Left Hand Animal Hospital offers free pet CPR class for first responders

Veterinarian Dr. Crystal Conner has devoted her career to helping animals ever since graduating from CSU's veterinary school in 2007. In June 2016, she joined Niwot's Left Hand Animal Hospital after several years of working as an emergency veterinarian.

Connor's work helping animals in the local community extended to a pet CPR training that she offered for first responders in Boulder County, a class that she has previously taught to firefighters and medics with the Mountain View Fire District and the Lafayette and Lyons fire departments.

The class focuses on cats and dogs and is geared toward firefighters and medics who might encounter an injured animal on a call. In a house fire or an accident, after providing care for human patients, if the first responders have the time and ability, they might be able to provide medical assistance to any animals on scene as well.

"For firefighters and first responders, obviously when they go on scene, their first priority and obligation is to the human patient, but because of the area that we live in, so many people see their four-legged family members as just that-family members," Conner said. "So they really expect firefighters to provide care for their animals too if they're hurt or injured. I train them how to do basic assessment of that pet to determine if they are in need of CPR or some other form of first aid. And then we show them how to perform CPR in cats and dogs."

As part of the class she also teaches first responders normal parameters for cats and dogs such as normal temperature, heart rate, breathing rate, and normal gum color so that responders have a base from which to do triage and assessment in order to determine CPR needs.

Connor, through Left Hand Animal Hospital, was contacted by the Boulder Rural Fire Rescue to see if she might be able to provide a class for local first responders. She was happy to help.

"We love sharing the information. And we provide this as a community outreach effort so we don't charge for the class. It's just our way as a hospital to give back to the first responders, most importantly, and a little bit to the community as well," she said.

Prior to running these classes for pet CPR, Connor worked as an emergency doctor and, through the hospital, helped facilitate first aid and CPR training for local canine units at police departments. Through this work, she found her passion for teaching this vital information to both canine unit officers and also first responders.

"The goal or my passion behind it is helping first responders feel empowered when they're out in the field, because most of them, especially firefighters and medics, will encounter an animal at some point, especially in Boulder County. And I just want them to have some form of training so that they know what they're doing for those animals is the right thing," she said.

Connor said this training also helps improve the animal's outcome once they arrive at Left Hand Animal Hospital. "The sooner they can start getting emergency care, the better the outcome and they come to us a little bit more stable, and that just improves care on our end as well," she said.

In partnership with Boulder Rural Fire Rescue, Connor offered three class sessions which had an average turnout of seven to eight participants for each class.

Connor has taught informational classes for pet owners and the general public. In 2018, while working with the Mountain View Fire District through Left Hand Animal Hospital, she provided a pet CPR course as part of Mountain View's community outreach program and educational lecture series.

"When COVID hit, they put all that on hold, but previously that was one avenue for pet parents," said Connor.

Right now Connor is not a certified instructor, which means she can't issue certifications and runs her classes for information sharing and foundational knowledge. She plans to pursue her certification once COVID restrictions are lifted.

"My goal in the future is to become a certified instructor, mostly for the general public, so the people I'll teach can obtain some kind of certification as well," she said.

She noted that the best way for pet owners to learn more about pet CPR and explore options for an online course is to visit http://www.recoverinitiative.org

"That was the cool thing about doing this class through Mountain View Fire District. There's not a lot of information out there in the world for pet parents," Connor said.

Connor looks forward to offering more classes in the future to help more first responders and pet parents get some hands-on experience and knowledge of the basics of pet CPR.

"Generally, I have at least two nurses who come from the hospital, and we do some hands-on training with live dogs. We use our own pets to teach the general public how to palpate for a pulse, feel for a heartbeat, and look at gum color. So we are providing some different avenues of learning."

They utilize a CPR dog dummy for CPR training, chest compressions and mouth-to-snout ventilation practice, but Connor said having a live dog is also helpful. Connor currently has a foster dog who helps her teach her classes, and previously used her own dog.

"He was an awesome teacher, and I miss him greatly. I hope in the future to get a new dog and that will be their unknown purpose-being a teacher," she said.