B2
Wallowa County Chieftain
LOCAL
Wednesday, June 23, 2021
The story of a camel, a veterinary student and a doctor
camels can have strong per-
sonalities. As a veterinarian
in general practice in McMin-
nville she worked with pigs,
llamas and alpacas.
Matthew had to be sedated
for his procedure, as well as
hobbled, for the safety of the
staff as well as his own.
“He is just a baby,” Gro-
ver said. “Think of a 10- or
11-year-old boy and he has all
these sounds and smells that
he is not used to,” in addition
to the pain of the procedure.
Grover said there are dif-
ferences between camels
and other large animals —
horses and cattle — and said
she enjoys the excitement of
it being different. Horses are
her special area of expertise.
“Equine medicine is my
passion,” she said.
By ANN BLOOM
For the Wallowa County
Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — What
do a camel, Miss Idaho and a
vet at the Enterprise Animal
Hospital have in common?
A lot, it turns out. At least
on Friday, June 4, they did
when Burns rancher Carolyn
Mathews brought her camel,
Matthew, to the veterinary
hospital where Dr. Kala Gro-
ver, DVM, gelded the animal.
That day, Kim Layne, a
fourth-year veterinary stu-
dent from Washington State
University, who was Miss
Idaho 2020, had the oppor-
tunity to witness the proce-
dure. Layne has ties to Wal-
lowa County from coming to
the county to experience the
Eagle Cap Wilderness area
and whose boyfriend works
at the Wallowa Lake Marina.
She was doing an externship
(a weeklong field experience)
at Enterprise Animal Hospital
through her veterinary pro-
gram. She will graduate in
2022.
Camel facts
There are two types of
camels: dromedary and bac-
trian. Mathews explained the
easiest way to remember the
difference between the two is
to think of each camel lying
on its side. “The dromedary
camel has one hump. When
lying on its side, it forms
the letter “D”. The bactrian,
when lying on its side, forms
the letter “B” with its two
humps,” she said.
Matthew, a 2-year-old
dromedary camel, was accom-
panied by Gus, a 6-year-old
bactrian. Mathews has had
camels for about five years,
but has prior experience with
Sally Belsinger/Contributed Photo
Matthew the camel, owner Carolyn Mathews (left), veterinary technician Brenda Johnson
(center), Dr. Kala Grover (second from right) and veterinary technician Erica McNall talk during
before a medical procedure performed on the camel Friday, June 4, 2021.
them from when she lived in
Texas. She explained that she
also worked with lions, tigers
and other exotic animals and
trained horses while working
for a rancher.
Camels are not as unusual
in Oregon as one might
expect.
“There are a lot more than
people think,” she said.
Camels are social animals
and live in herds. Mathews
explained how to greet a
camel. The person who greets
the camel holds a hand out
with the back toward the
camel, so the camel can smell
it. Next, the person reaches
out to touch the camel’s
shoulder, and stroke it. Cam-
els have rough guard hairs on
top of wool, which is shed.
“You don’t want to
approach a camel head on,”
she said.
Camels greet each other
by blowing in each other’s
faces. Next, the person blows
in the camel’s face.
“Gus is the kisser,” she
said.
Working with camels
Both Grover and Layne
have experience working
with camels. Layne gained
her experience in Tunisia in
2016 working in an interna-
tional public health and veter-
inary medicine program.
“Camels are a big indus-
try there. Camels are used
in tourism, for milk and for
working purposes. It’s cool to
see them here to have clinical
work done,” she said.
She said she has always
wanted to do mixed-animal
medicine and has had that
experience through the Enter-
prise Animal Hospital.
Also, “Joseph is a beauti-
ful area,” she said.
Grover, also a WSU alum
(undergraduate school) com-
pleted her clinical veteri-
nary work at Oregon State
University, and was a veter-
inarian in Burns when she
met Mathews and her cam-
els. Like Layne, Grover has
international experience with
camels having worked with
World Vets in Mongolia.
