Betsy Devin-Smith, left, has sold Winthrop Veterinary Services to Gina Pastore, but will continue to fill in at the clinic as needed.
Longtime valley veterinarian Betsy Devin-Smith leaves Winthrop Veterinary Services in capable hands
When Winthrop Veterinary Services changed ownership on Jan. 1, it represented more of a legal transaction than any real transition in philosophy or procedure. After all, Dr. Betsy Devin-Smith, who founded and has owned the clinic since the late 1990s, will continue to practice veterinary medicine part-time with the new owner, Dr. Gina Pastore, who has worked in the clinic as a veterinarian since 2009.
Devin-Smith was raised in the Methow without a strong awareness of animal medicine practitioners. “I grew up on a beef ranch in Mazama, and there was really no veterinarian in the valley,” she said. “There was a traveling vet out of Okanogan who came through on occasion, and later there was Dr. Dan Deweert [who started his practice in Twisp in 1978], but when I was growing up I wasn’t really aware of what vets did.”
Devin-Smith, who worked summers as an outfitter in the Pasayten for Claude Miller and raised steers through 4-H, always liked horses and cows, but veterinary school never really crossed her mind, even while earning her bachelor’s degree in animal science at University of Wyoming.
“I went to college on a skiing scholarship,” she says, “and it wasn’t until graduate school that I happened to do an internship with a vet in John Day, Oregon, that I really got hooked on veterinary medicine.”
“Women weren’t vets in those days,” Devin-Smith continues. “I didn’t know that women could do those things, that they could handle large animals. ‘That’s what I want to do,’ I told myself.”
Much to the chagrin of Devin-Smith’s graduate school professors, who had envisioned her heading into an academic or research track, Devin-Smith detoured from animal science studies straight into animal medicine, earning her DVM (Doctor of Veterinary Medicine) degree in 1986.
In 1989, Devin-Smith and her husband, Skip Smith, moved to the Methow Valley to manage the Pruett Ranch. Devin-Smith started practicing veterinary medicine out of her truck and a shed, mostly neutering cats and tending to horses and cattle. Eventually she opened a one-room clinic just west of Winthrop on Highway 20, before opening Winthrop Veterinary Services in its current location just east of the Methow River bridge in Winthrop. Devin-Smith’s son, Casey, was a baby then, and Devin-Smith says she often had to tell clients, “I can sew up your horse’s leg but you’ll have to hold my baby.”
In the early days, 75 percent of the patients were large animals, Devin-Smith estimates: goats, sheep, horses, cattle. Now, she and Pastore agree, 90 percent of the practice is tending to small animals: cats, dogs, rabbits.
Meant to be a vet
Like Devin-Smith, Pastore was raised around animals, but in a markedly different context. “I grew up in Vermont and my best friend and I remember going out to barns during lambing season in our flannel nightgowns and muck boots, sitting on hay bales and waiting for the lambs to be born,” she says. (That friend also became a veterinarian.)
And like Devin-Smith, Pastore did not head to college on a veterinary medicine track, instead majoring in zoology. But after working as a veterinary technician (an assistant to a DVM) in Seattle after college, Pastore knew that she wanted to become a vet. The five-year DVM program she completed in England in 2005 included two years on farms practicing animal husbandry on lambs, pigs and horses, and three years working in various veterinary clinics around the United Kingdom.
A day in the life of a rural veterinarian really can be just like the many long working days British veterinary surgeon James Wight (better known by his pen name of James Herriot) recounted in his series of memoirs, the best known of which is “All Creatures Great and Small.” One moment you’re sewing up a horse who got tangled up in barbed wire, the next you’re removing a fish hook from a dog’s throat. “It’s amazing what a dog will swallow,” says Pastore.
“There’s really such variety in our days,” Devin-Smith says, “It’s part of what attracted me to the profession. The variety, the opportunity to work outdoors, and the physicality.”
Pastore notes that unlike medical doctors who tend to rely on various specialists as resources, veterinarians are the general practitioner, the radiologist, the anesthesiologist, the pathologist, the nutritionist, the oncologist and the urologist. “We have to do everything,” Pastore says, “although increasingly we are seeking specialized information from animal specialists.”
Devin-Smith points to the emerging presence of specialists as just one of many changes that have affected the world of veterinary medicine during the 35 years she has been practicing. The biggest change in the profession, she says, is the disposable income people make available to pet ownership and care.
“What people are willing to spend on their pets has changed over the years,” Devin-Smith says. “When I first started, a family pet would live out its life with very little treatment other than perhaps spaying or neutering and some shots. Now people have more disposable income and they’re willing to spend money on pet health — surgical procedures, dentistry.”
