By Andrea Arnold
Westwinds Mobile Veterinary Services visited McBride on Thurs Dec 8. This is the second time the clinic has come to serve the community for a day full of appointments. They have worked with animal owners in McBride since they began providing mobile services in April of 2021. This time, they were offered a base by a local resident, and attended to some of their appointments from the one location. They also travel to individuals who are unable to bring their animal to the central location.
The vast need for Veterinary services in the north led Dr. Jennifer McConnell, Dr Beth Barrett and Joanna Koehler to get the mobile services operational. Between the three of them, they have 62 years experience in the Veterinary industry and their desire is to provide services to as large of an area as they are able to serve with their two mobile trucks and their home base facility in Prince George. The trucks travel around Prince George, and to Mackenzie, McBride, Smithers, Hazelton and Quesnel, providing both large and small animal services where they are needed to help with a backlog of patients.
In Prince George at the facility on Blackwater road, they provide equine field surgery including hernia repairs, cryptorchid castrations, and equine dental surgery. With so much field experience on the Westwinds team, the are able to offer a wide variety of services including equine dentistry, equine lameness, joint injections, platelet rich plasma injections, digital x ray, ultrasound, equine castrations, gastroscope, equine fresh and frozen breeding services, canine breeding services, equine wellness and vaccinations, small animal wellness and vaccinations, and cattle herd health.
The team plans to return to McBride in the spring. The duration of their stay will depend on how many appointments they have to attend to.
