Yvonne Orthman, 23, runs Para-Med, a private 24-hour emergency service for animals in the Boston suburb of Winthrop. Averaging 800 to 900 calls from the area in the first year, Para-Med has administered first aid to countless house pets, squirrels, sea gulls and even a great cormorant. All problematical cases are rushed to veterinarians. Yvonne, a dental technician, got the idea for Para-Med two years ago when her Great Dane, Leo, came down with food poisoning. If they hadn't driven immediately to a vet, Leo would have died. Yvonne's roommate and partner, medical technician Jeanne Travis, 32, joined in to raise the $5,000 needed to buy and refurbish a van. The venture has grown so fast they have taken out a small business loan for a second van and plan to branch out into airport pickup and delivery of pets. Yvonne, who has cut her hours at the dental clinic to devote more time to Para-Med, sees it eventually as her full-time career. Veterinarians in the area applaud. Says Dr. Gus Thornton of Boston's Angell Memorial Animal Hospital: "I have never seen another pet ambulance that is as well equipped or with as well-trained people."
Daniel Wolf, 25, has parlayed his love for photographs into a million-dollar business. His Daniel Wolf Gallery in Manhattan sells prints dating from the dawn of photography and represents contemporaries like Elliott Porter for a clientele that includes major American art museums. Born in China and raised in Colorado, Daniel began taking pictures as a child with a Kodak Instamatic. He read Minor White's book Mirrors, Messages and Manifestations, which so inspired him that he studied with the author-photographer for two summers. During a high school year in France Wolf had a show of his own and later, as an art student at Bennington College, he went to Europe annually, haunting junk shops and buying 19th-century prints for as little as $1. "I didn't know whether I would be a collector or a dealer," recalls Wolf, "but I did know I wanted those photographs." Before long he was peddling his finds in front of the Metropolitan Museum in New York. Then, with help from his businessman father, the young bachelor opened the gallery in 1977. "It used to be difficult to sell a photograph for $200," he says. "Now they sell for $2,000 every day."
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