Texas Tech University’s School of Veterinary Medicine students finish clinical rotation

AMARILLO, Texas (KAMR/KCIT) — Four of Texas Tech University’s School of Veterinary Medicine students finished their clinical rotation this week at Amarillo Animal Management and Welfare Department (AAMW).

Officials with the City of Amarillo said this is a historic milestone hit after the school’s inaugural class kicked off their clinical year rotations including a rotation at the AAMW shelter.

According to CoA officials the School of Veterinary Medicine’s staff has been preparing to welcome this first clinical year since its establishment in the Fall of 2021. CoA detailed that students will spend four weeks at multiple veterinary clinics in Texas and New Mexico.

“Since 2018 the Texas Tech School of Veterinary Medicine really started planting its seeds, and we’re finally to that point in that fruition of all this work and time that our local communities put in, and Texas Tech as university system is put in,” said AAMW Director Victoria Medley. “So, we now are have our fourth year students who are doing their clinical rotations here at the shelter, at the city shelter. So with that, we’re being able to start seeing some of the fruit of that labor and of moving forward.”

During the clinical rotation, the students were able to work with the animals in the shelter and gain hands-on experience.

“So we were on our second rotation with students, and this month we had four students, and they get to participate not only in doing surgery on spays and neuters for the adopted animals. But they are also in the shelter, doing shelter things, so dog testing, helping with adoptions, going on an animal control ride,” said Leah Lee, professor of veterinary practice-community shelter at the Texas Tech School of Veterinary Medicine. “So they’re seeing firsthand how our officers interact with the community and how that they may be able to interact with stray animals on the streets as well.”

Lee talked more about how having this experience can better prepare the students.

“This rotation, they have three and a half weeks that they’re doing various things. We’re also doing vaccine drive. So they’re out in the community. They’re, you know, get meeting people face to face,” said Lee. “They’re seeing how diseases come to a shelter, not that diseases start in a shelter. So they’re really getting a first-hand look at how they can help their communities when they go back to rural, regional areas as well.”

One of the students who completed the clinical rotation this week was Bailey Baadde.

“So being the inaugural class, this is now the second rotation. So we’ve gone through a lot of first and my first rotation was a food animal. And so flipping and doing a food animal to coming to doing like shelter medicine and small animal predominantly, was a lot, but I was able to switch gears and get into it,” said Baade. “Our school is focusing on that, that they’re shipping us from little rural community to do food animal, to straight into the shelter and get down and help the community.”

Baade said that this experience will be able to help her prepare for the next steps.

“Since I do want to go back to a small rural community, is that at times, they don’t always have all the funds and the necessary means to take care of the animals like they want to,” said Baade. “Doing this rotation has been really informative on how to do high-quality medicine at a lower cost, and so we’re not sacrificing our quality of medicine to perform at a lower cost.”

The following students are scheduled to complete their shelter medicine rotation at the AAMW this week Kayla Wallace, Bennett Folsom, Jaime Becker and Bailey Baade.

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