Cabrera hopes to fill CNMI veterinarian role through 2 master’s programs

Lauren Cabrera, Saipan Humane Society founder and executive director, is hoping to fill the role of veterinarian in the region through two master’s degrees—Veterinary Clinical Care and Veterinary Medical Sciences with a concentration in Shelter Medicine.

Currently, with Saipan Cares for Animals closed down, SHS at the Saipan Mayor’s Office Animal Shelter in As Perdido provides the only veterinary care available in the CNMI.

The 34-year-old is doing prerequisites for both programs with the end goal to create a veterinary midlevel provider role in the CNMI.

With a full $60,000 scholarship for the Veterinary Clinical Care, or veterinary midlevel provider program at Colorado State University (three semesters online and two on campus), Cabrera will receive basic skills and surgical training similar to that of a veterinarian for routine procedures such as spay/neuter surgeries.

With that, she will be able to fill the role of a veterinarian in a region where it is difficult to recruit a veterinarian full-time. She will be supervised by collaborating veterinarians who will mentor her remotely.

The Lynn Raulerson Trust, which granted her scholarship, also funded the development of Guam Animals in Need or GAIN’s spay/neuter clinic and also provided SHS with startup clinic funds.

Her second master’s degree in Shelter Medicine at the University of Florida (online), is with the focus on preventing and managing infectious diseases in animal shelters, managing behavior and welfare issues, best practices for population management, shelter medicine, etc.

The program is funded through the support and generosity of one of her mentors Dr. Bob Murtaugh, who “has been integral in providing crucial connections for us to increase animal health services on Saipan. While he wears many hats, Dr. Murtaugh is leading the initiative to expand access to veterinary care in the U.S. by establishing the midlevel provider role,” said Cabrera.

“I am already using things I have learned in this program to improve dog population management strategies in the CNMI!” she said about it so far.

Nationally, Cabrera said, “the hope is that veterinary midlevel providers can fill needs in other underserved areas of the country, remote areas, and animal shelters.”

According to Cabrera, the U.S. only has 116,000 practicing veterinarians and will need an additional 41,000 by 2030, if pet ownership continues to grow at its current pace. With only about 3,200 students graduating veterinarian school each year from 32 accredited veterinarian schools, and approximately 2,000 veterinarians retiring annually, the outlook is not great.

Because of the veterinarian shortage, there is a movement to create the Veterinary Nurse Practitioner role to fill this gap—similar to a nurse practitioner or physician assistant (midlevel provider).

Cabrera said, “While I contemplated returning to school for a full veterinary program, it did not make sense for me to pursue another four-year degree that would take me away from the CNMI and Guam.”

When asked how she got involved with helping animals, Cabrera, who also cared for humans as a nurse practitioner, said she is a lifelong animal lover as she grew up training horses and loving dogs.

She moved to Guam and married Saipan native Felix Cabrera Jr. It was in Guam where she helped found the Boonie Flight Project that so far has helped ship over 600 rescued boonie dogs from Guam and Saipan to adopters in the U.S. and Canada. She also helped reopen Guam’s low-cost spay/neuter clinic under the animal shelter, GAIN.

She moved to Saipan last year and has used the skills developed under mentorship of Guam and GAIN veterinarians to oversee the clinical side of a large spay/neuter campaign with Boonie Babies and the Saipan Mayor’s Office Shelter that summer, sterilizing 500 animals.

“I brought the GAIN team to Saipan for a spay/neuter campaign in January 2023, and was inspired to start a new non-profit focused on improving animal welfare by increasing access to veterinary care while also reducing dog and cat overpopulation in a humane way,” said Cabrera.

“Saipan Humane Society was born! Our incredible board and my good friend Ruby Ma collaborated to build this organization from the start, later joined by Lupe Attao and her unique nonprofit management talents. We now have three full-time staff and offer animal health clinics four days weekly, with intermittent visiting veterinarian’s visits for surgery, out of the Saipan Mayor’s Office animal shelter. Since our start we have seen hundreds of sick pets, given hundreds of vaccines and flea/tick preventives. We have saved lives. It is amazing to see everything grow so quickly!” she said.

For inquiries about veterinary services reach out to Saipan Humane Society at info@saipanhumanesociety.org or Whatsapp (670) 838-7387.