The temporary closure of a West Shore emergency veterinary clinic is a sign of an industry in the throes of an ongoing labour crisis, industry experts say.
“We sat down a few weeks ago and said: ‘This isn’t manageable. We need to slow down and take care of our people.’ ”“We want to make sure when we open, we are opening forever and that our people are being taken care,” she said. “And until we’re staffed appropriately, the piecemeal approach, it’s not working.”
Getting more vets trained is a critical first step, experts say. The Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon recently went from offering 20 seats to B.C. applicants each year to 40 seats per year. Nearly 20 per cent of study participants said they had thought of taking their own lives in the prior 12 months, and 26.2 per cent had experienced suicidal thoughts.