what we make. Now, of course there are some who own their own practices and make a lot of money, but they are not the norm. We are also not on par with what our most closely interacting docs (oncologists, surgeons) make. But I think we have been very myopic on this forum, and things for the average pathologist are not as dim as would seem.I truly hope you two are correct about our sanguine future and we pessimists are wrong.#47y2k_free_radical, Mar 29, 2017neoevolution Status:Medical StudentI'm a US MD student and we cover normal histology in M1 and pathology in M2, but it's mostly to the extent that's relevant for Step 1. Radiology and derm get similar coverage. I think that's as much exposure as our curriculum can fit considering everything else we need to cover#48neoevolution, Mar 29, 2017razorJust an osteopathic turd awaiting excretion Status:Medical Studentdr. I'm a 4th year DO student matched into pathology. I have nowhere near any of the experience to comment on the status of pathology, but I can tell you I have met several pathologists in my medical school career that echo the above quoted opinion.I have made it a point to visit with the pathologists at the different hospitals I rotate at. Since I'm a DO, we do most of our rotations at private community hospitals so these aren't academic pathologists just trying to fill their program. These are just happy pathologists out working in the community. Off the top of my head I can count 11 pathologists I met from different hospitals in different cities over the last 2 years of clinical rotations (not counting the faculty/residents at academic centers where I interviewed). Every single one of them loved their job, called pathology "the best kept secret" in medicine, and recommended it to me. When asked about the "job market" in pathology they all pretty much laughed and said that has been the word on the street for 20 years. They admitted getting a job isn't as much of a job-seekers market as primary care, but none of them spoke the doom and gloom on SDN. Also, the ages of these pathologist ranged from <5 years out of residency to near-retirement.I only bring this up because my face-to-face experience with 11 out of 11 private practice pathologists in the real world is 180 degrees different than this forum would lead the general medical community to think. So, my recommendation to any interested medical student is to walk into the pathology department at every hospital you go to and introduce yourself to the pathologists (my experience was even easier, most of my attendings would take me to the pathologists or email them to introduce me). Ask them for yourself. I'm not saying ignore the posters on this forum, just take it into consideration as useful information, because I respect the fact that people posting on here probably have very valid and real experiences to back up their dismal outlook. I'm not trying to start a "flee pathology now, path is dead" rant; I just wanted to share my perspective as a student for future young'uns in my shoes. Peace.#49razor, Mar 30, 2017yaahBoringAdministrator Physician Status:Attending Physiciany2k_free_radical said: ↑I truly hope you two are correct about our sanguine future and we pessimists are wrong.Pessimists can never be proven wrong. Their predictions are just delayed awhile, or they will latch on to some specific thing to prove their point. Optimists can have a similar problem although they are at least a lot more pleasant to be around and will typically work hard to keep improving things that they see need to be improved.I have always been an advocate for nuance and realism. Anecdotes can be informative but are not necessarily trend setting. Trends can be informative but are not necessarily easily understandable or predictive.The pessimist has the luxury of always dwelling in the negative. When the negative doesn't happen as much as they thought, they just shift that to further into the future. If they don't want to do that, they identify negative trends to focus on amidst the good.I tend to think it is far too exhausting and useless to be Chicken Little. It gets you nothing. If your fears are confirmed, you don't get a prize, you just get your worst fears confirmed and you can talk about how right you were. That and 25 cents can get you 10 minutes at a parking meter. Personally, I acknowledge the challenges and the difficulties, but work to make the future as good as I can. And I try to surround myself with people who feel the same way. Selfishness only goes so far, and the truly selfish usually end up the most miserable.If I listened to some people on this forum 13 years ago, I wouldn't be in the greatest career I could have imagined, working with a great group of people, and getting paid well to do something I enjoy and have a talent for. But that being said, you do have to listen to all voices. Understand what you are doing, understand who you are and what you want, and always be prepared and vigilant. So I appreciate the naysayers on this forum as well as the optimists, although I have greater respect for the realists.#50yaah, Mar 31, 2017https://www.carms.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/2017-CaRMS-Forum-web-deck-EN.pdf

