Victoria Churchill
Age: 37
City of residence: Woodbine, GA
Current title: Associate Veterinarian
Place of business: Betz Veterinary Services
Professional responsibilities: In a nutshell, I provide wellness and preventative medicine for primarily cats and dogs with a sprinkle of farm animals here and there. I examine, diagnosis, and treat sick pets, perform general surgery, and provide palliative and end of life care.
Accomplishments/Honors: Along with the team at Betz Vet Services, we have been able to help a lot of animals over the years. I love being a vet, but I do have to say, my biggest accomplishment to date is my beautiful little family.
Community Involvement: Currently, I donate time to the Middle and High School 4H/FFA programs to conduct regulatory testing on the show pigs and goats/sheep when needed.
Why did you go into your particular field? I have always had a love for animals and serving people. In veterinary medicine, you provide care of animals and help their owners maintain the human-animal bond.
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? I have always wanted to be a veterinarian. There was a short time after the loss of a childhood horse when I had to decide if I would be able to handle the euthanasia aspect of veterinary medicine. I got a CNA license in high school and quickly decided in clinicals that human medicine was not for me.
What was your first job? Dishwasher turned waitress at the Gold House Restaurant in Nahunta, GA
What is the best advice you’ve ever received? Professionally, “break it down, don’t dumb it down.” Client communication and a client’s understanding of what is going on with their pet is critical to their pet’s health and wellbeing. We deal with a lot of complex processes that can be difficult to grasp. If we can take the information and present it to our clients in a way that they can understand, the pet gets better care, the owners can make well planned and thought-out decisions, and as veterinarians, we get compliance with a treatment plan.
What’s your favorite thing about your job? Strengthening and maintaining the human animal bond. Animals can bring a lot of joy into a human’s life, and they can also bring a lot of stress. Guiding owners through the multiple aspects of care for their animal and seeing that bond thrive is a joy. However, a close second and third is opening a good abscess or popping out a cuterebra from a wound.
What do you know now that you wish you knew when you first started your career? You can’t make everyone happy, and you won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. That’s okay. Give your best and let the rest be.
Who do you consider to be your greatest mentor and why? Oh, that’s tough. So many people have helped me on this journey. I would have to say my parents. They broke generational curses and forged a path from poverty and very low income to provide opportunities for my brother and I that they did not have. They built businesses requiring hard work and grit and always made it a point to “do right by people” and give every job their best effort.
When you’re not at work, what do you do to relax? With two young kids at home, there’s not a lot of relaxing. I do love hanging out with them and my wonderful hubby, making new memories along the way. I also enjoy shopping and a good tv/movie night.
What is something about you that most people don’t know? I never missed a day of school from kindergarten through 12th grade.
How do you hope to grow in your career? I would love to have either a non-profit or low-cost community clinic to provide basic wellness care and spay / neuter surgeries to populations that may otherwise not be able to afford pet care.
If you couldn’t do what you’re doing now, what would you be doing? Maybe a personal shopper or a professional pimple popper.