Animal doctors, not unlike human medical doctors, are in short supply in rural Manitoba. As well, a lot of surrounding veterinary clinics are no longer accepting new patients.
After 35 years serving the Shoal Lake area, Hamiota, parts of Miniota and beyond through their veterinary clinic, the husband-wife team of Doctors Bruce and Janice Waddell decided it was time to retire in the spring of 2022. Dr. Jean Sinclair had worked at the Shoal Lake clinic, performing operations. Through illness, they lost Jean’s service there.
Both Virden and Shoal Lake veterinary clinics have felt the crunch. To support the agricultural industry, now Virden Animal Hospital is helping out in the Shoal Lake area.
It looked like the practice might fold entirely, however, in a recent deal struck between the Veterinary Services District (VSD) for Virden area and the Shoal Lake area, the Virden Animal Hospital has agreed to provide scaled down services both at the Shoal Lake veterinary clinic and making rural calls.
For Virden Animal Hospital (VAH) Dr. Nadine Wohlgemuth explained that the Virden clinic is going to operate the Shoal Lake clinic, keeping the shelves stocked with medicines and pet food. The previous receptionist at Shoal Lake will continue to work there at the clinic, providing product sales on weekdays between 8:30 a.m. and 3 p.m.
Wohlgemuth says, “As well, Dr. Roger Richard, who retired from the Virden Animal Hospital last spring, has agreed to work two days per week in the Shoal Lake area doing large animal calls.” Working under VAH, Richard a cattle farmer himself, has years of experience with large and small animal medical needs.
The Shoal Lake, Hamiota and Oak River areas are home to a number of hog operations. “I’m up there a couple of days per week doing some swine work as well,” says Dr. Wohlgemuth.
She says that the problem of insufficient veterinarians runs far and wide. “In Canada in general there’s a veterinarian crisis. We in Virden are looking to hire three vets as well.”
She states, “The workload has definitely increased and the burn-out of veterinarians is real it’s not something that people just say to make news… and when you do rural mixed practice, it’s definitely there for sure.”
Staffing the Shoal Lake clinic full-time is just not feasible until more veterinarians become available. Ron Gerulus, Board Chair of the Shoal Lake and Area VSD says Shoal Lake clinic’s service area is vast and includes the RMs of Yellowhead, Oakview, Hamiota, Ellice-Archie and the Municipality of Prairie View and Harrison Park.
Russel veterinary clinic under the new ownership of Dr. Huberdeau-Rubenuik and with a brand-new facility, is also looking to hire a full-time veterinarian.
Just like human medical services, animals have needs that arise after hours sometimes requiring a midnight run. Wohlgemuth explains, “There’s just not very many veterinarians that would consider working by themselves full-time anymore.
“There’s a lot of work-life balance discussion going on out there,” she says. “In Virden, we’re a large practice with multiple veterinarians doing ‘call’ and we are struggling to find people to come into rural practice… ."
The need for veterinary services has grown of late says Wohlgemuth.
“It’s grown significantly… in that people really did get one or two new pets in Covid. Also, partly because some of the surrounding clinics no longer do large animal - Brandon in particular.”
Many clinics are also not accepting new patients. This has increased Virden’s workload and the geographic area that Virden vets have to cover.
For pet owners, Shoal Lake’s closure has hit hard. “At this point, we’re still only doing small animal out of Virden,” says Wohlgemuth. “We don’t have the staff to send up there to do small animal out of Shoal Lake… and that will only change once the staffing situation in Virden gets solid as well.”
Vaccination and health records from the Shoal Lake animal clinic will be available for up to three years and can be transferred to whatever clinic clients decide to use.