Special Report: How Korea trounced U.S. in race to test people for coronavirusSpecial Report: How Korea trounced U.S. in race to test people for coronavirusChad Terhune, Dan Levine, Hyunjoo Jin, Jane Lanhee Lee[[SEOUL - In late January, South Korean health officials summoned representatives from more than 20 medical companies from their lunar New Year celebrations to a conference room tucked inside Seoul’s busy train station.One of the country’s top infectious disease officials delivered an urgent message: South Korea needed an effective test immediately to detect the novel coronavirus, then running rampant in China. He promised the companies swift regulatory approval.Though there were only four known cases in South Korea at that point, “we were very nervous. We believed that it could develop into a pandemic,” one attendee, Lee Sang-won, an infectious diseases expert at the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told Reuters.“We acted like an army,” he said.A week after the Jan. 27 meeting, South Korea’s CDC approved one company’s diagnostic test. Another company soon followed. By the end of February, South Korea was making headlines around the world for its drive-through screening centers and ability to test thousands of people daily.South Korea’s swift action stands in stark contrast to what has transpired in the United States. Seven weeks after the train station meeting, the Koreans have tested well over 290,000 people and identified over 8,000 infections. New cases are falling off: Ninety-three were reported Wednesday, down from a daily peak of 909 two weeks earlier.The United States, whose first case was detected the same day as South Korea’s, is not even close to meeting demand for testing. About 60,000 tests have been run by public and private labs in a country of 330 million, federal officials said Tuesday.As a result, U.S. officials don’t fully grasp how many Americans have been infected and where they are concentrated - crucial to containment efforts. While more than 7,000 U.S. cases had been identified as of Wednesday, as many as 96 million people could be infected in coming months, and 480,000 could die, according to a projection prepared for the American Hospital Association by Dr. James Lawler, an infectious disease expert at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.“You cannot fight what you cannot see,” said Roger Klein, a former laboratory medical director at the Cleveland Clinic and previously an adviser to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on clinical laboratory issues.How the United States fell so far behind South Korea, according to infectious disease experts, clinicians and state and local officials, is a tale of many contrasts in the two nations’ public health systems: a streamlined bureaucracyversus a congested one, bold versus cautious leadership, and a sense of urgency versus a reliance on protocol.The delayed and chaotic testing in the United States will cost lives, potentially including those of doctors and nurses, many medical experts predict. Already more than 100 people have died overall, and fears of rampant spread have led to extraordinary restrictions on social interaction, upending the U.S. economy, schools, hospitals and everyday life.“It makes me feel like I’m living in a farce,” said Dr. Ritu Thamman, a cardiologist and clinical assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Even hospital staff who may have been exposed can’t get a test, she said. “We are a rich country but we don’t have these kinds of things?”The administration of President Donald Trump was tripped up by government rules and conventions, former officials and public health experts say. Instead of drafting the private sector early on to develop tests, as South Korea did, U.S. health officials relied, as is customary, on test kits prepared by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, some of which proved faulty. Then, sticking to its time-consuming vetting procedures, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration didn’t approve tests other than the CDC’s until Feb. 29, more than five weeks after discussions with outside labs had begun.Meanwhile, in the absence of enough kits, the CDC insisted for weeks on narrow criteria for testing, recommending it only when a person had recently been to China or other hot spots or had contact with someone known to be infected. As a result, the federal government failed to screen an untold number of Americans and missed opportunities to contain the spread, clinicians and public health experts say.South Korea took a risk, releasing briskly vetted tests, then circling back later to spot check their effectiveness. By contrast, the United States’ FDA said it wanted to ensure, upfront, that the tests were accurate before they went out to millions of Americans.