When Dr. Lilian Wong was a veterinary student at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, she occasionally crossed paths with fellow student Amy Pelton. Still, they never had a chance to really connect. But during her fourth year, when Wong’s puppy Macey, was diagnosed with a cardiac condition and needed heart surgery, Pelton suddenly became very important in her life.
Wong, who is now a clinical skills instructor for OSU’s Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine, found herself as Pelton’s client, with Macey under Pelton’s watchful care as she did her cardiology rotation at UC Davis. Watching her work with the sick puppy, Wong knew right away that Pelton would make a great veterinarian and lifelong friend.
The two stayed in touch after graduation and rekindled their friendship a few years ago when Pelton moved to the Willamette Valley, where Wong was working at OSU. Pelton started a successful mobile in-home euthanasia service in Monmouth to provide end-of-life care to local cats and dogs. She would sometimes travel to Corvallis to guest teach in Wong’s clinical skills courses and support students learning physical exam and communication skills.
Unfortunately, Pelton unexpectedly died last August at age 39, leaving her family and friends devastated and the animal community she’d cared for without a champion. Wong wanted to honor her friend’s commitment to removing economic barriers to animal care and decided to organize a free vaccine clinic in Monmouth to continue a dream long in the making.
“Amy and I had the plans for a vaccine clinic for a long time but we were slow planning it, and we’d never got around to finding a good location,” Wong said. During their friendship, Pelton shared stories about combing social media to find people in economic hardship who needed pet care and seeking them out to provide them with free veterinary care.
“She confided in me that sometimes she put herself into precarious positions to help these animals,” Wong said. “Somebody was living in a tent set up in someone’s backyard or in somebody’s garage. She was trying to help those who were financially unable to care for their animals but clearly still loved them. She would do it all out of her own pocket.”
The April 11 vaccine clinic came together with support from many individuals and organizations. Polk Community Family Resources and Outreach offered their space and volunteers to assist. Seven UC Davis graduates who were Pelton’s friends traveled from out of state to supervise. Local veterinary clinics donated vaccines and supplies. And 30 members of the Shelter Medicine Club at OSU, which Wong advises, gave up their Saturday to provide patient intake, animal assessment and medical care, with the assisting veterinarians supervising and advising when needed.
In total, the volunteers were able to vaccinate and deworm 97 dogs and cats, as well as provide flea and tick medicine.
“Students say they really enjoy the hands-on piece of the clinics,” Wong said. “The students are really running the show.”
Katja Erringer is a second-year veterinary student from Portland, who got involved with the Shelter Medicine Club last year to have a chance to work more hands-on with animals. She quickly realized there was a lot more to gain by being a club member.
“For students, you can get experience with physical exams, giving vaccines and doing client communication, but it’s also a skill to be adaptable — often, you have to do your exams in unconventional ways and learn to do a lot with a little,” Erringer said.
Erringer helped manage the resource tent at the Monmouth clinic, handling the vaccines and medicines being distributed by the team.
“What I could tell from my vantage point was that everyone who showed up did so with immense love and compassion,” Erringer said. “I got to watch students growing in their clinical skills and confidence throughout the clinic, and experienced veterinarians supporting them.”
Missy Booth is also a second-year student who came to OSU from Colorado after working for a foster-based dog rescue. The free vaccine clinics the Shelter Medicine Club provides align strongly with her views of what real veterinary medicine should be.
“I am passionate about animal welfare and extending veterinary services to lower-income communities as those pets are just as deserving of care,” Booth said. “These outreach events help us veterinary students practice our client communication and clinical skills. It is a valuable trait for a veterinarian to be able to take a history on a pet from the owner, while doing an exam, then conveying those findings to the owner, presenting a plan and executing it.”
Second-year student Meagan Bezin from Scappoose hopes to one day open her own clinic that provides low and no-cost veterinary services to those in need. As an office with the club, she’s increasing her client-patient interactions to be better prepared to meet those goals. The vaccine clinic was another opportunity to get a taste of what it means to serve the community.
“The most memorable interaction I had at the Monmouth Clinic was the last family of pets that my group treated,” Bezin said. “The owner was taking beautiful care of her four dogs and the dogs had a diverse set of needs. One was older and had neurologic issues, two were young and intact with dog reactivity. There was a large group of students in different years who all got to work with them. There are a lot of ways that the situation could have gone wrong, but it was entirely successful and the client left with some resources that she didn’t have before.”
The Shelter Medicine Club depends on donations to operate in local communities. Anyone interested in supporting their work can donate through the Dam Proud Day site.
By Theresa Hogue
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