Episode 13 – Paving a Path Forward in Veterinary Medicine

In this episode we hear from Partner’s CEO and Co-Founder, Katie Brooks, who is also a Licensed Veterinary Technician and a Certified Veterinary Practice Manager. Katie talks about her path toward becoming an LVT and navigating the complexities of veterinary medicine. She also shares why she chose to create an emergency and specialty hospital where caregivers are empowered to take ownership of their role and responsibility, and where the phrase “We Can Help” truly means something to pet owners in need.

She often jokes; I built these hospitals for my oldest Labrador. “For me, the peace of mind that our team is there when needed has been so valuable to our family and the community. It’s the pets who help emotionally regulate the entire family—the health of the family rests on the health of the pets.”

What You’ll Learn?

How Katie got started in the profession and how her career evolved.
The urgency behind starting Partner.
How others in the profession can relate to her.
Does she ever miss being a vet tech?
How Partner is reimaging the profession and helping team members grow.

Are you a veterinary professional looking to make a difference? Learn more about Partner and how you can join our team by visiting our careers page at https://partnervesc.com/careers/.

[Music]

Narrator:

Welcome back to “Did You Know?”, a podcast by Partner Veterinary. In this series, we explore all things veterinary medicine and all things Partner. In each episode, we answer some of the most common questions we are asked—from HR to emergencies and everything in between. If it happens at Partner, we’ll cover it.

Katie’s journey from vet tech to leader of an emergency and specialty hospital isn’t just inspiring, it’s personal. She talks about why she felt compelled to start a hospital where everyone on the team feels real ownership—and where “we can help” isn’t just a motto, but a promise to the pet families who walk through the doors.

Tune in to hear how Katie’s career evolved, the urgency that inspired Partner’s founding, and what keeps her motivated. She reflects on her time as a vet tech and how Partner is changing things for veterinary professionals who want to grow in their careers.

If you care about pets, people, or the future of animal care, you’ll want to stick around for this conversation.

Katie Brooks

Hi, my name is Katie Brooks and I am the CEO and co-founder of Partner Veterinary Hospitals.

Jen Mellace:

Thank you so much for joining me today, Katie. Can you tell us a little bit about how you got started in the veterinary profession?

Katie Brooks

Absolutely. I’ve wanted to be in the veterinary field since I was really little. I always had a love for animals. My first job was cleaning kennels at a hospital’s general practice when I was in high school.

I took an animal science class and became a veterinary assistant from there. Originally, I planned on going to vet school—that was my dream. I even had a scholarship to do undergrad for pre-vet out in Illinois. But my dad had been battling stage 4 lung cancer for a while, and midway through my senior year, when it was time to finalize decisions, he went out of remission. I didn’t want to be halfway across the country during that time, so I was trying to figure out my next steps. Last minute, I decided to change directions and go to veterinary technology school—there was one about an hour away from my house. I ended up applying two days before the program started. I mean, literally just in under the wire. I’m pretty sure the program was full and they just felt bad, maybe. But that’s how I got into veterinary technology, and I really loved it. I could go to school in the mornings, hang out with my dad in the afternoons, and then I worked at night in the ER. Somehow, that’s how I got my start.

Jen Mellace:

It seems like a lot of people in the profession started by cleaning kennels.

Katie Brooks

Yes! That is the humble beginning of the veterinarian or vet tech. We all start out picking up poop!

Jen Mellace:

So, once you graduated, how did your career grow from there?

Katie Brooks

Like a lot of people, I actually burned out pretty early. I loved what I did, but the jobs I had meant very long hours, long commutes, and high emotions. At some point, I started to feel like maybe this wasn’t the path for me. I was on my way to go back to school and figure out my next steps when I joined CBCA, the cardiology group, as a technician. My plan was to work three days a week and go to school the other days. But there, I ended up falling back in love with veterinary medicine because of the culture and the way they delivered care. I felt recognized and that I belonged—it really invigorated my love for the field.

I’ve always had a hard time staying in my own lane. If I see something that can be improved or if I can make a contribution, I do it. I kept taking on more responsibility. One of the founding cardiologists, Bonnie Lebomb, noticed. In 2005, she asked if I’d consider running the practice, which was five locations at the time. I said, “Sure! I have no idea what I’m doing, but I’ll try.”