She said in the Burns
area vets are, “few and far
between.” She said she has
had, “a lot of work with lla-
mas and alpacas. They are
similar to camels — they’re
all camelids” and admits
More facts
Camels
can
handle
extremes according to Mat-
thews. The bactrians are
usually found in Central
Asia which is known for its
extreme cold climate and the
dromedary in North Africa.
Contrary to popular belief,
the camel’s humps are not
made of water, but fat stores.
When the camel drinks and
eats, it converts the fluids and
food to fat. As it uses its food
stores, the hump diminishes
until the camel has the oppor-
tunity to eat and drink again,
replenishing its hump stores
of fat.
A camel can drink 30 gal-
lons of water in 13 minutes
and is the fastest-hydrating
animal on the planet. Mat-
thews feeds her camels hay
(alfalfa is too rich), and said
camels are foragers. The
trees behind the veterinary
clinic received a nice trim-
ming while the camels spent
two nights there. They are
not picky eaters. With their
thick leathery lips, they can
eat thorny, tough plants other
animals find disagreeable and
inedible.
Camels are full grown
when they are 6 or 7 years
old and live to be about 17,
though some may live longer.
Some people have heard
camels spit. Camels have a
variety of defense mecha-
nisms; spitting is just one.
Matthews said bactrians spit,
growl and stomp their feet.
Dromedaries spit and regur-
gitate the contents of their
stomachs when they feel
threatened. Camels also bel-
low, moan, groan, snort and
make a number of other
noises.
Another interesting fea-
ture of the camel is the hard,
heart-shaped callus on its
chest. There are also calluses
on their knees. These calluses
enable air to circulate under
the camel when it lays down,
serving as a sort of air-con-
ditioning system keeping the
animal cool.
The camel also has a
third eyelid that it can shut
to protect its eyes from sand
and shut its nostrils during
a sandstorm. According to
National Geographic, cam-
els are often referred to as
“ships of the desert” and
have been used for transpor-
tation for thousands of years.
They can grow to be more
than 6 feet tall at the shoulder
and weigh between 880 and
2,200 pounds, depending on
the species and gender when
fully grown.
An interesting fact to
know and tell: the sound used
for Chewbacca in the “Star
Wars” movies was made by
a camel.
EASTERN OREGON SEARCH AND RESCUE
SAR training planned this weekend
Chieftain staff
ENTERPRISE — East-
ern Oregon Search and
Rescue will hold an annual
training at Salt Creek
Summit from Friday-Sun-
day, June 25-27, accord-
ing to a press release.
Travelers taking the
USFS 39 Road to Half-
way or Hells Canyon this
weekend can expect some
delays, along with ATVs,
pickups,
people
and
maybe even extra help if
trouble occurs. Search and
Rescue units from across
Eastern Oregon will hold
their annual training exer-
cise in the Salt Creek Sum-
mit area this weekend.
“This training is a huge
value to all of our volun-
teers to be able to network
and train with multiple
agencies from Northeast
Oregon,” Wallowa County
SAR Capt. Brent Neely
said. “Participating coun-
ties frequently call on
each other for mutual aid
for specialized rescues
or extended searches and
having experience training
with each other’s teams is
invaluable.”
There may be signifi-
cant traffic and UTV/ATV
congestion in and around
the Salt Creek Summit
parking area during the
training time. The park-
ing lot will be open to the
public, but parking may
be limited due to the vol-
ume of SAR equipment
and tents staged there.
About 100 SAR vol-
unteers from 10 Eastern
Oregon counties (Baker,
Gilliam, Grant, Harney,
Malheur, Morrow, Union,
Umatilla, Wallowa and
Wheeler) are expected
to take part in the exer-
cises. Most will be camp-
ing in the Salt Creek Sum-
mit area, near where most
of the training will take
place. Wallowa County
SAR volunteers are host-
ing the event.
