Raise the Bar

By Kennedy Mounce, student writer

The K-State family is famous for seeing a need and filling it. The Shelter Medicine and Community Outreach program is no exception to this standard.

Eight years ago, the program began with a mission to make K-State veterinary students as practice-ready as possible. By simply taking students out in the new mobile surgery unit to provide free spay/neuter services and medial triage at animal welfare organizations that didn’t have that possibility, they began to fill a need in the community.

“We viewed this as a win-win-win situation,” says Dr. Brad Crauer, associate clinical professor and Shelter Medicine director. “Students get valuable surgical experience, and they average 50 surgeries a week in our program. The pets obviously get spayed and neutered so they can be adopted and altered, and our organizations we partner with get those services for free, otherwise they would be paying for those resources so they can use those other funds to raise the bar.”

Expanding the mission

Since then, the program has gained over 20 shelter partners, completed about 37,000 surgeries and had a little over 900 fourth-year students come through the program. The mission has been expanded into serving the populations of people who can’t access veterinary care due to cost, location or a lack of information about basic pet care. With the addition of Community Outreach to the program, the faculty and staff have been able to make an even more substantial impact.

“Right now, we are on the road with community outreach a full week every month — plus some occasional events,” Dr. Crauer says. “Ten days a month, 120 days a year, we are out providing service. We are able to introduce our students to animal welfare — some of the harder and more difficult parts — and give them an appreciation for that when they graduate. We want to introduce students to a population or socio-economic group they wouldn’t otherwise interact with and help them understand that those pet owners love their pets. Those pets are so valuable in those situations. We as a veterinarian community can provide care to these families and raise the level of care.”

Extra benefits for students

With the new angle to make community outreach an equal part of the program, the student perspective has changed to discover a newfound appreciation for pets and pet owners that students can take with them into their future practices.

“Whether it be animal welfare or public health, you’re going to find something in the program that you care about,” says Elizabeth Scarborough, first-year student and student employee of the Shelter Medicine/Community Outreach program. “It doesn’t matter what your primary focus is, this is a way for people to remember their humanity. One of the primary goals of community outreach is making sure that animals don’t have to go the shelter, so it’s a preventative measure to make sure that people have their animals, and those animals have their people, rather than having to find a new person. Shelter Medicine is something where it doesn’t matter where you come from, there is going to be something that you are going to care about.”

Adding to the fleet

The WOW, or Wellness on Wheels vehicle was added in 2021 and is geared toward supporting the Community Outreach program. It provides a key level of support to the students and staff involved in this growing facet of the program. Dr. Ron Orchard, a postdoctoral fellow in Shelter Medicine, has played an integral role in the Community Outreach program by teaching the fourth-year course that guides students into the reality of the occupation.

“The WOW is set up with many of the features of a general practice veterinarian and includes exam areas, a surgical suite, dentistry equipment, digital radiography and seating for clients as we consult with them,” Dr. Orchard says. “The goals for the Community Outreach course include training students to practice resource limited medicine, while working with clientele who historically would lack the ability to have their pet seen by a veterinarian. We hope to instill in every student that every client is worthy of veterinarian-clientpatient relationship.”

The Mobile Surgery Unit has provided the veterinary manpower the program needed to make a substantial impact on under-privileged communities across Kansas. In order to continue these good works, the current Mobile Surgery Unit is being retired within the next few months to make room for a newer vehicle.

Elizabeth Scarborough (right) performs a health exam under the supervision of Dr. Ron Orchard on the Mobile Surgery Unit.

Photo by Tommy Theis.

“We have gotten 250,000 miles out of our original Mobile Surgery Unit and performed about 35,000 surgeries,” says Dr. Crauer. “The current one still operates fine, but we are starting to see eight years of wear and tear. These vehicles aren’t built to have a quarter million miles on them and, in order to be on the road and in the communities we serve, it needed to be replaced. We recently had a new Mobile Surgery Unit delivered, and we are excited to get that vehicle up and running.”

Making a difference

The passion and purpose behind this program has created thousands of meaningful interactions between people and pets alike. The team is dedicated to their mission and is continuing to fill the need for veterinary care across the state while redefining the standards for Shelter Medicine and Community Outreach programs nationwide. By partnering with organizations such as the Street Dog Coalition in Topeka and the Pet Resource Center Kansas City, the K-State team is able to deliver a new standard of care to people beyond their own community.

“What makes me tick is ‘Where can I have as big an impact as possible?’ That is really what makes me get up in the morning and when we talk about the K-State Community Outreach program, it checks so many boxes,” Dr. Crauer says. “I feel like I’m Santa Claus every day just going out and giving gifts to people — and not just to those we provide care for, but for the students who come in to gain more hands-on experience and become better human beings through this program.”

The drive at the director level pours over into the students and is actively creating the next generation of veterinarians who will now be built with a level of compassion in their care unlike any other.

“I’ve had people tell me that their animal has saved their life, so why would you not want these animals to be cared for so they can succeed in fulfilling their purpose?” Elizabeth says. “If you can’t see that purpose and that importance, I say go to a shelter and meet a dog.”