13 Nov 2023
RVN Carissa Gray, of Vets Now Macclesfield, has won the fifth annual bursary in the memory of acclaimed vet nurse Louise O’Dwyer.
Lacey Pitcher
Job Title
Award winner Carrissa Gray (left) with Racheal Marshall from Vets Now.
An ECC nurse was the winner of the Louise O’Dwyer bursary at the 20th anniversary Vets Now Congress in Leeds.
Carrissa Gray, who works at an emergency and critical care clinic in Macclesfield, received the award at the ECC Congress, which was held in Leeds from 9 to 10 November and was attended by around 900 vets and nurses.
The bursary is awarded each year at congress and offers an extra £2,000 CPD allowance to the candidate who best demonstrates their commitment to making a difference in their chosen discipline, while furthering Louise O’Dwyer’s legacy of sharing learning.
Miss Gray said: “I’m delighted to win this award, which was not only created to celebrate the life and achievements of Louise, but to ensure her passion for education to continue to positively impact across the profession.”
Miss O’Dwyer was one of the world’s leading emergency and critical care veterinary nurses and a huge influence on the thousands of vet professionals who encountered her through her lectures, practical guide books and journal papers.
After her death in 2019 Vets Now launched the Louise O’Dwyer Bursary as a tribute to Miss O’Dwyer’s passion for her role in ECC and the culture of shared learning she helped to create.
Miss Gray added: “I plan to use the bursary funding to join Soren Boysen, professor in small animal ECC, who has kindly invited me as a co-assistant at his POCUS [Point-of-Care Ultrasound] tech lab training sessions at the CVMA [Canadian Veterinary Medical Association] in Calgary. This visit would also include shadowing the ER techs at VCA Canada Western Veterinary Specialist and Emergency Centre.”
Racheal Marshall, head of clinical nursing at Vets Now, said: “Carrissa is a very deserving recipient of this bursary because of the brilliant learning opportunity she will be able to embark upon in Canada.
“It was important to all of us at Vets Now to find a way of honouring Louise’s work and to keep her memory alive. The Louise O’Dwyer bursary is our way of thanking her for all that she contributed to the Vets Now family and the veterinary community.”
An RVN and clinical support manager at Vets Now, Louise O’Dwyer was described by friends as “a true force of nature”, with an infectious personality that lit up rooms worldwide.
Her passion for veterinary nursing was second-to-none, she was a much-loved colleague and friend to those who knew and worked with her, and a huge help and inspiration to thousands of vet nurses.
Applications for next year’s Louise O’Dwyer bursary will open in spring 2024.