So I went to the library and looked for a book on how to run a veterinary practice. Most people listening probably don’t even remember card catalogs! The library didn’t have books on running a veterinary practice, but they did have one on running a dental practice, so I started there. I also went to the Veterinary Management Institute at Purdue, which exposed me to strategic planning, finance, HR, and marketing—a great overview, plus good connections. I earned my CVPM (Certified Veterinary Practice Manager) credentials in 2008, and the whole journey was learning by doing. I became the IT person, the marketing person, did payroll and finances, and handled all the operational stuff.

As the practice grew, I hired people into specific roles when I was over my head in terms of time. I had a bunch of titles along the way, and eventually they started calling me the CEO. Running the practice was always about: what do people around me need right now? How can I improve client service, deliver care more efficiently, or hire the right people? It was a very non-traditional path, which is unusual in a profession so focused on credentials. I literally learned on the job, whether it was from books, Google, or talking to people. Even as CEO, you’re in charge of everything and it’s hard to know if you’re doing the right thing. I started hiring coaches and mentors, and I had an advisory board of people from all kinds of industries who would review what I was doing and give me feedback. That was super helpful.

I joined veterinary leadership groups, started speaking, attending lectures—just kept learning. I try to surround myself with people who have experience or strengths where I don’t. Along the way, I developed a love for the people in veterinary medicine and a talent for recruiting good people—figuring out who would be great to work with, and making their lives better. The success of CVCA is really about those great people giving amazing care and service.

Jen Mellace:

Truly, your time there and your being a “Jill of all trades” has led you to Partner and its creation. Why did you decide to start Partner?

Katie Brooks

We were seeing devastating impacts in ER and specialty: consolidation, lack of resources, and very high patient volumes during COVID led to burnout and team members leaving. ERs were closing, sometimes permanently, and it became hard to get pets seen. That’s scary—your dog might be hit by a car, or your cat might have a urinary blockage, and there’s no one there to help.

Stories like that were happening all over the country—I experienced it myself with my own dog. I joke that I built these hospitals for my oldest Labrador, which isn’t entirely a joke. He’s been a patient in internal medicine, emergency, and neurology.

For me, the peace of mind that our team is there when needed has been so valuable for my family and our community. We have five kids—four are teenagers—and it’s the pets that help emotionally regulate the whole family. When anyone is stressed or scared or sad, it’s the pets that bring us back to center. The health of the family rests on the health of the pets.

We saw fewer and fewer resources to make that happen. I started an ER right out of tech school, and it was hard, but I loved it. I’ve always had a special place in my heart for the people who do that kind of work. I thought, “We’re successful in cardiology making a good environment for people. Let’s try that here—let’s make a place where people want to stay and don’t get burned out.” So we started Partner with the vision of providing better support to emergency and specialty teams, so they’ll stay and do what they love. Even though the work is hard, sad, and challenging—the hours are long, and you’re working holidays and overnights—it’s not the work that drives people away, it’s the environments they’re in, and how they’re forced to do the work.

Jen Mellace:

How can people within the profession relate to you and those coming to Partner?

Katie Brooks

Because I’ve done a lot of those jobs—I grew up in the field—I understand the realities of veterinary medicine and now the business side, too. There’s often a big disconnect between people looking at numbers and people living the day-to-day reality.

I love working beside people, problem-solving, and helping give them what they need. Leaders need to recognize that there’s so much talent and opportunity within our teams, and they know what they need to do their jobs. At Partner, many of the leaders have done these jobs or still do, and that helps people relate to us.

Jen Mellace:

What are the paths for growth at Partner?

Katie Brooks

A lot! I remember my last day of tech school, they told us most people leave the field within five years. Nobody mentions that on day one! As someone who started at 15 and is now almost 48, I’m passionate about growth for myself and others.

We give people opportunities to spread their wings and try new things. On the leadership team, you’ll see a lot of LVTs, VTSs, and DVMs. There are chances to teach and mentor at every level—organization, hospital, and department. We have roles like team advocates and shift advocates who run teams or shifts for the day.

We plan to open more hospitals, so there will always be room for regional support. We have opportunities for people who want to stay clinical but also get involved with developing protocols, inventory, or marketing. Some of our technicians have advanced degrees and use them to help our teams in new ways.

