Veterinary Nursing Staff

I’ve always loved animals.  I remember “rescuing” little critters while growing up in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.  My first exposure to the medical side of animal care came in high school when I had the opportunity to work as a veterinary assistant.  It was there that I developed my passion for veterinary medicine and knew I wanted to have a career in this field, so I enrolled in the Veterinary Technology program at Vermont Technical College.

I did an internship in North Carolina and fell in love with the area. After graduation in 2006, I relocated to the Raleigh area and took my national and state boards to become a Registered Veterinary Technician.  I started working at VSH in Cary, and then transferred to VSH North Raleigh to work in internal medicine.  

Initially starting off in a specialty hospital right after graduation, I was a little overwhelmed, but within a very short amount of time, I was able to enhance my skills and become part of the dynamic internal medicine team. Internal Medicine is seen as the “detective side” of medicine. We can take complicated cases and through extensive laboratory work and special diagnostics we are able to use medical clues to figure out what is wrong with our patients.  As an internal medicine nurse, I am able to use advanced diagnostic such as endoscopy and ultrasound.  We see a wide variety of illnesses and diseases ranging from a dog with Immune Mediated Hemolytic Anemia to a cat that swallowed thirty rubber bands that must be retrieved with the endoscope.  One of the reasons I love my job is because every day is something different and I always have the opportunity to learn new things.

As the internal medicine nursing supervisor, I am also in charge of running VSH North Raleigh’s blood donor program.  We have screened employee’s cats and dogs and now have a list of donors that are available to come in as needed.  We also store units of blood and plasma from universal donors that we obtain from various blood banks across the country.  

I find my job very rewarding.  I love the feeling I get when I see a patient walking out the door, feeling better and happy to be going home.  Even when we don’t have an ideal ending, there is great satisfaction in knowing we did everything we could for that pet and that we have helped a family through one of the toughest times they have experienced.  The bonds we develop with both our patients and their families are so fulfilling.  There is a great sense of satisfaction knowing I work in a place that provides the best possible care for pets.

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