Stacey & sig med issues, bills after stopping a dog fight

We are the Fairgrounds Animal Hospital team and one of our own, sweet Stacey, could possibly lose a finger on her hand due to dog bite wounds that were negligently treated at the ER.

The full story is that recently Stacey took her sister's dog in to her home, since then she had knee surgery for an injury sustained working as a vet assistant at our hospital. She had surgery on her knee March 19 and was supposed to come back to Fairgrounds full time on April 8th. On 4/6/2024 Stacey found herself in a horrible and horrifying position - her sister's dog attacked her own dog and Stacey reacted instinctually, attempting to break up the dog fight by any means necessary but ultimately they did not stop fighting until she put herself between the two dogs. In the process, she was bitten severely many times on her legs, arms and hands and ultimately ended up with 2 broken fingers, broken metacarpal bones in one hand and multiple bite wounds/bruising/lacerations over her arms, legs and hands. Even more harrowing, Stacey was improperly treated at the ER. Unfortunately, the provider skin glued multiple bite wounds together and bandaged her fingers and hands, then instructed her NOT to remove the dressings until she consulted with the hand surgeon three days later. You should never skin glue any animal bite due to bacteria in their mouths, and you want puncture wounds like that to be open to drain and to allow ease of cleaning and monitoring for infection.

Unfortunately, Stacey did as the provider told her and when she saw the hand surgeon, he informed her that she now had infected broken bones in her hand and finger and could possibly lose most of the function in her hand and even worse a finger due to the damage from the bite wound and nerve damage.

Stacey was on part time, limited duty status since her knee injury and was unable to afford the cost of company health insurance on part time salary so her ER visit and all subsequent bills for treatment/surgery/rehab/etc for the injuries to her hands is on her to pay in full.

To add injury to insult, her sister's dog was immediately euthanized and Stacey feels responsible and heartbroken for this tragic incident- that's how big hearted and caring she is.

She is in a fragile place now, but we are working hard to buoy her and anything that anyone can give to help us with our donations to help our friend during this difficult time is so greatly appreciated, we could never say it well enough or often enough - THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROSITY AND WILLINGNESS TO HELP! You are making a difference in the world! Sincerely, the Fairgrounds Animal Hospital family.