We also want clinical growth paths—not everyone wants management. We support veterinary assistants becoming LVTs, LVTs becoming VTSs, and fully utilizing specialized technicians. Our techs run diagnostic imaging, ultrasound, CT, and MR. Our doctors are getting certified in acupuncture, ER DVMs are training in surgery, and we have internship programs for mentoring.

We have internists and surgeons working on minimally invasive surgery and interventional radiology—highly driven people who want to keep growing. We just want as many pathways as possible for people to learn and grow, because very few people want to be stagnant and do the same thing every day.

Jen Mellace:

And at Partner, there are other roles that emergency hospitals might not have—like hospital concierge or patient care coordinator. Are those unique to Partner?

Katie Brooks

I believe so, though other hospitals might call them something different. Those roles came from wanting everyone to practice at the top of their license. The hospital concierge makes sure the teams have everything they need, everything’s clean and organized, so they can focus on the patients.

The patient care coordinator is newer—focused on concierge client communication, especially for patients seen by multiple departments or hospitalized for several days. They keep primary care vets and all involved parties informed—“Here’s a picture, he’s eating now, he’s feeling better”—so the nursing team can focus on medical care and clients aren’t left in the dark.

In many hospitals, you can have great medical care but families don’t see what’s happening if no one tells them. At Partner, we focus on patient care and also on the clients and families.

Jen Mellace:

How is Partner reimagining the profession?

Katie Brooks

A key part is working closely with the clinical team—making sure equipment, protocols, and roles match what the team needs on the floor. I think as a profession, we lost our way a bit on that.

We want to use resources efficiently to support the team and make their jobs easier. We always ask: could this be better? Why are we doing it this way? Do we like the reasons? We don’t just go along with “that’s how it’s always been.” We want to optimize and continually improve.

Our team isn’t afraid of change—they’re engaged and want to try new things, even if some don’t work out. A core tenet is protecting the reason we’re all in the field—a fierce dedication to the human-animal bond. That’s what’s meaningful in every role.

Emergency and specialty medicine is high emotion, hard, and sometimes sad. Some things we can’t change, but we do everything we can to improve what we can control.

We ask: are leaders representative of people actually doing the work? Are people making decisions connected to those working on the floor? Have they done that job? Do they genuinely understand the challenges? We trust the people doing the work to know what they need, and we support and recognize them.

Another huge aspect: understanding and responding to the challenges people face. Most people in veterinary medicine are women; as doctors, techs, and specialists, they spend years training and put their personal lives on hold to do this work.

If we want to retain them, we need to recognize how hard that is and help them balance the rest of their life—raise a family, care for elderly parents, deal with their own health, chase dreams outside work. If work is too stressful and inflexible, people burn out and leave. If we get that right, we keep good people and help more pets and families. My whole career focus has been: did we leave the environment better than we found it?

Jen Mellace:

What impact do you want to leave on the veterinary profession?

Katie Brooks

Anytime I see someone reconnect to why they did this in the first place, that’s a huge win. That results in patients going home to their family when the odds were against them—because we created an environment where people can stay connected to their “why.” If I can do that for even one person, that’s a huge win.

Jen Mellace:

Do you ever miss being a tech?

Katie Brooks

I get that question a lot. There’s a hands-on nurturing aspect to being a tech that I’ve always loved. We have a guinea pig and three dogs—and a rotating foster! So I stay connected through fostering, rescuing, and caring for our own pets. But now, I get fulfillment from supporting so many people—helping more patients than I ever could on my own. I do miss it, but I still get those elements. Later on, when I retire, my plan is to go through our own training program and become a proficient licensed tech again—and use that in rescue work. Eventually, it’ll come full circle. For now, I’m happy doing what I do, and with all our pets, I still get plenty of that hands-on experience.

Jen Mellace:

Katie, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us today.

Katie Brooks

Absolutely. Thank you, Jen.

Narrator:

“Thank you for listening to ‘Did You Know?’ Is there something about Partner that you want to know? Email us at [email protected]. Who knows? We might turn your question into an entire episode! And you can now find us wherever you listen to all of your other favorite podcasts. Subscribe now!”