Dan Ninham
Special to ICT
RED LAKE NATION — Red Lake Nation College in north-central Minnesota is often a hub of activity on any given Saturday. But on this particular day, rez dogs and cats dominated the surroundings.
They had arrived in backpacks, wagons and even on foot with their owners for a makeshift veterinary clinic set up on campus, to be tended by veterinary students and their mentors.
Some needed medical attention after losing a chase with a car. Others needed vaccines or preventive care, or help fighting ticks, fleas and worms. Some just needed a check-up.
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Whatever the needs, hundreds of reservation dogs and cats turned out recently at Red Lake Nation College and Ponemah Elementary for a special, three-day pet clinic as part of a student initiative that takes veterinarians and students from veterinary schools into local tribal communities.
Known as the Student Initiative for Reservation Veterinary Services, the nonprofit organization based at the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine provides free wellness services to pets on tribal lands in Minnesota and neighboring states.
“There’s a stereotype, a common pity story, surrounding animals on reservations — that they’re not well taken care of, that they’re abused, etc.,” said Summer Lara-DuMarce, Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, a second-year veterinary student at Colorado State University and co-founder of Natives in VedMed, who participated in the Red Lake clinic while spending the summer at home in Sisseton, South Dakota.
“But seeing the clients at this clinic, seeing children carry their cats in backpacks and walking down the road, or walking their two dogs and cat all the way to the clinic, or even hooking a wagon to a bike that has a cat carrier inside it and riding it to the clinic — there’s a perspective that’s missing. These stories tell you just how much people care for their pets.”
The Red Lake/Ponemah clinics in June came together with help from several organizations, including Awesiinyag (Animals) Are Loved by the Anishinaabeg of Red Lake Nation; Minnesota Spay and Neuter Assistance Program, known as MNSNAP; Secondhand Hounds; Companions and Animals for Reform and Equity, or CARE; and Natives in VetMed.
“Our SIRVS team of six veterinary students provided wellness exams including vaccines, heartworm tests, and flea/tick/heartworm prevention, at the Red Lake Nation Tribal College,” said Lauren Bernstein, a veterinarian and faculty member in the UM College of Veterinary Medicine who serves as faculty advisor for the initiative.
The event also hosted nine students from Native Americans in Medicine, known as NAM, which offers a seven-week summer enrichment program at the University of Minnesota-Duluth for Indigenous undergraduates who are interested in healthcare.
It was the first time NAM and SIRVS had worked together to combine pet and family health, Bernstein said.
Community impact
On the final day of the three-day clinic, the tables were still well-organized with medical supplies and owners continued to arrive with their pets.
Serrena Stately and her son, Riley, citizens of Red Lake Nation, brought their dogs Precious and Stormie. She said the clinic was important for the community.
“They told me one of my dogs has heartworms and educated me on the subject a bit,” she said. “They treated him for it best they could, and for that I’m very grateful.”
The SIRVS organization was formed in 2009 at the University of Minnesota and now serves a number of Indigenous communities, including Red Lake Nation, the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, White Earth Nation, Lower Sioux Indian Community and Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. The organization is led by an executive board made up of 20 veterinary students.
Bernstein started working with the program as a volunteer veterinarian, but stepped into the advisory role after joining the university as faculty.
Raye Taylor, a Red Lake Band of Chippewa descendent, is the senior veterinary medical officer for rural animal care for the Companions and Animals for Reform and Equity, or CARE. CARE is a national nonprofit based in Baltimore that works with local communities to meet the needs for veterinary and animal care.
Taylor said the clinic was a success, largely because of the combined efforts.
“Working with Awanookwe, aka Veronica Kingbird-Bradvold, and the Aweysiinyag are Loved by the Anishinaabeg of Red Lake Nation over the last year has cemented a bond to the Red Lake Nation,” Taylor said. “The community clinics were the culmination of extensive planning and partnerships. I am extremely honored to be a part of this collaboration on so many levels.
“Together there were over 400 animals seen and even more benefited from supplies and knowledge,” Taylor said. “We were able to meet so many wonderful families and such beautiful, healthy animals. It is absolutely clear that the Red Lake Nation people love their animals.”
She added, “This amazing event would not have been possible without such collaboration and shared goals of keeping animals with their families for long, healthy lives.”
Other organizations
Volunteers from several other organizations also joined in the effort.
Mitakamizi Liberty, Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, is a technician for the Minnesota Spay and Neuter Assistance Program, which runs a modified recreational vehicle where pets are held and surgeries are performed. MNSNAP provides low-cost spaying and neutering.
Liberty had been working with the MNSNAP clinics and became interested in working in the program for tribal communities.
“During the interview process, they described how their mobile team would work with reservations in Minnesota, which piqued my interest,” Liberty said. “The opportunity to assist my home communities with vet care was what got me working with them.”