“There are always opportunities to learn from situations like this one,” FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn, who has been on the job only three months, told Reuters. “But one thing I will stand firm on: We cannot compromise on the quality of the tests because what would be worse than no tests at all is wildly inaccurate test results.”In a statement, CDC spokesman Benjamin Haynes said, “This process has not gone as smoothly as we would have liked.” But he said “more and more state labs have come online, increasing our public health system’s ability to detect and respond to cases.”Bombarded by criticism amid a re-election campaign, Trump vowed on Friday to ramp up production of test kits in partnership with private companies and to make the diagnostic tests more widely available at hospitals and in-store parking lots. This week, the FDA said more than 35 universities, hospitals and lab companies had begun running their own tests, under the agency’s revised policy.But it may be weeks before enough tests are on hand to fill the need.“The idea of anybody getting (tested) easily the way people in other countries are doing it, we’re not set up for that,” Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases told a House committee last week. “That is a failing. Let’s admit it.”It’s a problem many Americans, accustomed to hearing they have the most advanced medical care in the world, find hard to fathom.“I don’t know how we messed this up so badly,” said Ruth Blodgett, 65, whose husband of the same age couldn’t get a coronavirus test on Saturday in an urgent care clinic outside Rochester, New York, even though he was coughing and the doctor ordered one for him. “We got caught flat-footed. For America, that’s unacceptable.”‘HURRY UP AND DEVELOP THE KITS’At the pivotal Jan. 27 meeting at the Seoul train station, South Korean government leaders told companies they were cleared for takeoff.“They were told that the ‘emergency use authorization’ would be coming, so hurry up and develop the kits,” said Lee Hyukmin, head of the coronavirus task force at the Korean Society for Laboratory Medicine, who was at the meeting.One of the companies was Kogene Biotech Co Ltd, whose test kit was the only one to work initially. The government announced its approval on Feb. 4.“The government acted quickly,” said Myoah Baek, an executive director at Kogene. The Korean CDC “disclosed information on test methods so test kit makers were able to speed up development.”Lee Hyukmin of the Korean laboratory society said the government was swift - but not reckless.“Of course, a kit that’s approved in one week isn’t as good as one that goes through a year of clinical trials,” he said. So in the early days, Lee said, the government cross-checked cases to ensure the tests were working properly.Cross-checking involved verifying that labs got the same result the government did on an initial pool of patient samples. As of last week, nearly 100 labs were available to perform tests nationwide, according to government figures.South Korea’s rapid response to the new coronavirus resulted from scars of the past.In the aftermath of the 2015 outbreak of MERS, short for the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, critics slammed then-President Park Geun-hye and her administration for a slow response and a lack of transparency. Public confidence waned in Park, who was impeached in 2017 following an unrelated corruption scandal.The country had 186 MERS cases, more than anywhere outside the Middle East, including 38 deaths.“We can’t ever forget the incident. It is engraved in our mind,” the Korean CDC’s Lee Sang-won said. “We were hurt so much, and we felt remorseful.”‘A REAL FOUL UP’On Jan. 31, only days after the Seoul train station meeting, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) declared the novel coronavirus a public health emergency, citing a similar pronouncement from the World Health Organization.HHS oversees the separate operations of the FDA and CDC, key agencies involved in responding to the pandemic. The CDC was responsible for developing the initial test kits for the virus. Then, under longstanding protocols, the FDA needed to approve the test before it could be sent to state and local labs around the country. Private labs and large hospitals could develop their own tests or work off the CDC version.On Feb. 3, amid the preparations to address the emergency, the FDA hosted an all-day conference at its headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, which had been scheduled well before the outbreak. Regulators, researchers and industry representatives gathered to discuss the general process for putting diagnostic tests cleared under emergencies on the path to permanent approval by the FDA.Though coronavirus was now the hottest topic in global medicine, a broadcast of the meeting conveyed little sense of urgency about the epidemic sweeping the globe. It was mentioned in passing but regulators mostly stuck to their Powerpoint presentations.In his remarks, Dr. Timothy Stenzel, who oversees the FDA’s review of diagnostic tests, spoke broadly about the agency’s mission to protect public health: “It’s our goal to be first in the world wherever possible to authorize new tests.”Carolyn Hiller, a program director at the Medical Device Innovation Consortium, which hosted the event alongside FDA, said there were discussions with the agency about postponing the meeting because of the coronavirus outbreak, but both sides opted to go ahead.