May 2026
Welcome our first volunteer veterinarian, Dr. Brenda Francis, who went to SAGA for a whole 2 weeks in May!
Dr. Francis donated 52.5 hours at SAGA during her time on the island. In addition to general practice she also performed much needed emergency surgeries.
She was able to obtain and bring down requested PPE to Belize that the BCIV Foundation purchased via donor contributions.
Stay tuned for our updates on the equipment we will be donating to SAGA at the end of June. Your donations have made all of this possible but we are getting low on funds so any continued donations are very much appreciated. Unfortunately after an exhaustive search, there are no grants available for the type of work our foundation is doing. We are relying soley on your donations, sponsorships, and volunteer help! Please keep it up!
A big THANK YOU from The BCIV Foundation!
June 2026
Mr. Dion of the San Pedro Sun (local newspaper) wrote a very nice, extensive, and informative article about the BCIV and SAGA’s partnership and the BCIV’s most recent donations to SAGA. See photos of donated items, centrifuge not pictured, behind Dr. Liv in group photo.
July 2026
In July Dr. Liv and 2 technician volunteers (Leanna Chaffee, RVT and Kaley Kukus, RVT) were able to go down for a full week and not only work on medicine cases, but help with the “Spay/Neuter-athon” that another volunteer group was putting on. They were able to spay around 200 pets. On the BCIV side we were able to see and treat around 50 pets medically and we also donated an ultrasound that will be much used next month for both cardiac and abdominal ultrasounds!!! Each volunteer worked 33 hours for the week, making our grand total 99 hours for the week. (See photos and descriptions!)
Above is a pet who was trying to deliver for over 18 hours. Anything over 2 hours of active pushing is considered a dystocia, which is a difficult birth. Despite a large amount of blood loss during her C-section where we removed a deceased, very large puppy, this patient survived and is now safe from this ever happening again as we spayed her.
To the left is a pet who had tick paralysis. He could not move more than his head and tail on presentation. With supportive treatment he was able to sit up by the end of the week! He will continue to improve from here as long as he does not get any more ticks on him. This is why flea and tick prevention is SO important on the island.
Above is a video of a pet who was diagnosed both with Parvovirus (a highly contagious and deadly virus without treatment) as well as some sort of brain infection or trauma. After supportive treatment he is able to walk and his neurological signs have improved. He only had one sign of parvovirus (anorexia but no vomiting or diarrhea) and is now eating and on the road to a full recovery.
Above are the ~50 patient records we saw on the medical side and to the left is the new ultrasound we dontated to SAGA. This will get much use next month when Dr. Odenbeck performs echocardiograms (heart ultrasounds) and abdominal ultrasounds!
August 2026
In August Dr. Loni Odenbeck volunteered for a full week at SAGA. She took a year long intensive course in ultrasound and can competently do both cardiac ultrasounds (echocardiograms) and abdominal ultrasounds. Although she is not a sonographer or cardiologist, she is skilled at both types of ultrasonography and she does it well! She was able to ultrasound around 20-25 patients (with the ultrasound BCIVFoundation donated!) for both heart and abdominal issues, and was able to make diagnoses and start treatment for these pets while there. If you are interested in donating, we are in desperate need of heart medications and right now we will apply the majority of donations to purchase cardiac (heart) medications as they are much needed and not possible to get on the island. We are focusing on bringing down as many of these medications as possible each month as patients on these medications require them life long.
Ms. Ingrid will be making a cardiology ultrasound table for better imaging ability going forward and Dr. Odenbeck hopes to be volunteering every 3-4 months to provide this much needed service!
