Desperate for care, northern Manitoba community groups reach out for veterinary services
Humane society opens new clinic, but Thompson currently has only 1 veterinarian
A northern Manitoba animal shelter has launched a veterinary centre to ensure remote communities have access to affordable animal care.
The Thompson Humane Society hopes to offer affordable animal care for the city and region with its new Animal Health and Wellness Centre (AHWC), according to society chair Oswald Sawh.
"Our service will be not just to animals that are lost, abandoned or abused … but, also pets of all Thompsonites," Sawh said. "If the current services are priced not in line with what they can afford, then sadly those animals do not get the health care we feel that they need."
The wellness centre is geared toward pet owners with low to moderate income levels, with an emphasis on promoting spaying and neutering animals, along with vaccinations and health checks, he says.
The Thompson Humane Society is not alone in working to ensure there is veterinarian access for the 60,000 people in the northern region — the Thompson and Area Pet Care Cooperative (TAPCC) is partnering with North of 55 Veterinary Services to create a community-led group to recruit locum veterinarians — temporary visiting vets — to the city.
The goal is to ensure Thompson pet owners can get care for their animals without having to make the eight-hour drive to Winnipeg.
The AHWC is located across from the humane society shelter. Board member Michele Nichol-Sawh says it will be treated as a separate space focussed on veterinary care.
"I would love to see vets come in. I would love families to be able to get their animals taken care of without the huge costs," Nichol-Sawh said. "Everybody deserves that."
The society bought the building in May and now needs to raise $80,000 to $100,000 to purchase equipment needed by visiting vets. The new building is designed to host a clinic so vets can fly in, treat the animals and return home.
A spay and neuter clinic run by the AHWC in October saw more than 100 animals receive treatment, Sawh says.
Five spay/neuter clinics are planned in Thompson in 2024 in partnership with the Winnipeg Humane Society's One Health program.
The humane society in Thompson shelters as many as 40 to 50 animals, a number Sawh hopes to see reduced.
"The most proactive way to try and manage the population is by having not just an affordable but accessible spay and neuter programs … By having that we will see a lot less unwanted animals out there," Sawh said. "That's the best way, long-term wise, we can increase the overall health of animals in northern Manitoba."
Vet co-op established to create new clinic
Dr. Keri Hudson Reykdal at North of 55 Veterinary Services is the only veterinarian in Thompson. She established the temporary practice in February 2021 with a partner, who later left the clinic.
Hudson Reykdal currently has a list of more than 4,700 clients. Emergencies are referred to Winnipeg.
When Hudson Reykdal launched her practice she renovated the 6,000-square-foot clinic with the hopes of recruiting new vets to Thompson. Ideally, she says, the city should have at least two or three veterinarians.
Hudson Reykdal said earlier this year she wants to wind down her clinic as soon as a new vet can be found to replace her. But, it's been hard to entice vets and veterinary technicians to work in the great white north.
There was a plan earlier to bring to the city veterinarians from Mexico who had previously worked and studied in Canada — but these plans fell through when they opted for other employment. Hudson Reykdal says they are still looking at foreign-trained vets as a possibility.
She says Thompson is not alone in trying to keep vets — there's a shortage in rural Canada and across North America.
Hudson Reykdal is working with the TAPCC, which has five members, to help find a replacement.
The co-op wants to take over the clinic and recruit veterinarians to come up into the community.
"Without veterinary care in Thompson ... I simply cannot see our family staying here," said TAPCC vice co-chair Ainslee McLaughlin. "We've always had pets and there's just not having an animal without veterinary care."
The co-op began gathering information in January 2023 before officially coming together as a group in March. It became an official non-profit in August, McLaughlin says .
The key to taking over the clinic is getting a new veterinarian on board as they transition ownership of the building and equipment to the co-op.
The idea is for Hudson Reykdal to work for a week at a time monthly in Thompson if other vets can be found.
"That's kind of what we're looking at here is shorter-term veterinarians [who] could come up, do a week at a time or a couple weeks at a time, but not be away from their family all the time," Hudson Reykdal said.
The co-op needs to raise about $1.5 million upfront to buy the clinic and building. To that end, the co-op has a dedicated team member working with Hudson Reykdal and her staff, and will use an office manager to make arrangements with locum vets found through advertising and social media.
"It's all uncharted territory for us as it is for the province as well. It would be the first of its kind once it does come to fruition," McLaughlin said.
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