By Mike Renzella
The Haldimand Press
DUNNVILLE—Dr. Scott Reid, a renowned veterinarian who began his career in Dunnville 35 years ago, has been honoured with the Golden Life Membership award from Ontario Veterinarian Medical Association (OVMA).
Reid knew from a young age that he wanted to be a veterinarian, citing English writer and veterinary surgeon James Herriot as an early influence. Herriot’s most widely known work, ‘All Creatures Great and Small’, remains close to Reid’s heart.
Herriot wasn’t Reid’s only influence though: “Both my father and grandfather wanted to be veterinarians, but they didn’t have the financial means to. They had to stay on the farm.”
Reid’s first big break came when he was hired at the Dunnville Veterinary Clinic in November of 1986, working under the watchful eyes of doctors Doug Madill and the late Harry Vreugdenhil.
DUNNVILLE—Dr. Scott Reid has just received the prestigious Golden Life Membership award from the Ontario Veterinary Medical Association.
“Before I even started, they got me an apartment, first and last month’s rent paid, a new truck, and all the hot meals I could have as a bachelor veterinarian,” remembered Reid. One night when Reid was still a bachelor, he was sitting in a laundromat and had to run off to take care of an emergency call. The next morning, he found his clothes folded and delivered to the clinic.
“I had an amazing time working with the people. The clients and farmers and the small animal owners were always so welcoming to veterinarians. I was always so overwhelmed by that, how kind they were,” he recalled.
He noted confidence as an essential trait for a veterinarian: “Once you go out in that truck and on that call by yourself, you’re really on your own. If you have a calving or anything like that, you’re it. You have to do continuing education all the time to upgrade your skills and knowledge.”
Reid would go on to become a co-owner of the Dunnville practice and he stayed there for the next 25 years, eventually selling his share due to family health problems, although he said it is doing great to this day.
When asked about his most memorable experiences, he shared, “We got a call. A big bear had gotten loose from Safari Niagara, which I serviced…. I had to go out with two SWAT teams, dog tracking teams, 20 police cruisers, and the whole town of Stevensville shut down. It took about 40 hours with no sleep until finally we got close enough that we could get him back to the zoo. He had just gone out for a wander…. CNN and CBC and Global trucks were there. I had to portage through a creek to avoid them and get up close to the bear.”
Ultimately, it took luring the bear with a basket full of strawberries to get him back.
Reid has also spent time working on-site at both African Lion Safari and Safari Niagara, where he has worked with numerous exotic animals.
On African Lion Safari, he said, “People have a misconception. African Lion Safari is actually a renowned research facility. They do world-class research on reproduction with elephants, rhinos, and giraffes; work that’s not done anywhere else in the world…. I was fortunate to be involved.”
DUNNVILLE—A look at the OVMA Golden Life Membership Award received by Dr. Reid.
In addition to his work, Reid has mentored many students over the years who have gone on to become renowned vets themselves, such as Dr. Chris Enright, who appears on the CBC show ‘Arctic Vets’. Many of these students continue to collaborate with Reid: “They’ll call me up and say, ‘I’m short-staffed; can you help me’, and I’ll fill in for a week or two weeks or whatever they need to give them a break.”
In addition to mentoring veterinary students, Dr. Reid has made time to work with students across a wide spectrum, including the 4-H Club: “For 4-H they either had to write an essay or spend half a day travelling with me, so most of them would come with me. We’d drive around and do calls and have some ice cream or chocolate. I’d try to inspire them, even if they weren’t particularly interested in veterinary medicine, to get an education.”
“Mentoring is all about helping students get the confidence that they need. It inspires self-reliance that they can go out and do that by themselves,” said Reid.
He said he was caughtby surprise when he found out he had been nominated for the OVMA award, something that was organized by one of his students, Abby Hill, a third-year veterinarian student living in Caledonia.
“It’s been overwhelming to be the recipient,” he said. “I didn’t expect it…. It’s been wonderful.”
He summed up his career so far: “I’m very thankful. I have great humility, I’m not the world’s greatest veterinarian, I know that. This award isn’t about that, I think it’s just the fact that I realized I had touched them and been inspired by them and somehow have inspired them to be confident veterinarians. That’s what I feel about the whole thing.”
Those interested in learning more about Dr. Reid’s career can visit the Dunnville Library, where he has donated a couple copies of a picture book he authored, ‘My Book of Memories’.
“I’ve always been of the belief that we need to help everyone along the way,” concluded Reid. “By helping them, we help ourselves.”
