MCC expands agricultural programs by offering vet class

By MANDY JOHN | Central Texas Edition

Dr. Ron Epps goes over the lesson for the day with students taking the Veterinary Office Management class, currently being offered at MCC in Waco. -Staff photo by John

November 7, 2002 -- McLennan Community College (MCC), located in Waco, ex-panded their curriculum this fall semester and added the Information Veterinary Technology program. MCC states that a veterinary technician is knowledgeable in the care and handling of animals, basic principles of normal and abnormal physiology, and in routine laboratory and clinical procedures.

According to the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), a veterinary technician is a person who has graduated from a two or three year, AVMA accredited program of veterinary technology.

"Since the program is new at MCC, it is not currently accredited," explained Ron Epps, DVM, program director of Veterinary Technology. "We can only apply for accreditation at the end of the first year of classes, which will be in January of 2004. The program has been constructed to meet all the criteria set out by the AVMA for full accreditation, though.

MCC began working on bringing the program to their school since May of last year. MCC kept discussing the ins and outs of having the program, but didn't know if they would be able to make it a reality. Then they approached Dr. Epps with the program idea.

"Before I came to MCC, I owned a small animal vet practice in Bedford. For five years I taught Human Anatomy, Psychology, and Biology at Tarrant County Community County. I then sold my practice and moved to Cranfills Gap. I applied to MCC to teach and was asked by them to teach this class. I put the curriculum together and helped with the promotion of it.

"In February, we took our idea to the board and were approved. The Texas Higher Education Coordination Board then took over and heavily promoted the program.

"This new program will have the classes that the students need to take for their major, but it will also list the core classes that they must take, such as English and biology. I had to structure the classes for the first year a certain way, because we have no lab space until the Veterinary Technology Building is complete."

The building is currently under construction and will be open in Jan. 2003. It is located on Highlander Ranch, next to Bentwood Farms in Bosqueville.

"At the moment we have 32 students taking the Veterinary Medical Terminology and Veterinary Office Management classes (the only two classes being offered this semester). I feel that the majority of these students are satisfied with our program. The disadvantage right now is a lot of them want to do hands-on work now and we can't until January.

"We have all different ages in this program. The ages range from students directly out of high school to a 51 year-old student. One of our students is even a RN.

"One thing I stress to my students is that this program is not to prepare them for veterinary school. My goal is for these students is to give them not only book knowledge, but the ability to do the hands-on work and to know exactly how to do it."

Epps says that while taking these classes, he helps prepare students in dealing with death.

"We see death five times more frequently than a doctor does. We also have to deal with the emotional connection and the human-animal bond that we tend to have. I want my students to understand the grief associated with losing an animal. People aren't afraid of talking to someone about losing another human family member, but they don't want to talk to someone about losing an animal that might have been their family.

"I stress to them about giving animals a good quality of life. I explain the reason for euthanasia, which actually means a good death. If medical care won't help, I tell them that it's good to put them to sleep humanely. I do this because the majority of our students who come into our program will eventually work in a veterinary hospital.

"I am so proud to be working on this program, mainly because of the support we have been receiving. MCC is totally committed to the program. Now that we have this building in the works, MCC is looking at other agriculture instructional programs."