Veterinarian shortage in rural Arizona

There is currently a veterinarian and vet-tech shortage in Arizona and around the U.S., especially in rural areas. According to the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges, it would take over 50,000 techs nationwide to meet the current need.

Hailey Adams, an instructor at Western Maricopa Education Center (West-MEC), and Sedona Price, a student at West-MEC, joined us to discuss.

The trend of more women training to become vets continues, and female vet students continue to dominate the field. We talked with Adams and Price about the veterinary sciences program and how the program is helping to address the shortage.

West-MEC’s program is predominantly composed of women, which is also in line with the veterinary industry as a whole. For Adams’ class in particular, there are 21 females and 6 males, which is a record-high number of males.

One of the issues contributing to the shortage is the physical and emotional strain of the job compared to the low wage, according to Adams. She said this has been going on for a long time, but now it continues to increase.

“We have our own clinic at West-MEC where we have animals from HALO come in, and we get to do intake and surgery on them, and it shows you what it’s like to actually work in a clinic,” Price said.

There are three clinics on the West-MEC campus that all work with dogs and cats. The classes are used for high school credit or, through a partnership with Mesa Community College (MCC), students can exchange college credit once they enroll in the vet program at MCC.

“You would need a two-year associates program to sit for that [veterinary technician certification] test, and then veterinary assisting, it’s a national certification, but it’s not required throughout the state. So really, it’s resume building and experience that benefits our students,” Adams said.

Price said her favorite part is being with the animals and getting to know them.