The BE EDA has been spending the last couple of years looking for a vet for the clinic in Blue Earth.

The Blue Earth Economic Development Authority (EDA) continues to keep a careful eye trained on the area’s veterinarian shortage.

EDA specialist Amy Schaefer brought the board yet another update regarding the issue at its meeting on Thursday, July 13.

Schaefer reminded the board via a memo in the EDA’s packet, “I’ve learned that not only does a licensed, active veterinarian have to be the owner of a clinic, but anyone who sits on the board of a clinic or is a shareholder in a clinic also has to be a licensed, active veterinarian per Minnesota State Statute.” 

The statute poses major limitations to the operation of Minnesota veterinary clinics during a time when veterinarians are already difficult to come by.

Schaefer summarized, “Essentially, this statute prevents anyone who is not a veterinarian from owning a practice. If the statute weren’t limiting ownership, other organizations, co-ops, or individuals could own the clinic and simply hire a veterinarian as a staff member.” 

Schaefer informed the board that she, along with city administrator Mary Kennedy, has been meeting with state representative Bjorn Olson to address the issue.

Olson agrees that the statute is hindering rural communities’ ability to retain their clinics. He will champion the necessary policy change and help present it to the state legislature in 2024. In the meantime, Schaefer and Kennedy will spend the remainder of 2023 assembling the overall package.

Schaefer added research is being done to determine why the statute was established in the first place.

“They wanted to maintain control in (the veterinary) industry,” she explained.

Kennedy also observed, “We’re really in the thick of the problem now. Vets are aging out of the industry, now. It might not have been a problem back then.” 

Schaefer plans to increase the issue’s visibility throughout the state. For example, she told the EDA she was recently contacted by Minneapolis Star Tribune editorial writer Jill Burcum, who has since written a piece explaining how, and why, the veterinary shortage is affecting small, rural communities.

Burcum intends to publish a series of editorials examining the topic.

Schaefer also provided the EDA with a copy of retired Minnesota veterinarian Dennis Lange’s response to Burcum’s piece.

Lange validated the concerns outlined in Burcum’s piece, and also offered an innovative suggestion for addressing the problem.

He observed that the high sticker price and eight-year time frame required to obtain a veterinary degree pose a barrier to prospective veterinarians who could be assets to the field.

Furthermore, he hypothesized that young people from rural communities – who otherwise may be interested and well-equipped for large animal veterinary practice – face more barriers to entering the field than other candidates.

“A rural student who attends a local high school is handicapped by limited math and science classes and farm work obligations,” Lange explained. “Their undergraduate degrees are likely from colleges that have less extensive pre-vet curricula and fewer opportunities for research.” 

Lange also questioned the amount of training and schooling necessary to provide the veterinary care farmers and ranchers actually want, and need.

Lange noted the services most needed – and lacking – in rural Minnesota include procedures such as bovine pregnancy exams and calving emergencies, uterine prolapses, bloats and displaced abomasum, and vaccination and disease prevention and treatment.

“None of these situations require a credential earned through eight years of education and a quarter million dollar price tag,” he argued, adding, “In fact, most of the skills needed to actually handle these conditions are acquired not so much in veterinary school, but rather on externships and through on-the-job experience.” 

Lange urged the University of Minnesota, the Board of Veterinary Medicine and Board of Animal Health to educate and accept candidates with an associate veterinary degree – a shorter, and less expensive course of education with plenty of practical, hands-on training through mentorships and apprenticeships.

“This would allow someone already committed to living in a community, perhaps also to farming, to be able to provide essential services to neighbors and in fact be well compensated,” he concluded.

In other business, the Blue Earth EDA: 

• Approved Rize Nutrition owner/operator Nicki Roof to establish a weekly pop-up shop in the Ag Center atrium.

Roof will be charged $40 a day to rent the space.

• Moved to discontinue its contract with an outside cleaning service for the Ag Center, instead delegating cleaning duties to Ag Center maintenance staff.

• Received an update from Schaefer regarding prospective Commercial Improvement Loan applications from area businesses.

Schaefer explained at least three businesses are working on applications, but they are struggling to receive quotes and bids for projects.

She inquired whether the EDA is comfortable approving loan applications for projects which have only received one bid. The board responded in the affirmative, reasoning that projects can be reviewed on a case-by-case basis and rejected if the bid seems unreasonable.

• Passed Resolution 23-02 approving the Blue Earth Housing and Redevelopment Authority’s purchase of property at the Prairie View Addition.

• Authorized Kennedy to sign agreements with Johnson Controls for fire alarm testing and inspection and a monitoring system at the Ag Center.

The fire alarm testing and inspection totals $3,853, while the monitoring system comes to a total cost of $600.