HOPKINTON —
Dr. Margo Roman, founder of Main St. Animal Services of Hopkinton (MASH), was alarmed to find a fire truck blocking the driveway to her veterinary practice on West Main Street last Wednesday morning.
"I thought something was terribly wrong," she said.
Inside, she found firefighters and an injured bird. The truck was returning from a call and saw a red-tailed hawk dive-bomb into the fender of a car. They called police and animal control.
"They grabbed the bird and rushed it here," Roman said.
"We have such caring officers in this town," she said.
This time, Roman said, they went beyond the norm.
"That, to me, was amazing, overwhelming actually," she said.
The bird was in shock, eyes swollen shut, suffering head trauma. It couldn't hold its head up, seemed unstable, and rocked back and forth, indicating inner ear damage. Its wings and legs were bruised, but not broken.
Hopkinton's animal control officer initially planned to take the bird to Tufts.
"I asked him to leave it with me," Roman said.
Roman is a veterinarian who offers more than the standard fare, including homeopathic medicine. She was confident the raptor, whom she named Haiti, could be treated with less invasive methods than traditional medicine.
"This was an opportunity to show the possibilities," Roman said.
Care began immediately, starting with the herbal remedies Aconite and Arnica for shock, swelling, bruising and pain. Haiti's eyes were misted with lavender in water, which relieves pain, and oxygenated water, which speeds healing. The bird was given reiki by local practitioners.
Within 24 hours the swelling in one eye was reduced by 90 percent, and Haiti started accepting food and water.
The right eye, however, remained swollen shut so Roman continued flushing it with oxygenated water. In addition, Haiti was given oxygenated water to drink. All organs in a body heal faster when oxygenated, Roman said.
"Homeopathy is excellent for head injury and ozone therapy allows oxygen to pass into the blood brain barrier and brings down swelling. If you give the body ways to heal itself, it will heal itself," Roman said.
The "beauty" of ozone therapy, Roman noted, is it's inexpensive. For $100 you can treat 75 patients, she said.
Six days later, Haiti is almost fully recovered, eagerly eating beaten organic egg from a dropper and indicating by restlessness bordering on anger that the bird is ready for release. That will happen within a day or two.
The raptor's sex is unknown.
Why the name Haiti?
MASH participated in a fund raiser last Saturday for the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) to benefit Haitian animals. More than 1.5 million animals were affected by the earthquake in Haiti and WSPA wants to raise $1.2 million to help those animals.
MASH raised $1,200 for WSPA by having clients write checks to WSPA rather than paying the veterinarians and technicians for their time. Roman challenges other clinics to do the same.
"The hope is that other veterinary clinics and animal care providers will do the outreach and donate a day at work to help the helpless animals in Haiti. The funds for WSPA will be joined together with other animal welfare groups," Roman said.
And she also hopes that the care brought to Haitian animals will include alternative integrated treatment.
To read more about Dr. Margo Roman, MASH and veterinary care, go to
www.mashvet.com. To learn more about WSPA, go to
www.wspausa.org. To learn about an educational program launched by MASH and its veterinary holistic care center, go to
www.drdomore.com.
Roman wasn't surprised by the response.
