Change is the Only Constant!

So as the seasons start to change, there is also change happening at Red Barn Veterinary Service. We are welcoming new faces, sending some young faces back to school and enjoying facility improvements. Generally, we use this column to inform you of animal related topics, but this time we are going to “toot our own horn”.

Emily McKarnin and Caitlin Dreher, who clients saw in the exam room, in the treatment areas and at the front desk have returned to K-State to start another school year. We will miss them and hope to see them on school breaks because they are super outstanding people and we love them! Hunter Nickell and Torre DePriest have gone back to the regular high school schedule of after school and Saturday mornings as activities allow, because at RBVS, school and school related activities always come first. So we will see less of them for a while but hope to have them back next summer ‘cause we love them, too.

So, now to new faces – Some of you may have noticed that Teri Cox has been joined by Emilee Mitchell and Amy (Coultas) Ray in the front office. These young ladies are learning a complicated system at light-speed. The computer software, necessary veterinary information, legal and ethical components of the front desk job are complicated and detailed, but the ladies were hired for the outstanding people skills that they bring to the job from prior employment and solid learning skills they showed us. We look forward to having Emilee and Amy with us a long time. Jessica Lytle is another fresh face at the front desk on a part-time basis. Jessica is a full-time student at Allen Community College and will be working a few hours a week as she continues her education. The next new face is Trisha Prock. Trisha is an animal care assistant, who keeps animals safe and comfortable, keeps premises beautiful, and work areas stocked and super clean. This young woman has a huge amount of energy and wants to expend it on making RBVS the best place for you to feel comfortable bringing your animals. The last totally new face at Red Barn Veterinary Service is Leon LaGalle. Leon is bringing years of livestock handling experience to us, in all species, making him invaluable as our primary large animal assistant. Leon knows how to move cattle efficiently, handle horses safely and catch the manure-y tail before it hits the vet… not after! And that’s not all, Leon can do all of the regular stuff we need to keep on keepin’ on…hang the vet’s and tech’s licenses, fix that constantly running toilet and keep the large animal area spick and span. Leon and Amanda Taylor, our large animal professional assistant/tech/guru will be working hard to make large animal work at RBVS as good as it can be.

Chay Hutton is back from maternity leave so we have 3 graduated veterinary technicians to assist our vets. She rejoins Veronnica Cumplido and Taylor Hess in helping our veterinarians, Dr. Flowers, Dr. Garten, Dr. Beyer and Dr. Monfort in bringing the best possible, most technologically updated care to your pets. Yes, there is a name missing from that veterinarian list. We are sad to announce that following her wedding and honeymoon at the end of September, we will say good-bye to Dr. Brandi Tharp, who will be leaving us to join a practice in Fredonia, where she lives. This will allow her to spend 2 hours more each day with her new husband and step-son, time spent driving to Iola to work with us. We congratulate Dr. Brandi on her marriage and would like to tell Fredonia congratulations on having a great vet join their professional community. RBVS will truly miss Dr. Brandi.

The last update concerns our facilities, specifically large animal facilities. We now have a complete bovine work area, with an indoor Silencer hydraulic working chute, maternity pen, an outside headcatch and work area, pens and unloading facilities that will handle “potloads” of cattle right at the office, along with an under-roof equine area with 2 box stalls, one large enough to use as a surgical area, stocks, and tie rails. There is a small lab area in the large animal clinic and the computer system in that building communicates directly to the main building computers. Oh, yes, almost forgot, we are putting our outdoor dog runs under a roof and north wall, to provide protection from wind, heat and rain, making them more usable in inclement weather, if we need them.

Big changes came to Red Barn Veterinary Service this year, but after all, “Change is the only constant”.