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Wildlife Rehabilitation MD
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Category: Conferences

2014 NWRA Symposium

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photo 1 This March, Wildlife Rehabilitation MD had a booth at the NWRA (National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association) symposium in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The booth was sponsored by and shared with our wonderful friends at Bird Ally X (http://birdallyx.blogspot.com/). As soon as we set-up our new banners and spread out flyers and cards on the table, we were swamped. From the time the symposium began to the time we took everything down we were talking to someone.

We had a wonderful mixture of people who had never heard of WRMD and were excited to get started, to meeting users ofIMG_2172 WRMD that we have only communicated with via email. We finally got to meet with them face to face, which was wonderful. From 9-5 for the rest of the week we had the booth maned by someone. We spent hours talking to current users about their experience, ways to better the system and make improvements. The rest of the time talking people through how to get started and if the database would work for them.

Past conferences and symposiums we have attended we either had a presentation or either a presentation or booth. I think in the future we will try to have a booth and a presentation. The presentation is nice because we can show the system off and talk through ways to use it, but you can’t get that one on one time that the booth allows.

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My favorite part of the whole symposium was meeting all of the users and getting to know them and their needs. There were a few special people that made sure all their friends came by to talk to us. I felt like we had our own set of groupies. Those individuals left the conference with a free WRMD tee shirt, for being awesome.

Come See Us at the NWRA Symposium in Tennessee

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Attached is the template for a letter regarding Wildlife Rehabilitation MD which you may be able to use to enlist outside support, to aid you in adoption of Wildlife Rehabilitation MD, staff training in its use, and maximizing the database’s potential to help expand your efforts. We are available to collaborate with you on seeking funding.

Download a Fundraising Template Letter for Your Organization to Use.

Also, at the upcoming March NWRA symposium in Tennessee, we will have a booth and we’re looking forward to meeting with as many of you as possible, either at our booth or at any time during the conference. Please come find us we would love to say hi and answer any questions you have!

Introduction to Wildlife Rehabilitation MD at CCWR 2013

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This is an hour long introduction to Wildlife Rehabilitation MD at the California Council for Wildlife Rehabilitators (CCWR) symposium on November 16, 2013. Being only an hour long we had to rush things a bit but we got a lot covered and had some great questions asked. There were many questions concerning sub-permittee/satellite rehabilitators. The basic question from them was, is there a way to use Wildlife Rehabilitation MD with only the animals that they are caring for? Their needs are greater than just an average homecare volunteer because they are acting as if they are a full fledged/permitted rehabilitation clinic. Our biggest concern is with ensuring that individual animals are not duplicated through the entire database between the sub-permittee and their permitted affiliate organization. We are currently investigating ways to resolve this dilemma and trying to keep things simple and easy for all.

Endorsement by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife

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Devin Dombrowski, Nicole Carion and Rachel AvillaOn Saturday November 16th, at the California Council for Wildlife Rehabilitators (CCWR) symposium, Nicole Carion of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CADFW) gave a glorifying endorsement of Wildlife Rehabilitation MD at the opening keynote presentation.

Because of her endorsement, the attention and enthusiasm at the symposium was very positive and numerous organizations have shown interest and are preparing to start the new year using Wildlife Rehabilitation MD.

Over the past few months we have been in discussion with Nicole about how WRMD is benefiting the state of California. It’s a bit premature to say, but we are nearly able to say for the first time in the states history, how many animals were cared for in the proceeding year, in real time.

Not only is she is excited by the prospect of receiving the annual reports more timely, but also by the potential of a single data source aggregating the states data and highlighting patterns. The state will soon be able to recognize mortality events, a rise in migratory species and many other previously undetectable wildlife trends.

We are honored by Nicole’s and the Department’s support.

Thank you once again to Nicole Carion and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife!

Presentation at the International Wildlife Rehabilitation Council (IWRC) Symposium

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We just returned from the International Wildlife Rehabilitation Council (IWRC) Symposium in beautiful Victoria British Columbia. There as plenty of Intrigue towards Wildlife Rehabilitation MD and we were able to meet directly with the staff from a few organizations in BC.

On Friday the eighth of 2013 we presented WRMD to the conference goes. Unfortunately their were technical difficulties with recording the screen so there is no video of the screen tutorial as well. This presentation was also at 4pm on a Friday and most people were exhausted from the days previous discussions, so we also took a low key approach. If you have an hour and fourty-five minutes, check it out!

Introduction to Wildlife Rehabilitation MD at IWRC 2013

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iwrc-2013-symposiumThe Wild Neighbors Database Project team will be presenting Wildlife Rehabilitation MD at this years International Wildlife Rehabilitators Council (IWRC) Symposium. The symposium is at the Delta Victoria Ocean Pointe Resort and Spa in Victoria, BC on November 4th – 9th.

Our presentation will be on November 8 at 4pm. Sign up soon to see us there!

Great Feedback From a Great Group

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photoOn Friday, October 4th we attended a Region 3, local groups meeting hosted by Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley (One of our most active accounts). Most of the people at the meeting already knew about Wildlife Rehabilitation MD or were currently using it at their facility. There was no need for us to go over the basics with this group so we discussed the most current updates and had discussions of new features to come. One of the topics that we needed advice about was how they, the user, would like to transfer records between WRMD accounts. It was a great discussion that we could only get from a group like this.

One of the features that we are going to create is a easy way to transfer records amongst facilities using WRMD. We want to create a way that accounts can transfer records directly from their account to another. With this groups help, we were able to learn how a feature like this would work best for them.

If you have any questions or ideas about this feature please email us at [email protected].

Introduction to Wildlife Rehabilitation MD at CCWR 2013

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ccwrThe Wild Neighbors Database Project team will be presenting Wildlife Rehabilitation MD at this years California Council for Wildlife Rehabilitators Symposium. The symposium is at the Hilton Hotel in Orange County/Costa Mesa on November 15th – 17th.

Our presentation will be on November 16 at 2:40 in the Pacific Ballroom I. Sign up soon to see us there!

“take a cell and ask it specifically for that information?”

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In early March I was asked to give a short introduction of Wildlife Rehabilitation MD at the California Songbird Seminar at Lindsay Wildlife Museum. After the introduction many people had questions about features of Wildlife Rehabilitation MD including one women who completely humbled me with her question.

She was asking,

“Is WRMD like Excel? If we are getting a lot animals from a certain area can you take a cell and ask it specifically for that information?”

I assumed that what she was meaning to asking was, “Can you create a drop down list of common cities to choose from?” I was completely wrong. What she was asking was “Can you search for records based on what city they came from?”

I had to take a mental breath and take a step back. To me, searching for records is first nature to any database. This person reminded me just how revolutionary Wildlife Rehabilitation MD is to some organizations. It was amazing and wonderful to see her response when I showed her how you can search for records.

There are many times when I get very caught up in the daily grind. Working long hours to develop this database as well as the many other projects I am working on. It’s nice when you see somebody so pleased by such a simple thing.

– Devin Dombrowski

2013 California Songbird Seminar

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Today was the 2013 California Songbird Seminar, a four-hour gathering of wildlife rehabilitators from all over the state to discuss matters relevant to songbird care.  Rachel Avilla, Veronica Bowers, Patrick Hogan and Shannon Riggs, DVM each spoke, sharing important information. At the end of the seminar we were asked to give a quick demo of Wildlife Rehabilitation MD. As usual there were great questions and plenty of people who wanted to chat afterwards. Check out the video! This event was graciously hosted by Lindsay Wildlife Museum.