“The whole coronavirus thing blew up in real time while this was happening,” she said.Stenzel did not respond to a request for comment. In a statement, the FDA acknowledged that the coronavirus was not a “specific topic on the agenda.” But it said the agency already was talking to test developers and “the conference was timely and addressed issues important” to firms and institutions looking to produce a test.The following day, Feb. 4, the FDA greenlighted a CDC test kit for the virus.Weeks of chaos would follow.By Feb. 8, some states and other public labs were complaining that the CDC’s test wasn’t working because of a flawed component that gave inconclusive results. Three days later, the CDC told the labs that it was manufacturing a new component.As of mid-February, the federal government remained stuck in first gear. The CDC was the primary supplier of tests across much of the country, and other labs couldn’t immediately deploy their own without the FDA’s blessing.HHS said it has assigned a team of outside scientists to examine what went wrong with the CDC’s initial batch of tests, such as whether there was a manufacturing defect, flawed design or contamination in the agency’s lab. The precise problem has not been identified.The CDC didn’t send out new test kits until late February. Meanwhile, public health experts say, a crucial window was closing on containing the virus, which by then was known to have infected more than 60 people.The U.S. emergency declaration issued in late January created additional hurdles that hindered a wider expansion in testing, according to former federal officials and lab professionals.The declaration eased the way for drugmakers to pursue vaccines and antiviral treatments for COVID-19. But public health experts said that the same declaration made it harder to expand diagnostic testing outside the CDC.That’s because the declaration required diagnostic tests developed by individual labs, such as those at hospitals or universities, to undergo greater scrutiny than in non-emergencies - presumably because the stakes are higher.“Paradoxically, it increased regulations on diagnostics while it created an easier pathway for vaccines and antivirals,” said Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security. “There was a real foul-up with diagnostic tests that has exposed a flaw in the United States’ pandemic response plan.”Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine and infectious diseases at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, said the CDC and FDA stuck to their conventional playbook for too long.“Traditional public health thinking is,’Don’t create widespread panic and don’t go over the top. Keep the testing narrow in a precision rifle approach rather than a mass, shotgun approach,’” Schaffner said. “That failed in this instance. This virus acted differently and it overwhelmed the U.S. system. South Korea had a much better sense of what was happening.”In a statement Tuesday, the CDC said: “After finding out that some labs could not fully verify the test, CDC began working on a solution and identifying the source of the problem …. CDC, in conjunction with FDA, determined how to move forward and shared this information immediately with public health labs.”The CDC statement also suggested that the agency was not exclusively responsible for testing delays.The CDC was “not an impediment” to getting large-scale commercial testing started, according to the statement. That was the role of the FDA, and as the initial U.S. cases were being detected in late January and early February, CDC director Dr. Robert Redfield highlighted the need for that agency to act, according to the CDC statement.Alberto Gutierrez, who led the FDA’s office overseeing diagnostic testing from 2009 to 2017, said the agency proceeded with caution because it saw itself as the last line of defense against opportunistic companies looking to cash in on threats to public health. “There is money to be made in an emergency, and a lot of people try to take advantage of that,” Gutierrez said. “The problem the FDA faces is, do you let it become the Wild West?”“The FDA had good intentions,” he said.RAMPING UPAs U.S. efforts faltered, South Korean officials cleared a test from a second company, Seegene Inc, on Feb. 12.With many more tests in hand, health officials were well armed to attack a fast-moving virus and aggressively track down people who may have been exposed. This testing-backed offensive helped South Korea reduce the number of new cases over a matter of weeks, serving as a model for other countries grappling with the pandemic.In mid-February, cases spiked at a secretive church in the southeastern city of Daegu. On Feb. 26, Daegu city officials said they would test every single member of the church, including those without symptoms.As of March 10, Daegu said that it had tested almost all of the 10,000 members of the church in that area, and about 40% came back positive. The city, which now accounts for about three-quarters of total infections in South Korea, has seen new cases sharply drop. On Wednesday, officials announced 46 new cases compared to a peak of 741 cases on Feb. 29.The country went from two approved test makers on Feb. 18 to five as of last week, according to the Korean CDC.Slideshow (3 Images)“To my surprise, test kit makers were able to boost production quickly,” Korean CDC’s Lee Sang-won said.PLEADING WITH WASHINGTONBy Feb. 24, state and local labs in the United States were pleading with the FDA to relax its rules so the nation no longer had to rely so heavily on the CDC for testing. They asked Hahn, the FDA commissioner, for “enforcement discretion” so they could use their own lab-developed tests.