A new lab space at Bow Valley College in Calgary will allow veterinary office assistant students to obtain more clinical experience before they graduate.
The 15-week program at the downtown Calgary location teaches administrative skills to people interested in working in veterinary clinics. These skills include financial management, veterinary computer software, client care and handling techniques. Classes are available both in-person and online.
Kerry Sharples, program chair for health administration at the Bow Valley College Chiu School of Business, said the new lab space will reduce animal stress and provide students with more space to practice their skills. The lab will also be a mock clinic designed to provide as much clinical experience to students as possible.
Construction is scheduled to start in January.
“If we were on the ground floor, we’re reducing the stress for the animals. They don’t have to go up on an elevator ride … It’s also a bigger space, and we’re actually going to create it just like walking into a vet clinic,” Sharples told LiveWire Calgary at an animal handling class on Monday.
“We can have kennels. We can have more of those, so we can have more cats or even more moments where we can have a dog and a cat because we will have separate spaces and separate areas.”
Sharples added that it’s important for students to be exposed to animals before they apply for jobs at veterinary clinics.
“[Animal handling classes] allows students to have real interactions with animals. We have dogs and cats that come on campus, and a lot of it is having that early exposure so when they go out to clinics they’re actually able to have that confidence,” she said.
“So many aren’t exposed to some animals … It just allows them to really learn proper animal handling techniques or even learning how to approach an animal, and it’s giving you a heads up before you even start in the industry.”
Corinne Smith works part-time at a veterinary clinic and is also a full-time instructor at Bow Valley College. She teaches students how to handle dogs and cats, including how to collect blood and how to “burrito wrap” a cat in a towel.
Smith said the veterinary office assistant program is designed to be interactive, and the school also has a storage room with a lot of equipment that is typically used in clinics.
“I think that we’re really interactive and engaging for the students, and they see a lot of these things before they head out into industry,” she said.
“For a good month, [students are] all working with either stuffed animals, live animals. A lot of other classes are hands on and working with a lot of equipment … It’s a great program, especially if you love animals and you got the care and compassion for them.”
Gaby Bolanos, a veterinary office assistant program student, said she loves the program because she can pursue her love and passion for animals. She told LWC that the animal handling classes are the best classes because she gets to handle animals.
“I love animals, and it’s my passion to to help animals and be always a helping animals, and this is a best way to do it,” she said.
“I feel really good, and my teacher explained a lot of topics about a how to handle, and how to see the behaviour of animals so I could understand them and also how to handle them. This is amazing, because it’s part of my job in the future.”
