After thirty-two years as the Russell vet, Kathy Clemence will finally have a little time for herself and her family. Clemence started her career in Langenburg under the mentorship of Dr. Don Wyand in 1985 before moving to take over the practice in Russell six years later where she worked in partnership with Dr. Wyand before his retirement.
Looking back over the years, Clemence said the most importance lay with her clients and their animals.
“There were a lot of long hours,” she said. “Sometimes to the detriment of my family.”
For a large percentage of her career in Russell, she had a partner in the business or an associate veterinarian, but she says the ten years as the sole vet in the clinic made for strange hours.
“The highlight of the year was always the calving season,” she said. “Even though most of the calls were in the middle of the night, it’s quite exhilarating delivering babies.”
Retirement will give her time to focus on the 150 head of cattle, she and her husband Kim and kids Alex and Nikki all farm together.
She loves to sew and crafts beautiful bowls out of recycled glass, something she’s hoping she’ll have time to do too.
Not that she’ll necessarily be totally out of the vet business, as she says she’ll still be available to help out Dr. Carmelle Huberdeau – Rubeniuk who has taken over as the only vet at this practice.
In this day and age, Kathy said, finding someone looking to take over a rural practice can often prove to be quite difficult.
“Back when I first graduated, I was on TV once, this was before lady vets were popular,” Kathy said. “They interviewed me when I was in Langenburg – before coming and starting up here in Russell. The show was actually called The Lady Vet.”
Because, back then, lady vets were a rarity.
“I graduated in 1985 from Western Canada Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon,” Kathy said. “That was the first graduating class that was about 50 percent female and I think it was about that time that they changed the entry prerequisites to take marks into account more than anything else:”
“And I think that’s made a difference to who we’re seeing coming out of vet schools because there’s definitely more girls. Now we’re seeing about 10 male graduates and the rest are girls.”
That change, she feels may well have altered who is coming out of the schools and where they decide to practice.
“So now we’re getting little girls from Toronto coming out of vet school. They don’t want to come here so who is going to look after the cattle out in rural Manitoba. We’re finding a shortage of large animal vets so who wants to come here and help the farmers who make our food.”
It’s something she’s seen play out over the years as she’s watched other long time rural vets struggle to find someone to buy or take over their rural practices.
“Bruce and Janice Waddell are classmates of mine and they have the practice in Shoal Lake,” she said. “They decided they were going to try and retire two or three years ago. They’ve been trying to find someone to buy their practice but haven’t been able to so they’re at the point where they’re just going to shut it down. That practice is huge, that’s a huge area and there’s no one to take it over.”
So she knows she’s fortunate to have had the students she’s had.
“I’ve been super lucky here with the kids and the students that I have had here,” Clemence said.
“And I’m so grateful to Carmelle for buying my business,” Kathy said. “She’s a local girl from St. Lazare and a farm girl who is married to a farmer which makes a huge difference.”
“And with her, I know that my people are going to be looked after.”
For her, the students that she’s mentored – whether they be students in high school co-op ed or vet students from college, have given her the most joy over the last thirty some years.
“We’ve had kids from high school classes, we’ve had kids who volunteered just on their own and we’ve had veterinary students. And all of them have really added to my experience as a vet because when they’re excited about what I’m doing, it makes it better and brings the joy back into it.”
Over the years, she says she’s mentored about ten or twelve vet students here.
“I loved that part of my career so much,” adding that she’s forever grateful to Dr. Don Wyand who mentored her when she started her career in Langenburg and eventually worked with her when she moved to the vet clinic in Russell.
Here in rural Manitoba, years ago, the system has been set up so that municipalities own the vet clinics and their operation is overseen by a board.
“That system was set up years ago as a way to encourage vets to be able to set up practice and make sure that rural communities were covered,” Kathy said. “And I really have to thank the Vet Services Board here from all our area municipalities. They’ve been fantastic to work with and are responsible for all the changes and expansion that we see happening now.”
By: Terry Welwood