“We are now many weeks into the response with still no diagnostic or surveillance test available outside of CDC for the vast majority of our member laboratories,” Scott Becker, chief executive of the Association of Public Health Laboratories, and Grace Kubin, lab services director at the Texas Department of State Health Services, wrote to Hahn on Feb. 24 in a letter reviewed by Reuters.In an interview, Becker, whose group represents more than 100 state and local health laboratories, called the letter a “Hail Mary” pass, an act of desperation.“The entire lab community was really coming unglued. We knew we could develop tests and were very capable of doing that, but we felt hamstrung” Becker told Reuters.He said labs wanted FDA to make more tests available so they could run more patient samples at a faster pace.Two days after receiving Becker’s letter, the FDA commissioner said his agency was ready to approve new outside tests quickly - if its requirements for accuracy were satisfied.“False diagnostic test results can lead to significant adverse public health consequences,” Hahn wrote to the Association of Public Health Laboratories in a Feb. 26 letter, “not only serious implications for individual patient care but also serious implications for the analyses of disease progression and for public health decision-making.”Under increasing pressure, the FDA relented and removed many of the bureaucratic obstacles. On Feb. 29, the agency said public and private labs, including academic medical centers, could start using their own tests before the FDA had completed its full review. Laboratories had 15 business days to submit a completed application, which could be approved retroactively.That same day, the Trump administration confirmed the first death in the United States from the coronavirus, a man in his 50s in Washington state.On March 2, Stenzel at the FDA’s diagnostic testing office hosted a webinar for lab test developers, highlighting additional challenges, including a shortage of viral samples needed for validation of test results. Some labs also have reported shortages of other key supplies and ingredients, as well as the need for more trained personnel.As U.S. regulators rewrote their policies, South Korean municipalities were opening roadside testing facilities across the country, collecting samples in minutes while people sat in their cars.At a closed-door meeting last week in Congress, U.S. Representative Raul Ruiz, a Democrat from California and an emergency-room physician who treated patients during the 2009 H1N1 influenza outbreak, pressed the FDA commissioner and other members of the Trump administration on why South Korea was lapping the United States in its response.“Why don’t we have drive-through testing like South Korea?” Ruiz asked leaders of the president’s coronavirus task force.Ruiz told Reuters the officials said they were working on it. On their own, some hospitals and communities have begun offering drive-through testing in Colorado, New York, Texas and elsewhere.In recent days, as the public criticism grew louder, Trump appointed a testing czar to improve coordination across agencies. The FDA launched a 24-hour hotline for laboratories needing help to accelerate testing, approved two company applications for higher-volume testing and granted states the flexibility to authorize new tests so labs can bypass the FDA.Despite the new moves, Ruiz said he fears America is still weeks away from approaching what South Korea has accomplished. “I think months have been lost here,” Ruiz said. “Maybe we should look into purchasing South Korea’s tests.”That may happen. Both Kogene and SolGent Co, two of the COVID-19 test-makers approved in South Korea, said their companies have an eye on the U.S. market.“The FDA asked us to proceed with applications quickly,” Kogene executive Myoah Baek said.]](Chad Terhune reported from Los Angeles; Dan Levine and Jane Lee reported from San Francisco and Hyunjoo Jin from South Korea. Contributing were Julie Steenhuysen, Josh Smith, Sangmi Cha and Aram Roston; Editing by Michele Gershberg and Julie MarquisOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.)It always seems that throughout history that the United States is always reactive instead of being proactive. World War 2 we ended up reacting to Japan;s attack at Pearl Harbor. On 9/11 we reacted to the terrorists attack, and now we had to react to COVID-19, there is a pattern here that can be learned from. Question is, will we?