TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Vet Tech Degree Nearly A Job Guarantee

News Channel 8 photo by KATY HENNIG

Holly Elsinger, a student enrolled in the veterinary technology program at St. Petersburg College, cleans Phil the greyhound's teeth during a class Monday.

ADVERTISEMENT

By MARK  DOUGLAS | News Channel 8

Published: March 2, 2009

Updated: 03/02/2009 06:42 pm

PINELLAS PARK - Under general anesthesia and attended by a half-dozen people, Phil is getting his teeth cleaned.

Electronic monitors record his every heartbeat, his oxygen level and other vital signs. He is getting the best medical treatment money can't buy.

Phil is a retired racing greyhound and today's subject for clinical practice at St. Petersburg College. The school operates one of about 150 veterinary technician programs across the nation. Hillsborough Community College offers another.

They are training ground for one of the nation's fastest growing professions.

At least 96 percent of grads will have jobs when they graduate, St. Pete College educators say. When the economy is better, placement is closer to 100 percent.

Jessica Gomez, 22, said she chose the field because she grew up loving animals.

"Everywhere we'd go I'd see a rabbit and I'd go, 'Can I have it, can I have it?'" Gomez said. "And then I found out about the vet tech program and I was like that's what I'm gonna do. That's my goal in life and I love it."

Student Holly Elsinger, 33, said her husband runs a business tied to construction, decorative concrete, so surviving the recession has been difficult.

"Not everyone needs to have pretty concrete and, yeah, we've been feeling the effects of it right now."

Now, for about $8,000 in tuition and books, Elsinger is pursuing her own recession-resistant career. And best of all, she's doing what she loves.

"It's the best thing ever."

Starting pay for vet techs is usually in the mid-$20,000s to the mid-$30,000s but it can reach as high as the mid-$50,000s with experience and the right niche.

Within the next decade, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of vet tech jobs will grow 41 percent. Vet techs are No. 5 on the bureau's list of fastest growing occupations, behind computer-related and home health-care professions.

"This is a very challenging program," said Dr. Richard Flora, dean of the program at St. Petersburg College, whose students graduate with an associate's degree in two years and a bachelor of science in four before obtaining national certification.

"It's not puppies and kitties for two years," Flora said. "It's physiology, anatomy, and anesthesiology."

People more and more regard pets as members of the family and are willing to go for the best medical treatment necessary, regardless of cost, Flora said. Cancer treatments, joint replacements and MRIs are becoming more common in veterinary medicine.

The role of a vet tech is similar to the vital role a nurse plays in working with doctors.

"There will be a job out there for them when they get done," Flora said.

His students range from their late teens to their 50s. Some commute while others sign up for online education and do their hands-on practice at private clinics across the nation.

Some are training for their first job as adults; others are working on a second or third career.

"They're at the point in their life," Flora said, "where either because of job situations they need to do it or because of their situation they can do it and they're back to doing what they've always wanted to do and what's really their first love."

For more information on the vet tech program at St. Petersburg College, go to http://www.spcollege.edu/hec/vt/index.htm

Mark Douglas can be reached at mdouglas@wfla.com

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT