Galapagos

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• Learn & Travel Course:

Neurological & and Medical Emergencies

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• Dates:

November & December 

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• Speakers:

🎓 Alessia Colverde, DipECVN & Marina Hernandez ECVIM-CA Resident-Trained in Internal Medicine

🎓 Professor Susana Monforte, DipECVN & Dan Thompson, DipECVIM-CA

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• What is included in the ticket?

- 5 nights at a 4 star Boutique Villa (we rented a whole villa (view) and a few rooms on a second villa located 4 minutes away by foot, belonging to the same family-run business (view); rate 5/5 on google, 9.7/10 on booking.com)

- heated jacuzzi

- pool

- 15h of CPD!

- CPD certificate

- activities (swims in waterfalls and hot springs, hikes around lagoons, tea plantation, breathtaking viewpoints)

- breakfasts, lunches, coffee breaks (vegan)

- transport during the activities.​​ 

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• What is not included in the ticket?

- dinners (to give you the opportunity to dine wherever you like).

- flight to Ponta Delgada.​​

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• Do you need to organise anything?

Only your flight. Ohana organises everything else (local transport, food, hotel, activities...)

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• What is the the program?​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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Neuro:

• Neuro exam

• Update on seizure treatment and status epilepticus

• Head trauma

• Vestibular disease and strokes

• IVDD and FCE

• Neuro intoxications (permethrin, cannabis, anti-freeze)

• Tetanus and peripheral neuropathies

• Practical 

 

Medicine:

• Hypocalcemia

• Hypoglycemia

• PSS

• Addisson’s

• Diabetic ketoacidosis

• Liver profile interpretation

• Practical

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• I am not a vet, vet nurse, tech or student, can I join? Can I bring my partner, family or friends?

Yes! Non-vet professionals are always welcome in our courses/missions. Join us for every breakfast, lunch, dinner and activities. The cost per person not attending the teaching is £1200 (room for 4 people), 1600 (room for 2 people) or 1750 (large superior room for 2-3 people). This will cover everything included in the ticket and a small donation to a local animal charity.

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• Is the course RACE approved?

We understand this is important for participants coming from the USA. We are applying for approval and will update this answer when the process is completed.

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• Flight tips:

There are direct flights to Ponta Delgada from London, Madrid, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Brussels, Boston, Toronto, New York... See all direct flights here. We advise you to arrive before 1pm on the 30th; in our 2024 course, some flight were delayed and a couple of participants missed their connection flight and the first day of the course.

 

On skyscanner, check flights from your city to Lisbon, then check flights from Lisbon to Ponta Delgada; the cheapest flights to the Azores (Ryanair, Azores Airlines SATA, TAP) are not showing unless you split like this!

 

You need 1h10min between flights in Lisbon if you have only hand luggage. You need 1h40min at Lisbon airport if you have luggage in the cargo hold, as you need to collect it and check in again. Lisbon airport has 2 terminals, located 4min apart by a free bus. All flights arrive in terminal 1; low-cost flights depart from terminal 2 and non low-cost from terminal 1.

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• What are the room options?​​

Each room with its own bathroom:​

Room for 4 people (single beds)

Room for 2 people (double bed for a couple or friends)

Large superior room for 2-3 people (2 single beds + one comfortable sofa-bed)

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Private room:  If you want to stay alone, book the ‘’Room for 2’’ or the ‘’Large Superior Room’’ and add the £580 supplement to make it private (total for the 5 nights). For example, if you are a nurse attending the Anaesthesia stream, book the ''Room for 2'' 1750 + 580 = total 2330 for 5 nights. If you want to lower the cost, invite friends or family to share the room with you - when they join you later, we will refund you the supplement.

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👉 Don't be scared to share a room, our courses are limited to a small number of participants and designed in a way that we're all friends soon after the course starts :) You will also spend little time in the room, you will spend the days learning, in the pool and traveling!​

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• What happens to the money you pay?

This money will cover your expenses and 100% of the profit (amount paid minus expenses) is used to treat and neuter street dogs and cats, through working together with local charities. The benefiting charities will be shared soon, and the donation numbers will be shared after the course. Organisers or speakers are volunteering their time and expertise to help animals and better wellbeing, none are paid for their work. ​​

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• How do you travel between the islands?

You can fly or take a ferry. Ferries are infrequent and take many hours, you would be wasting your precious time in paradise. We advise you to fly between the islands with Azores Airlines SATA (https://www.azoresairlines.pt/en). This airline has an ''Air Pass'' with reduced rates for island hopping - email them with the number of passengers, dates and routes and they'll reply to you with a quote.  

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• Which transport do you advise me to use in the Azores?

There is no Uber or Bolt in the Azores. Inside every town (including Ponta Delgada), it's best to walk or take a taxi/bus which are very cheap - so you do not need a car during the course. To go from one town to others located >30min away, you have 3 options: taxi, tour or car rental. Driving in the Azores is not easy: in Flores, the roads are very steep and there are no automatic cars or scooters; in S. Miguel the roads are very narrow. I normally prefer to move around by taxi. Taxi drivers won't speak English, use google translator and google maps to communicate where you want to go.

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• Are there supermarkets, restaurants, pharmacies etc near the Boutique Villa?

Yes, the Villa is located in the centre of the main town (Ponta Delgada), and you can walk to shops, restaurants etc.

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• Can you recommend places of interest, restaurants and hotels in the Azores?

Of course, we will email every participant a list of recommendations.​​

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• Where can I see footage from previous courses?

Our 2024 Azores course was INCREDIBLE and you can see pictures and videos on the Highlight Folder 'Azores' on our instagram @ohana.animalcharity. You can view it even if you don't have an account, google will tell you how.

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• Are the tickets or deposit refundable?

They are not, as we had to pay expenses in advance and these are not refundable to us. But you can transfer the ticket to a friend, so your money won't be lost! And remember that all money received will be used to treat and neuter strays.

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• What are the payment options?

Google pay, debit card or transfer. A bank transfer results in more money for the animals because there are no online fees. We can reserve a ticket when you pay a 50% deposit.

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Welcome to our Ohana Family!

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Carolina Albuquerque,

DVM MSc MRCVS CertAVP DipECVIM-CA EBVS Specialist in Small Animal Internal Medicine

Proud co-founder of Ohana Animal Charity