Dr. Joanne Roesner (left) teaches a previous pet first aid class. Her next class will be Sept. 7 in Scaly Mountain.
Dr. JoAnne Roesner is bringing back her pet CPR and first aid workshop for its third year on Saturday, Sept. 7 at 4 p.m. at the Scaly Mountain Volunteer Fire Department.
Roesner said people should be promptly on time, or else they won’t be able to take the class at all. That’s because there are around “five or six different courses” covering various first aid elements for pets, and she doesn’t think people will get the full effect if they come late.
She said her goal is to make sure people have the knowledge they need if their pet is in some kind of danger. She said the first aid class looks at how to handle pets wounded in fights with other animals, hit by cars, bit by snakes or bugs, suffering from seizures, poison, diarrhea, vomiting and numerous other things.
“What I’m trying to do is really help people know, what’s an emergency? What do you need to drive two hours for, and what can wait until Monday? There’s nowhere on the Plateau you can go after-hours. Not in Cashiers, not in Highlands, not in Clayton.”
Roesner, who has taught such classes for three decades now in other cities and has done it here for the past two, said it’s urgent because there aren’t many classes teaching first aid for pets. There used to be a class offered in Atlanta, but it hasn’t been for several years now. Roesner said people often don’t have the right facts to know how to deal with pet injuries and ailments.
Roesner said she “failed” at a planned retirement when she moved to Highlands a few years ago. Instead, she went back to work at a veterinary clinic as she’d done for years. She was quickly reminded why there was a need for the pet first aid courses.
“You see animals on a Monday, where if they’d known what to do, they’d be alive today,” she said. “We had a small dog that was assaulted by a big dog. His wounds were serious, but fixable. The owner gave him ibuprofen, which caused his kidneys to be destroyed, and the dog died.”
In addition, she said there’s a lot of specifics for things like CPR and care depending on the size and disposition of the animal in question. “A ten-pound cat is different than a 150-pound mastiff,” she said. “Some dogs are bigger than me.”
She added that she wanted to educate people on the reality of CPR. Some TV shows lead people to think that CPR always means “you’re magically alive again and can go home five minutes later,” when really it is a much more difficult process.
Roesner said a rule she said she wanted people to follow is not to bring their pets to the workshop. “I don’t want to have to fix a dog fight during the event,” she said. She said the workshop will have trained animals for various demonstrations, including her own dog, Harvey.
To RSVP, those interested can email joanneroesner@yahoo.com.
Ultimately, Roesner said she was glad she’d been able to help alleviate “an enormous amount of stress” by helping people gain more knowledge about how to help their pets.
“I believe I’ve been blessed,” she said. “If I held onto this knowledge, it becomes a curse. But if I give it to others, I remain blessed. Just the fact that I live here is a blessing.”
She’s not getting any younger, she said, but she’s already recruited a young doctor she works with to continue the workshops once Roesner can’t do it anymore. “She says she’ll continue the tradition.”