09/27/2026
***Sending Lacia Dunn, RVT off with a fond farewell at the end of this week***
🦋🌺💜💙💜🌺🦋
It has been a pleasure to see Lacia develop from a freshly hatched registered veterinary nurse ten years ago to the very confident and competent professional that she is in her field today. She has blossomed over the years, and it has been beautiful to witness.
She has many, many technician skills including fear free restraint of animals, administering medications, blood draws, running labs, keeping the fire lit under her doctor, keeping on top of inventory, managing compliance with the DEA for controlled drugs, calming spicy patients, doing dental procedures, and on and on. The list is way longer than that! Also, she is not daunted by mechanical issues that come up, like fixing the hydraulics on the surgery table or changing the compressor on the dental machine. I value all of her skills, but the thing that feels the most important to me is her ability to handle anesthesia cases from beginning to end. There are the premeds, the IV catheters, the induction of anesthesia with injectable agents, the intubation process, the maintenance of anesthesia on gas and oxygen, the management of IV fluids at appropriate rates, the attachment of the heart and blood pressure monitors, the temperature monitoring, the attention to every detail of the process to ensure the safety of our patients, including waking the animals up from anesthesia. The level of her care has been extraordinary, and every patient got the same compassionate attention, whether it was an enormous German Shepherd or a tiny rabbit. If there was the slightest concern, Lacia would bring it to my attention. I could focus on a surgical procedure, knowing that the monitoring of the animal was in very competent hands.
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As much as it is hard to see Lacia go, we want to wish her the very best in the next chapter and adventure of her life. I am proud of her for finally having her knee surgery last year, and giving some priority to health. I am grateful that she gave us ten wonderful years and plenty of notice for when she was planning on leaving.
I also appreciate that Lacia is doing everything possible to train staff to fill her shoes when she is gone! We miss her already, and I know that the clients and our patients will miss her too!
We love you Lacia!!!
🌺🦋💙🦋🌺
Tamara Smith, DVM
