Production Management Medicine team treats animals in rural and urban settings

Mona Sams involves animals in her care of people with developmental disabilities. But sometimes it is the animals who need care.

That is where Production Management Medicine from the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine can assist Sams. Its mobile veterinary team provides field service as far away as 35 miles from Virginia Tech's Blacksburg campus, a radius that includes Creative Therapy Care and Sams’ collection of therapy animals in the Hollins area of Roanoke County.    

“It’s really a big help to have the veterinary college come here because I’m not hauling animals to the vet,” Sams said. “I'm not getting any younger, and of course, you get the best service with Virginia Tech. It’s been a real blessing because I used to have to take the large animals all the way to Bedford. And if you're doing that, you're not able to be working with clients. So, yes, it’s a real blessing.”

On a November weekday, Jamie Stewart, assistant professor in Production Management Medicine, and a team of veterinarians and veterinary students traveled to Creative Therapy Care to provide a variety of examinations and treatments for the animals at the site as they do about three times a year. 

 “Dr. [Jessica] Cowley is outside working with the alpacas, the llamas, and the sheep,” Stewart said. “Mona also has a couple of pigs here. We're going to be taking care of Hank today. His tusks are a little overgrown. That’s definitely a concern when he's nuzzling up people. Those tusks can bump you, and even though he's not aggressive, they can still cause a little bit of injury. We want to make sure we cut those down so they're not going to injure him or injure anybody else.”

Hank wobbled around a bit as his anesthesia took hold, but once he settled into a deep slumber, the team not only trimmed his tusks but also his hooves, cleaned out his ears, and gave him dewormer and vaccines, including one for rabies. 

“Then we'll give him a reversal and he'll wake up and hopefully feel like a million bucks,” Stewart said.

Sams is an occupational therapist who has incorporated animals into her treatment of children and adults with developmental disabilities and autism for four decades. She was part of published research that documented therapy of children with animals and without animals in tandem, finding much better results in the children when animals were part of therapy. 

“The animals don't pass judgment on children no matter what their disability,” Sams said. “They give unconditional attention and acceptance. You could use the word love.”

While the arrival of the Production Management Medicine team brought about an unusual day at Creative Therapy Care, it was a fairly typical day for the mobile veterinary squad members, who were splitting up to reach two appointments in more common rural settings after the work in the outskirts of Roanoke. 

“I’d say maybe 70 to 80 percent of our daily activities are out in the field when we’re on clinics,” Stewart said. “We’re pretty unique in that, every day, we always have somebody who is available for emergencies. We have a lot of local veterinarians around that if they're out doing herd work and one of their clients has an emergency, they typically tell them to call us.”

The field visits offer unique opportunities to veterinary students in fourth-year rotations, many of whom are on tracks other than large animal care. 

“We typically have a lot of small animal students that come with us,” Stewart said. “Most of the time, when they start the rotation they're kind of terrified, but then they see the day-to-day stuff like today. And then, following here, we're going out to do herd work, so they get to kind of see the variety of stuff that we do.” 
 
“I feel like I have like a country girl side sometimes,” said Taylor Emery, a student on the small animal track. “I definitely like getting my hands dirty and being able to work with food animals and farm animals and see a different side of the profession.

“I love that I could trim off the tusk. I love fixing the feet, giving the injection, stuff like that. The fact that Dr. Stewart trusts us and gives us the opportunity to really hone in learning skills was pretty awesome.”