The training includes
work in fast-tracking,
responding to a swiftwa-
ter (water rescue) emer-
gency, advanced incident
command, land searches,
K-9 land searches, civil
air patrol searches and
searching using a drone.
Wallowa County Chieftain, File
Wallowa Memorial Hospital and Clinics was recently named
among the best places to work in health care by Modern
Heathcare, earning a spot on the list for the third year in a row.
More accolades for
Wallowa Memorial
Hospital is on
nationwide best
places to work in
health care list for
third year in a row
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wallowa County Search and Rescue/Contributed Photo
The Wallowa County Search and Rescue ropes team practices a rescue earlier this year. The
county SAR team will host teams from all over Eastern Oregon at Salt Creek Summit for
training this weekend.
“If you plan to recre-
ate or travel in this area,
please be aware of this
training,” WCSAR event
coordinator Paige Sully
said. “However serious
it may appear, we are
not engaged in an actual
search and rescue incident
response.”
The Wallowa County
SAR volunteers have
developed
the
train-
ing exercises that also
include equine packing
and rescue.
“There are thousands
of volunteer hours that go
into planning and train-
ing at this event,” Neely
said. “I want to say ‘thank
you’ to all the SAR mem-
bers for the personal time,
energy, and money they
donate to make our north-
east Oregon SAR teams
the best they can be.”
For more informa-
tion, contact Ellen Mor-
ris
Bishop, Wallowa
County SAR public rela-
tions, at 541-398-1810
or paleobishop@gmail.
com; or Paige Sully, Wal-
lowa County SAR, at
541-426-0535.
ENTERPRISE — The
awards keep coming for
Wallowa Memorial Hospital
and Clinics.
WMH was recently
named one of the best places
to work in health care in
2021 by the publication
Modern Healthcare.
According to a press
release, it’s the third year in
a row WMH has been recog-
nized as one of the nation’s
top health care employers.
The final list features 150
hospitals nationwide.
WMH Human Resources
Director Anna Hayter said
the award is particularly spe-
cial given the challenges
posed in the last year by the
coronavirus pandemic.
“Receiving the Best
Places to Work award is an
honor at any time and espe-
cially this year consider-
ing everything health care
has experienced,” she said.
“As leaders, we strive to do
what is best for employees
and make this a best place
to work every day but there
are times you’re not certain
you’re achieving the goal.
This award is validation we
must be doing it right.”
WMH had not been on the
list until the past three years,
but Hayter said that was
because it had not applied or
had staff fill out a survey that
is the basis of the list.
“There is a lengthy appli-
cation process employers
complete every year in order
to be eligible to participate
in the Best Places to Work
survey and prior to three
years ago, we hadn’t partic-
ipated,” she said. “That’s not
meant to imply we weren’t
an excellent employer. We
were then and we still are,
as evidenced by our engaged
workforce, low turnover and
lengthy employee tenure.
We knew we were a ‘best
place to work’ so we asked
our employees to validate
that belief and they have —
three years in a row.”
Hospital staff are sur-
veyed on a range of topics,
and the results of those que-
ries is what places a health
care facility on the list.
“The focus areas that the
survey questions are based
on are in the following cate-
gories: Leadership and plan-
ning, corporate culture and
communications, role satis-
faction, work environment,
relationship with supervisor,
training, development and
resources, pay and benefits,
and overall engagement,”
WMH
Communications
Director Brooke Pace said.
Hayter said “meaningful
work” is part of what makes
being on staff at WMH stand
out.
“It’s a privilege to sup-
port the health care needs of
our community and that sen-
timent is felt from the top of
the organization throughout
the employee population,”
she said. “We provide great
wages and benefits and more
importantly, we truly care
about our employees. We
take care of them as if they
were family, because they
are. The culture of the hos-
pital is one of kindness, care
and respect. You couldn’t ask
for a better place to work.”