Secondhand Hounds is a tribal partnership that has two locations: a main location in Minnetonka, Minnesota, and one in Minneapolis that functions as a pet food shelf for Minneapolis residents. The Secondhand Hounds are support partners of Red Lake Nation along with other organizations.
Julia Godfrey, tribal partnerships coordinator for Secondhand Hounds, said the organization was invited to join in the collaboration for the pet clinic. Secondhand Hounds already provides wellness clinics with the SIRVS program.
“We bring vaccines, flea/tick, other medications and supplies, and a group of awesome volunteers,” Godfrey said.
Godfrey said the organization worked closely with Natives in VetMed for the recent event.
“They brought vets and techs and most importantly, Indigenous representation,” Godfrey said. “In partnership with these organizations, we … provided 141 spay/neuters, up 33 percent from last year. Even more families were supported by SIRVS, with the numbers still coming in. We are so grateful to be welcomed into Red Lake Nation and are excited to continue to build a long-term partnership together.”
During the past several summers, the Center of American Indian and Minority Health at the University of Minnesota Medical School has run a program known as NAM, or Native Americans in Medicine, for Indigenous undergraduates interested in healthcare.
“Part of our goal is to expose students to the vast array of healthcare opportunities available to them and how the different fields intersect,” said NAM Director Mangan Golden. “NAM was invited by our partners in the College of Veterinary Medicine to join the clinic days in Red Lake.
“The entire weekend was amazing,” Golden said. “All the staff and volunteers were welcoming and generous with their knowledge and experience. Stories were shared, everyone laughed, and the students were able to experience hands-on patient care and see what positive, respectful, community-engaged collaboration looks like.”
‘Groundbreaking and eclectic’
Lara-DuMarce, who was a cofounder of Natives in VetMed, said it’s important to get Indigenous people involved in veterinary medicine.
“As an undergraduate pre-veterinary student, I saw a distinct lack of representation in the field,” Lara-DuMarce said. “I would attend service trips that were centered on providing free veterinary care to tribal communities, and yet, I never saw anyone like me or who shared a similar background who was involved, and that was disheartening.”
She then met three others, and they eventually joined together to form the organization.
“It was so nice to be able to connect with other Native people who understood what it means to be a part of our communities who understand the complexities of being Native and in this field,” she said.
Lara-DuMarce graduated from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, and was accepted into a dual program for a master’s of science and doctor of veterinary medicine program at Colorado State University.
She and the others formed the organization, which now has about 40 members across the U.S. and Canada.
“Because of our shared interests, and our passion for working with animals and our own communities, and seeing that need for more Indigenous representation, we created the networking group Natives in VetMed,” she said. “Our goals are to provide each other with educational opportunities, share ideas and solutions, and create a supportive networking community.”
The organization’s first big event was at Red Lake Nation College and Ponemah, she said.
“At this clinic, we were out in the field, sitting at pop-up clinics and making house calls,” she said. “We provided rabies and distemper vaccines for dogs and cats, as well as dewormer and flea and tick preventative. In certain cases, we would address larger medical problems with the help of our other mentor, Dr. Raye Taylor. We also had a member of ours … come all the way from Navajo Nation.”
She said the experience was important for the Indigenous community.
“Being able to be a part of this clinic was, in one word, amazing,” she said. “Impactful. I had someone say to me, ‘Are you Native? That’s so cool you’re here.’ There’s something to be said about what representation means, especially when we as Native people are underrepresented in all fields.”
She continued, “I also think it’s so important to have Native people present to bridge gaps. I often reflect on how colonization has disrupted our animal kinship bonds, and here we are, trying to mend those relationships through veterinary medicine … Veterinary medicine can be so inaccessible, and one of our goals as Natives in VetMed, is to figure out how we can make it accessible for our communities.”
Tanisha McChesney, a certified veterinary assistant who is attending school to become a certified veterinary technician, works in the Phoenix Valley. She has spent two of those years volunteering on the Navajo Nation reservation.
“I am Diné and my Diné name is T’ąą’háábaa’, which means ceased from warfare,” said McChesney. “My mother and father are Marines and my mom was pregnant with me when she was in Desert Storm. They sent her back home when they found out she was with child. My Cheii (grandfather) gave me my name.”
She said she was pleased to discover the Natives in VetMed organization.
“Once I found out there was a group of like-minded Natives with the same core values as myself, I was honored to be a part of it,” she said.
Lecia Mata, a veterinary student at Colorado State University from the Red Lake and Standing Rock nations, said the clinic was an important step for the organization.
“As our first collaborative event as an organization, this clinic had an energy that was groundbreaking and electric, because it’s the first of its kind to have primarily Indigenous veterinary professionals partnering with the community,” Mata said.
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