Everything is changing. That, is a given. Especially this year…..
The vet industry is no different. Particularly in rural areas where large animals used to be ‘king’, now smaller domestic pets are taking up the spotlight – and quite a bit more space.
Dr. Kathy Clemence, who has been with the clinic for more than three decades has seen the change. And she, her team and the board of directors from the area municipalities who support the clinic, have planning for about four years to make the moves needed to make sure everyone – and every animal – is covered.
“When I first came here 32 years ago, I would say that across the board, we had about 70 percent large animal care and the rest was small animals, household pets that sort of thing,” Dr. Clemence said.
“Now that’s pretty much flipped where we’re seeing a lot more small animals.”
Which means the need for more vets, more treatment and housing areas. That’s why, for more than four years, the vet clinic has been planning to add on.
“There just isn’t the space to have two vets here and six staff so it was definitely time,” Cathy Clemence, the long time vet and owner of the Russell and District Vet Clinic explained.
Initially, the idea was to add onto the existing building, essentially just adding space to the west side. That, Dr. Clemence said quickly proved cost prohibitive.
In the new large area there’s a cattle chute to examine and semen test bulls and other large animals, horse stocks, a squeeze chute, birthing pens and a calving panel to accommodate C -sections and difficult births as well as two large box stalls, should anyone need overnight care.
While there’s space set aside for a ‘tip table’ to trim hooves etc., as the money isn’t there for that right now, that remains on the wish list for now.
The new space allows for a much better set up, Dr. Cathy says.
“We had a squeeze chute before which we did our calving in, which wasn’t always easy,” she said.
The new entrance to the original building will be at the back on the east side, where the large animal entrance is now.
As the transformation continues, there’ll be a large reception area and retail space, three exam rooms and office space and a conference space.
The current office was built in 1976. Its construction came at a time when the province was looking to ensure the availability of vet services on a regional basis, all across the Manitoba.
Clemence took over the vet practise in 1986.
Under that initial project, the building is owned by the four municipalities surrounding it (Russell-Binscarth, Riding Mountain West, Rossburn and Archie-Ellice. Through this partnership with the province which matches 90 percent of the municipal dollars spent on running the clinic, the clinic and the municipalities have been gearing up toward the move for quite a while.
Being able to afford the much needed expansion, Clemence says comes down to a bunch of great people on the veterinary boards over the 32 years she’s been working here.
“Over the years, we’ve been able to save about $7,000 to $10,000 per year,” she said, “so there was enough money squirrelled away to pay for the new barn,” Dr. Clemence said. “Now with our clinic improvement fee (it’s $3 an animal) a few cut-backs (they no longer pay Dr. Clemence to be the janitor) along with a little fundraising, the money will be there to finish up the inside of the new barn as well as make changes to the interior of the old building.
“This expansion is really needed and we’re trying to do it without taking anymore money from the RM’s for this.”
They’re still taking donations, Dr. Kathy said and there’ll be more fundraisers in the future to look out for too.
Much like the ice surface of an arena, they’re selling advertisements for the interior of the barn.
“Everything is so different now,” Dr. Clemence said. “We’ve gone from 100 farmers with 25 cows each and it’s turned around to where there’s 25 farmers with 100 cows. There’s hardly any people taking over farms anymore.”
“People are so far removed from the farm and as long as people think that Costco and Safeway is where to buy your meat, that’s where we’ll be.”
By: Terrie Welwood