“Pets have a different role in households these days,” Pastore says. “Pets are really family members in many households. People are very attached to them. For some elderly clients, their pets are their most meaningful social outlet. The pets give them companionship and love. And as veterinary medicine advances, we’re able to do more for pets, and they live longer.”
Preventative care
Just like in human medicine, Pastore continues, the key an animal’s long and full life is preventative medicine: blood work, vaccinations, dentistry, routine examinations. And both vets at Winthrop Veterinary Services (now officially Winthrop Veterinary Clinic, although the clinic’s sign has not yet been replaced) spend a lot of time on these preventative measures. But they also perform surgeries ranging from spaying and neutering to inserting tracking devices in rattlesnakes.
Yes, inserting tracking devices in rattlesnakes. In the name of science and at the request of wildlife biologist John Rohrer, the vets perform surgery on anesthetized rattlesnakes for rattlesnake research. Devin-Smith recounts tales of Rohrer bringing the rattling serpents to the vets in tubes and telling them “Whoops, I just noticed this tube is cracked, but I think you will be OK.”
Other situations that add the variety that Devin-Smith says attracted her to the profession include numerous wildlife encounters with stunned or injured raptors and deer that are brought into the clinic by well-meaning people who have not fully thought through the consequences of having a barred owl or bobcat, for example, regain consciousness while nestled in the front seat of their car.
Devin-Smith says that over the years many opportunities to practice human medicine have presented themselves, but she was ethically (and legally) obligated not to seize all of them. “When Doc Henry retired,” says Devin-Smith, “I started to get a lot of calls about people needing emergency medical care.”
Devin-Smith did volunteer with Aero Methow Rescue Service for 15 years and treated her fair share of Methow Valley residents through the ambulance service. “I’d get the call and I was often able to reach the person before the ambulance got there,” Devin-Smith says. “People would get a funny look on their faces when they saw the red vet truck pull up. I had to quickly reassure them that the ambulance was on its way.” Then she adds, “And then the ambulance would pull up and out of it would hop the garbage man and the school teacher. That didn’t always reassure them.”
Both vets say that the human interaction component of their jobs has been a surprising but rewarding aspect of practicing veterinary medicine. Their patients are animals, but communicating with animal owners is an essential part of animal care. Not only do the vets spend time giving advice on the phone when owners call in about injuries and illnesses, but they also shepherd owners through emotional processes like deciding to euthanize a beloved pet.
No sweeping changes
Clients of the veterinary clinic are unlikely to notice sweeping changes with the ownership transition from Devin-Smith to Pastore. Pastore has been treating animals at the clinic for the past decade — and actually did an internship in the clinic during veterinary school — and has had more of a presence at the clinic in the past year than has Devin-Smith, who had an unexpectedly lengthy recovery from shoulder surgery. “It has been a bit of an unintentional trial run,” says Pastore.
Pastore notes that clients may notice the switch to electronic medical records from paper files. This efficiency measure will help Pastore and the clinic’s staff to continue to provide the same high-quality compassionate care to the animals of the valley that it has for nearly three decades. The clinic is well-supported by long-time employees Tia Buzzard, Rachel Sugden, Jessie Sullivan, Tammy Sutton and Becky Vansteenkiste, who facilitate in different ways the personalized care that Winthrop Veterinary Services is known for.
Devin-Smith will continue to fill in as needed and Pastore plans to hire another DVM down the road: one who has a background with large animals. “There’s no financial incentive to move here if you’re just a large animals veterinarian,” she says, “but as I go more and more in depth with the small animal species, I find that the large animals are more distant in my brain. I’d like to find a mixed animal practitioner.”
Of Pastore, Devin-Smith says “Gina has really brought new and modern ideas and techniques into the practice over the past 10 years. The field of veterinary medicine is growing so fast; Gina has helped us stay current on new techniques so that we consistently practice high-quality medicine.”
In her “retirement,” Devin-Smith plans to grow her family’s livestock business raising sheep. Her son, Casey, who was held by so many loving animal owners in his childhood, is a critical component of this business plan. And Devin-Smith will continue to direct and coach Methow Valley Biathlon, championing the unique winter sport that combines Nordic skiing with target shooting.
“Winthrop Veterinary Services has been a lifestyle, not just a livelihood,” says Devin-Smith. “Selling the clinic is very emotional for me. Being a part of this community, knowing that the people of this valley have trusted me with their animal care — it has been a real honor.”
