Veterinary Report Vol.23 No.4: CVM Donors Make a Difference

CVM Donors Make a Difference
Sheltie Lover Cares and Shares
Ruby’s Recovery Leads to Gem of Gift
Computer Software Is for the Birds
Like Father, Like Son

Sheltie Lover Cares and Shares
During the 13 years Audra Zumwalt has been bringing her Shetland sheepdogs to the Veterinary Medicine Teaching Hospital, she has become an enthusiastic supporter of both the Companion Animal Memorial Fund and the CARE grief helpline. Both programs have at various times comforted her.
When Zumwalt’s first Sheltie, WadDi, died in 1986, her veterinarian, an Illinois graduate, contributed to the companion animal fund. That small act transformed Zumwalt into a regular supporter of the fund.
“Not everyone has an understanding of the meaning of companion animals,” says Zumwalt, in appreciation of the College’s memorial program. Zumwalt, who lives in Pana, Illinois, each year commemorates the birthdays and death dates of two of her beloved Shelties with contributions to the fund.
When 11-year-old Chauncy died in 1997, Zumwalt sent away for a memorial plate to place at the dog’s grave. With the plate came a list of grief counseling centers around the country. After consulting with several different centers, she discovered that the College was creating the CARE helpline and she contributed to its startup.
Zumwalt’s most recent gift supports interest in the behavioral aspects of companion animal medicine. “You have to take psychological and emotional factors into consideration in approaching any illness in humans or animals,” she says.
She acknowledges that not everyone is as attuned to these kinds of issues as she. “I know when their hair is going in different directions,” she says of her dogs. And that is more than many people know of themselves.

Ruby’s Recovery Leads to Gem of Gift
After Ruby, a 4-year-old red Lab, suffered a stroke in her spinal cord last spring, her veterinarian, Dr. Barbara Jonas (’93) of Metamora, Illinois, suggested that owner Susan Hale take Ruby to the College’s Small Animal Clinic. Doctors here discovered that the problem was inoperable and prescribed rest and medication.
At first, Ruby was unable to stand or move, so Hale ordered a $400 doggie wheelchair she found advertised on the Internet. Fortunately, Ruby quickly had a full recovery and by the time the wheelchair arrived she no longer needed it.
“She jumps and runs and is just as bossy as always,” reports Hale happily.
Hale decided to donate the unused wheelchair to the Small Animal Clinic so that other animals could benefit from it. The chair, now used for patients of veterinary neurologist Dr. Lisa Klopp, is specially made so it adjusts for animals of various sizes.
“I wanted to donate it to a wonderful place,” says Hale. “I couldn’t not do it.”

Computer Software Is for the Birds
Dr. Tony Wolfe (’98) volunteered at the Wildlife Medical Clinic during his first two years of study at the College of Veterinary Medicine and helped create a Web site for the service. As he completed his DVM, however, a nearly full-time position as a computer programmer for the College occupied all his spare time.
Now Dr. Wolfe has again found a way to help the Wildlife Medical Clinic with his veterinary and computer skills.
After graduation Dr. Wolfe tailored an unusual career that combines his veterinary degree and computer expertise. He started a business that developed and markets veterinary clinical management software. The VetRec 2000 Clinical Management Software program handles medical records, pay roll, inventory, and other practice management tasks. It also has Internet-based components that enable technical support staff to access the system to trouble-shoot problems. His company can store patient records on a secure Internet site to facilitate referrals, consultations, and emergency needs, for example, if the client’s usual veterinary clinic is closed.
Recently Dr. Wolfe gave hardware and software to the Wildlife Medical Clinic totaling over $4,000. His gift of a computer, a printer, and several kinds of software, including his program, will help the clinic manage its case load. In addition, by making his software available at no charge to wildlife medical programs throughout the country, he hopes to link the clinical records from all the programs to create a valuable database for information about little-studied animal populations.

Like Father, Like Son
Dr. Earl Lutz (’52) and his son Dr. Wayne Lutz (’64) see eye to eye. “We’ve been together long enough that we believe in each other and we think the same way,” says the senior Dr. Lutz.
One opinion they share is that the food animal side of veterinary medicine—the work done by “the people who are feeding the world”—sometimes gets short-changed because practice and research in small animal and equine is more glamorous.
Because they also agree on supporting the College of Veterinary Medicine, they created the first father-son gift, the Lutz Family Endowment Fund. The endowment will support activities of the food animal section at the College. Both men’s careers focused on food animal medicine—Earl’s working with Pitman-Moore (now Schering-Plough Animal Health) and Wayne’s at his San Jose, Illinois, practice.
The Lutzes were the first multigenerational graduates of the College, but Dr. Earl Lutz doesn’t put too much emphasis on that distinction. “Being first doesn’t make any difference. We just happened to be in that slot,” he says, noting that when his father-in-law was alive the family had three generations of veterinarians.
What’s more important to him is that everyone who would like to add to the fund he and Wayne created should feel welcome to do so. For example, the family of the late Dr. John Ehrhardt (’53), including his son John, a 1983 Illinois DVM, made memorial gifts to this fund earlier this year.
“It’s not just Wayne and Earl doing this,” insists the senior Dr. Lutz. Recognition will go to anyone who wants to acknowledge a veterinary family heritage or to advance food animal medicine at the College.