Scholarships will ensure rural areas are served by vets

~ In Missouri, veterinary school graduates have an average debt load of $80,000.

PARK HILLS, Mo. -- Call it "Northern Exposure," large animal style.

In a scholarship program for veterinarians similar to the one used by the human medicine doctor in the 1990s television show, Missourians now can have veterinary school paid for in return for committing to four years of work in a rural area.

In the television show, New Yorker Dr. Joel Fleischman received financial aid to complete medical school. In return, he had to spend four years working in Alaska to repay the student loans.

In Missouri's Large Animal Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program, up to six students may receive $20,000 per year in student loans to attend veterinary school. Their four years of repayment will be served in underserved areas of Missouri.

If they do not fulfill that requirement, the veterinarians will have to repay the loans at 9 percent interest, said Richard Antweiler, executive director Missouri Veterinary Medical Association.

Although the Parkland region has several animal veterinarians, northern Missouri and parts of southwest Missouri have very few, Antweiler said.

"About 10 years ago, legislation was passed to put a program like this in place, but it was never funded," Antweiler said. "We had a new push last year by the state veterinarian, us and the Cattlemen's Association, because the shortage of vets was getting worse."

A bill passed in last year's legislative session amended the program to add structure and make the bill more practical, Antweiler said. Senate Bill 320 increased the annual number of loan recipients to six and reduced by one year the number of years a student must agree to work in a rural area. The bill also transferred administration of the program from the Missouri Veterinary Medical Board to the Department of Agriculture and the State Veterinarian's Office.

Gov. Matt Blunt has announced that he will see that the program is fully funded by setting aside $500,000 for the loans in the state budget.

More than 600 college students apply for 80 slots each year in the University of Missouri's College of Veterinarian Medicine, said Dr. John Dodam, associate dean for academic affairs. About 85 percent of the students graduate from the four-year program.

Each graduate typically has two to three job offers upon graduation, he added. Nationwide, veterinary school graduates have an average debt load of $100,000. In Missouri, that average is $80,000, Dodam said.

Dodam is glad the bill passed, but he believes only a small percentage of students will apply for the program. It will be most attractive to students from rural areas who plan to return to rural areas to make a living.

"About 80 percent of our population lives in urban areas, and less than one percent of our population is in agriculture," he said. "The economic opportunities for a veterinarian in a small community are lower than ever before."

Graduates from veterinary college take many paths in Missouri and across the country. About 70 percent of veterinary school graduates go into private practice. Some graduates prefer to work only with small animals or only certain large animals. Others teach, work in private industries, work for the military or take a government job. Some graduates continue their education to get a masters or a specialist's degree. As public health officers, veterinarians work with food safety issues in this country and in war-torn areas. Their jobs involve ensuring safe food for military troops and safe water and food for residents of those areas.

Even if just a few students use the program, it will be a success, Dodam added.

"It will make a big difference in Missouri," he said.

Getting started

Funding would come from appropriations from general revenue and donations. Money in the fund would be used for administrative expenses as well as scholarships, according to Blunt's office.

Assuming the Legislature accepts Blunt's directive to fund the program, the scholarships would begin in July and would run through June 30, 2013.

Before the state can distribute the scholarships, the state needs to define an "underserved area."

That definition will come from an advisory committee that includes three veterinarians, the dean of the veterinary college and a member of the public who represents agricultural interests. A Missouri Veterinary Medical Association task force presented its suggestions for criteria, including human and large animal population in an area, along with the potential for the veterinarian to sustain a living there.

"A lot of times, it means hooking them up with an existing veterinary practice where they can continue to build the customer base," Antweiler explained. "Maybe they step in to take over when other vet retires."

The advisory committee currently is being formed and will address other parts of the program, Antweiler added.

Blunt announced in October that he would support funding for the scholarship program.

"This funding will create a corps of young, talented veterinarians ready to serve family farmers in underserved areas across the state, helping to ensure that the next generation of Missouri's family farmers have the veterinary resources available to continue our state's agricultural tradition,"Blunt said.

Dr. Bud Hertzog of Lee's Summit Animal Hospital, who is on the oversight committee for the new program, said the scholarships would have a large effect on animal agriculture.

Hertzog said Missouri is the second-highest state in numbers of cattle and is in the "top 10" with other agricultural animals.

"There is a crying need for people to go into the underserved areas," said Hertzog, former president of the Missouri Veterinary Medical Association and former member of the state licensing board and the American Veterinary Board. "Young people going through schools today are attracted to "the bright lights" of urban areas. You can make more money in the cities with a small animal practice."

No need here

Although area veterinarians agree that there is more money in small animal medicine, a dozen or so area veterinarians provide large animal services in the Parkland. In addition to those in St. Francois County, veterinarians in surrounding counties work with Parkland animals, said Dr. Joseph O. Swink, a Farmington veterinarian with 35 years of experience.

"They pretty well cover our area," he said. "Down here, you also have a lot of 'do-it-yourselfers' on farms. Ninety percent of what they need for medicine is available at feed stores. I'm not sure there's as dire need as they say."

On the other hand, Swink travels to Bollinger and Reynolds counties regularly to spend the day treating horses because those counties are short on large animal veterinarians, Swink said.

Meanwhile, small animal medicine is "exploding" in price, he said.

"There is a huge discrepancy in price," he said of large and small animal veterinary care.

Farmers typically will not pay high prices for medical care for their animals, Swink said.

"They're not going to spend half what a calf is worth," he said. "They'll let him die and go get another one."

Alicia Lawson handles large and small animals in her Washington County practice. She works with all farm animals, although she prefers not to handle hogs.

Lawson's large animal services include vaccines, worming and nutrition. She gets called to pull calves out during difficult births, sew up lacerations or drain abscesses. When Lawson is unavailable, one of the other veterinarians usually can cover, she said.

Although pet owners usually are willing to pay for veterinary services, most of Lawson's large animal clients are concerned with costs. Livestock producers in this area do most of their own herd health care, rather than pay a veterinarian to do it.

Although the scholarship program will bring more veterinarians into rural areas, the question remains whether they will stay for good.

As more students from cities and suburbs enter veterinary school, fewer choose to work in rural areas, Lawson theorized. While they can work a 9 to 5 shift at a city clinic, that is seldom the case in the country.

"It used to be mostly farm kids in veterinary school," she said. "Kids from the city just aren't in to large animals."