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The Rimbey Veterinary Clinic continues to navigate through the COVID-19 pandemic

Medical teams keeping pace with local cases in an efficient and socially-safe manner
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The Rimbey Veterinary Clinic continues to navigate through the COVID-19 pandemic, although there have been a few changes to how staff manage the operation.

“We have basically been recommended by Alberta Health to split our medical team in half,” explained Dr. Ian Giebelhaus. “So we have two medical teams - one team works one week (a doctor and three staff) and one totally different doctor and staff are working the other week. We also have another veterinarian who is doing large animal farm calls, too,” he added.

With it being calving season, it’s vital the clinic is open for emergencies and medical cases.

“If we get shut down, there are problems. So we have our team kind of split into three to try and decrease the likelihood of that and so far we have dodged that bullet.”

Giebelhaus said the clinic has been as busy as is typical for this time of year. “We are having to work a little more short-staffed, and it’s a little more hectic,” he said. “And we are also having less contact with clients.

“We basically take the animals into the back and do the physical examinations there away from the owner. Owners are either waiting by themselves in a room or are dropping their pet off and going back to their cars or going out to do errands,” he said, adding it’s about maintaining that safe social distancing.

“Disinfection and cleaning for us has also not been an issue because in a hospital-type of environment, we do that all of the time anyways,” he said.

As Giebelhaus noted, veterinarians often deal with the concept of ‘herd immunity’ so there is a built-in familiarity with handling the medical challenges that come with that.

Meanwhile, the clinic, which is located at 4607 - 50th Ave., handles the medical needs of animals ranging from dogs, cats, and horses to beef and dairy cattle, llamas and alpacas to sheep and goats.

For more information, give them a call at 403-843-2234 or visit www.rimbeyvet.ca.

You can also find them on Facebook at ‘Rimbey Veterinary Clinic’.