I am sure you have all heard by now of the tragic death of Louise O'Dwyer. Louise was a well known figure in the veterinary world and news of her death has touched the hearts of veterinary nurses worldwide.
I first met Louise in 2011. Soon after we launched The Veterinary Nurse Louise contacted me and said she wanted to get involved with the journal. We met and I was impressed, and asked Louise to join the Editorial Board. Soon after that she wrote her first article for us: Options for skin coverage: reconstruction and skin grafts. The first of many.
Louise was a lively and intelligent individual, she had a huge amount of energy, as anyone who heard her speak will know; she spoke on numerous occasions at our workshops, and with such passion. I remember her showing us images of gunshot wounds in unfortunate animals that she'd treated while working in Manchester — but the unfortunate became the fortunate when they were nursed by Louise. Her images showed how after weeks and weeks of her attentive care the animals made an incredible recovery.
Louise was a prolific writer, and she wrote with ease. Since our launch in 2010 Louise wrote 18 peer-reviewed articles for us — quite an achievement. When I asked Louise to write I knew that what I would get would sail through review — she understood the need for an evidence base, she knew her stuff, but she also knew the importance of reading other people's work and supporting her views.
Louise became our Consultant Editor in September 2018. In her Editorials she shared with us some of her wisdom. In Loving lifelong learning she said: ‘Lifelong learning is important as it allows us to expand our skills.’ She noted: ‘We are an essential component of the clinical team, and our feedback in terms of patients' clinical signs, their response to treatment, their improvement or deterioration, makes a massive difference to patient outcome’.
In The rise of technology and social media: ‘For me one major downside to the rise of social media is online interaction becoming a substitute for offline interaction. We no longer have to verbally communicate with friends or colleagues about what they did over the weekend because it's all there to see online, and it could be said that social media promotes antisocial human behaviour. It also serves as a major distraction; even when out socially, how often do we check our social apps, messages and emails?’
In her last Editorial in the April issue Louise reflected on brachycephalic breeds: ‘I begin to wonder whether we need to have brachycephalic champions within practice.’
She knew that veterinary nurses were capable of achieving so much, and she wanted to share this with her colleagues and the profession as a whole. Being a nurse was something Louise was proud of, and she made all nurses feel that they should be proud of it too. So, in loving memory of Louise I suggest we make some changes. Let's all pledge to learn something new. Let's communicate with friends and colleagues verbally, leave our phones at home and live life in the present. Let's think about how we can become champions of those people or patients that need us. We can all learn from Louise even after her passing.