A dog's leg is being carefully bandaged on a metal bench, which is set up in this new facility that mimics a real-life animal hospital.
It's just for practice; the dog belongs to a Ventura College student. But in the future, it will be for real, as these are the vet technicians of tomorrow.
This new 2,000-square-foot lab has recently opened to give veterinary students hands-on skills training. It's a chance for Ventura College students like Heather Hartman to have a valuable clinical experience without having to travel out of the county.
"I've always wanted to get my license," said Hartman. "But having the barrier of having to go to a different city or driving really far, and then still being able to work. With this program, I have the opportunity to work and be able to pay rent and still get my schoolwork done. I think this is the only one in Ventura County. All the other ones are in L.A. County or further out. I live in Oxnard, so that would be a long drive for me.
The training facility, called the Lokahi Veterinary Technology Lab, was built with donations to the Ventura-based Lokahi Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to strengthening the local veterinary workforce.
"How we designed this facility was to be able to accommodate a hybrid method of teaching," said the foundation's CEO, Dr. Janis Shinkawa. "The upstairs is a lecture space, and downstairs is the wet labs. We wanted to have a surgery unit as well so that we can do surgical techniques. The wet tables are designed for dentistry, anesthesia monitoring, you name it. Our partnership with Ventura College has been phenomenal and very impactful to our area to help put more veterinary assistants and our registered veterinary technicians out into the community."
Ventura College's Veterinary Technology Associates degree is one of only 223 programs in the country accredited by the American Veterinary Medical Association. Anne Paul King, executive director of the Ventura College Foundation, said the program brings much-needed skills to the region.
"You can see the quality of this particular lab," said King. "It's state of the art. It's what these students are going to see in the industry. We have X-ray machines, we have a surgical suite. This is a veterinary hospital. The primary use of this facility is for Ventura College's Veterinary Tech program. It's a wonderful way to fulfill the high need for registered veterinary techs in this community. Our students need good quality jobs and the industry needs them."
She added that the program opens doors for students and employers. "Our students are 55% food insecure, 29% housing insecure, and now 40% first in their families to go to college. Some of them, until they get into the industry and have a job that pays them enough, cannot travel outside the county to get this kind of education. This is a game changer."
These future vet technicians could be treating your beloved four-legged friend in the future.
