CAT WHISPERER
Local veterinary nurse is a finalist in hero contest
When dogs and cats are sick, scared and in pain, who’s on the front lines tending to them and their worried owners? Veterinary technicians are usually the first person we see.
Vet techs do a lot of the heavy lifting, including subduing and soothing savage beasts before the veterinarian steps in. There’s a national contest that honors them, and a local woman is one of five finalists in the 2020 American Humane Hero Veterinary Nurse Award, presented by Zoetis Petcare.
More than 250 nominations were submitted for heroic nurses and veterinarians. Online voting for the winners continues through Aug. 13. At herovetawards.org/ vote, you can see bios of the 10 finalists, and you can vote once a day.
Heather Czerpak, 37, of Plum, works at the MedVet Pittsburgh facility in Peters. It’s open 24/7 for emergencies and has specialists in seven areas, including oncology. Ms. Czerpak works three 12-hour shifts each week and specializes in emergency and critical care. The work is often literally life and death, and can be “sad and stressful,” Ms. Czerpak said.
“You have to remember the cases where you were able to save a life. We cherish those.”
She has been doing this work since 2009, when she graduated from an 18-month course at what is now Pittsburgh Career Institute.
She’s a certified veterinary technician and veterinary technician specialist but prefers the term veterinary nurse, which she says is gaining traction nationally.
“When I think of a hero in the field, it’s always Heather,” said the co-worker who nominated her in the American Humane contest. “She never lets her patients down and is a constant voice for them.
“She is a training mentor . ... She makes learning fun and brings life back into her co-workers during long and hard shifts . ... To me and many others, Heather truly is a hero, not only for her patients but for her co-workers,” the nominating essay said.
Prior to shutdowns because of the new coronavirus, Ms. Czerpak and co-worker Stephanie Cramer conducted continuing education classes for technicians and nurses from other veterinary clinics. Those will resume “when this is over,” she said.
They teach CPR techniques and how to stabilize critically ill patients until they can be seen by specialists. So, which patients are
harder to handle — dogs or cats? Ms. Czerpak said cats are the bigger challenge.
“I understand cats,” she said, adding that she is “teased” by co-workers for her willingness to handle “fractious” felines. There are calming pheromones that can be sprayed onto blankets, and e-collars can be put on cats “to protect us.”
When cats need to stay in the hospital for treatment, “by the second day I get to know them,” she said. “I take the e-collars off for a while to give them some freedom.”
Ms. Czerpak and her husband, Dan, have a Labradorpointer mix, Brooklyn, 15, and cats Guinness, 10, Yuengling, 9, and Toby, 5. Dan is a chef who recently opened a new restaurant, Pit Take BBQ, in Greensburg.
“Guinness is cranky,” Ms. Czerpak said. “He had to be hospitalized once, and he embarrassed me by being so difficult. I was the only one who could handle him.”
The winning veterinarian and veterinary nurse will be featured on Hallmark Channel’s broadcast of American Humane’s 10th annual Hero Dog Awards this fall.