Eko Helps Veterinary Tech Bring Clarity to Every Exam

“In emergency veterinary care, precision is critical. I specialize in surgery, so I need reliable equipment because lives are on the line.”  

A career built on compassion

For Rachelle Tajiri, animals have always been at the center of her life. From the moment she was a child asking her parents for a puppy, she knew caring for them would be her future. Since 2009, she’s built a career in Hawaii as a veterinary technician, most recently in the surgery department of an emergency hospital.

Her work has included not only cats and dogs, but also exotic and endangered wildlife. Early in her career, she helped rehabilitate parrots, owls, and even penguins at a resort. Those experiences left her with a deep appreciation for the trust animals place in their caregivers. “I just love animals,” she says. “We don’t deserve them sometimes — they’re just so amazing for us.”

The need for reliable tools

She first discovered Eko while looking for ways to use her flexible spending account, purchasing it initially to monitor her own dog, who has sinus arrhythmias. What began as a personal purchase quickly became indispensable in her professional life.

"In emergency veterinary care, precision is critical." Rachelle explains. “I specialize in surgery, so I need reliable equipment because lives are on the line.”

With Eko, she can detach the chestpiece and use wireless listening, keeping a safe distance from anxious or fractious animals while still capturing accurate sounds. The ability to amplify and adjust volume has made subtle murmurs easier to detect, giving her more confidence in exams. 

And in busy emergency settings, the automatic study saving has been invaluable. “When we’re really busy, I’ll sometimes forget to get a heart rate. But with Eko, it automatically saves the study, so I can go back and say, ‘Oh, I did get it.’ So it saves me.”

A tool for learning and teamwork

Beyond making her own work safer and more effective, Rachelle often uses Eko as a way to confirm findings and support her colleagues. “I usually use Eko to verify what the veterinarian is hearing. For example, not everyone knows what a Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA) sounds like — it’s often described as ‘shoes in a dryer,’ which it really does. You can hear it very specifically when I put it on my phone for other people to actually hear it. So it’s a really good learning tool.”

In this way, Eko helps transform her daily exams into teaching moments, giving her colleagues a chance to recognize distinctive heart sounds and grow their own diagnostic skills.

Adapting digital tools for animals

Rachelle has also found creative ways to tailor Eko for veterinary patients. For especially furry breeds, she discovered that applying ultrasound gel instead of alcohol to the coat reduces artifact and makes heart sounds clearer. Small adjustments like this help her get more accurate results in challenging cases.

“It makes me better at my job, being able to hear things with ease, because sometimes it’s very difficult, especially on a moving patient.”  

She also points out how digital tools can make a big difference for professionals with hearing challenges. “Having the visual and also being able to adjust the volume is amazing. I don’t have hearing deficits, but I’m a subtitle kind of girl. I like visually seeing things, and having that available is amazing.”

Looking ahead

For Rachelle, Eko has become more than just a stethoscope — it’s a way to bring confidence, clarity, and collaboration into her work. “It makes me better at my job, being able to hear things with ease, because sometimes it’s very difficult, especially on a moving patient,” she says.

And while the clinical value is clear, she admits she also enjoys the design. With her black-and-gold stethoscope accented by a pink cover, she laughs: “Sometimes I want to wear it just for fun, because it’s so pretty.”

From emergency surgeries to teaching moments with colleagues, Eko supports Rachelle in delivering the best care possible — reminding us that when the right tools meet true compassion, animals everywhere benefit.