WOOSTER, Ohio — Nearly a third of Ohio’s 88 counties are short on veterinarians, according to Rustin Moore, dean of Ohio State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine.
Some of those counties have no vets, he said, leaving farmers to drive long distances, or wait for vets to drive long distances, when their animals are sick or need preventative care. Veterinarians sometimes cover multiple counties, Moore said.
“In those cases, the veterinarian can’t sustainably service all of those areas,” he said.
Moore underscored the need for OSU’s new Protect One Health in Ohio (Protect OHIO) plan at a town hall-style meeting held April 7 at the university’s Wooster campus. Using money provided by the state legislature, OSU plans to admit more veterinary students, offer more hands-on learning and encourage vet graduates from small towns to practice in their communities.
It was the first of several gatherings planned across the state in which college officials will outline the details of Protect OHIO and receive input from producers, veterinarians, extension educators, commodity groups and other rural community partners.
Future Protect OHIO Town Halls
April 22, 6-8 p.m. Winebrenner Auditorium, University of Findlay, 950 N. Main St. , Findlay OH 45840
April 29, 6-8 p.m., Kelly Center – McCoy Room, Wilmington College, College St. , Wilmington OH 45177
May 5, 6-8 p.m., The Lodge at Hocking College, 15770 OH-691 , Nelsonville OH 45764
For more information, click here.
Attendees at the Wooster town hall were largely supportive, although some pointed out perceived shortcomings in the plan.
The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine will add more faculty to increase class sizes from 165 students to 200 students over the next three years.
“We have to hire more people to do that, therefore we got more money” from the state, Moore said. The increase is gradual because “we don’t want to overload the system,” he said.
The curriculum will also include more trips off campus to work directly with animals and the school aims to include a greater share of Ohio natives in each class.
Even so, the expansion has limits, Moore acknowledged.
When a town hall attendee asked if the college would offer Spanish courses — many farm workers are native Spanish speakers — Moore said that the school doesn’t currently have enough faculty to make that change.
Although “the good news is we have bilingual students,” he said.
Veterinary perspective
Brad Garrison, who runs a veterinary clinic in New Pittsburg and attended the April 7 meeting, said he has to serve multiple counties in north central and northeast Ohio.
“We travel much further than we ever used to,” he said. “Most of my work used to be centered in Wayne County. Now we work in Wayne, Holmes, Knox, Stark, Lorain, Ashland and Richland” counties.
If a farmer is outside of those areas, the practice asks that farmer to come to them, he said.
Some of the problems contributing to the vet shortage aren’t easily solved, Garrison said.
Veterinarians, for example, must be able to make a living, he said.
“In the areas that are underserved, part of the issue is the livestock and number of farms in those areas is insufficient to support a practice,” Garrison said. “There has to be a volume of work to generate the income a vet needs.”
Farm perspective
Because of the vet shortage, “There are people who have a very hard time finding doctors,” said Jeff Bielek, who raises sheep on a farm five miles south of Wooster and sells some of his animals to other farmers.
A shortage isn’t the only problem, his wife and fellow farmer Kathy Bielek said. In many cases, vets aren’t sticking around long enough to develop a rapport with their clients.
The couple, who also attended the April 7 meeting, said they’ve worked with the same veterinary practice for decades, and the main vet has stayed the same.
“He knows me, he knows my flock, he knows how I practice,” Kathy Bielek said. “I work with him well over the phone.”
But the people working under that vet who travel to the couple’s farm are constantly changing, they said.
The Bieleks said they would prefer to work with vets who know their animals, and turnover makes it hard to find one.
“We don’t want to have to say ‘no, you need to look at the foot,’” Kathy Bielek said.
Young veterinarians seem reluctant to work in rural areas, and frequently leave jobs in small towns and sparsely populated counties, Garrison said.
“Retention is the hardest nut to crack,” he said.
It’s a problem OSU officials say they are working on. Protect Ohio includes collaborations with agencies such as the Ohio Department of Agriculture and nonprofits like the Farm Journal Foundation to attract and retain more students from rural Ohio communities.
And the college is exploring ways to provide scholarships and other funding to students who pledge to work outside of large cities, said Alecia Naugle, chair of the Department of Veterinary Preventive Medicine at Ohio State.
“We are exploring a state and federal program available to veterinarians willing to work in underserved areas,” she said. “We in Ohio have been leaving that money on the table.”
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