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News: Veterinarians Take Offices On House Calls
Veterinarians Take Offices On House Calls
By LAZELLE JONES
Freelance Writer
Veterinarian Dwaine McIntosh has been on the road since 1978, traveling the highways and country roads of Eastern Washington in his mobile clinics.
He is now on his fourth such unit – all four have been designed and built by Dodgen Industries of Humboldt, Iowa – traveling several hundred miles every Monday through Thursday. Each day finds McIntosh heading off in a different direction from Moses Lake, Wash. Fridays he spends in Moses Lake at a permanent facility that he shares with another vet.
His routine includes making stops at designated times and locations in towns like Odessa, Othello, Connell and Coulee City. Folks in these rural communities depend on McIntosh being there and when he arrives, people and their animals are waiting. Between stops he visits ranchers who have made appointments in advance.
“This is big ag country,” McIntosh said. “Out here, caring for livestock is 50 percent of our business, and it requires that I go on the road to reach those in need.”
Companion animals such as dogs, cats, potbellied pigs, llamas and goats make up the other half of his mobile practice.
In the course of a day McIntosh will see 12 to 15 clients. His clinic is equipped to handle minor surgeries, inoculations and routine veterinary procedures. When special care is required, the clinic is equipped to transport small animals back to Moses Lake.
In addition to meeting the needs of a far-flung clientele, McIntosh explains that the 34 years he’s covered this beat have been anything but boring.
“I love this part of the country, the people who live here and I enjoy providing animal care where it might otherwise go wanting,” he said.
He also likes to say that being mobile has kept him out of the office much of his career.
Veterinarian Art Colyer of Paradise, Calif., has had a similar yet different kind of mobile vet clinic experience. Beginning with an old motorhome that he converted into a mobile clinic, today Colyer now spends 25 percent of his time making house calls and dispensing care to companion animals from a new state-of-the-art mobile clinic.
The remainder of his time he spends at his permanent office. Like McIntosh, Colyer goes on the road specific days of the week, but unlike McIntosh he calls only on those who have scheduled an appointment in advance.
What often occurs is that many of his clients have several companion animals that he attends to in a single visit, unless he’s been called out on an emergency. Using his mobile
clinic he too can transport animals to and from his permanent facility when special care is required.
However, in most cases the typical medical needs of a companion animal can be met from inside the mobile unit.
Colyer’s mobile clinic, also designed and built by Dodgen Industries, comes equipped with a blood chemistry machine, a microscopy lab and testing equipment that he uses to perform a variety of diagnostic functions. It’s equipped with assortment of instruments for minor medical and surgical procedures. The
clinic features a 4.0 kilowatt-hour auxillary generator that powers the 110-volt equipment required to support a stand-alone mobile practice.
Colyer said that being able to go out into the community and provide care for those who can’t bring their animals to him is one of the rewards associated with having a mobile practice. And just like McIntosh, Colyer explains that being mobile has made his job anything but an 8 to 5 experience.
“I never get bored,” he said.