Above: At Milliron Clinic, Dr. Smith at work. 10/21/2009
Abbott "Pete" Smith, D.V.M.
June 16, 1938 - February 22, 2010
“Everybody sends stuff here if they think they’re going to
die.” Pete Smith, D.V.M.
Welcome to Milliron Monday where every Monday we celebrate the legacy of Pete Smith, D.V.M., and Milliron: Abbott “Pete” Smith, D.V.M. The Biography (Monday Creek Publishing 2017). A graduate of Colorado State University and a well-known veterinarian in southeast Ohio, Dr. Smith continues to motivate and inspire.
In his lifetime, Dr. Smith was often in the local news. Whether he was supporting the local Humane Society or interviewing about being a veterinarian, Dr. Smith always was a person of interest. He could tell a good story, usually a real-life event that only a veterinarian could encounter.
On Monday, August 24, 1998, reporter Chris Vance of The Athens News, posted an article: Amesville vet has high-tech facility, low-tech manner. Dr. Smith interviewed that Monday about his state-of-the-art clinic equipment, including EKG machines, ultrasound equipment, and other specific equipment that other local clinics did not have...
On Monday, August 24, 1998, reporter Chris Vance of The Athens News, posted an article: Amesville vet has high-tech facility, low-tech manner. Dr. Smith interviewed that Monday about his state-of-the-art clinic equipment, including EKG machines, ultrasound equipment, and other specific equipment that other local clinics did not have...
Abbott (Pete) Smith, D.V.M., cut carefully
into the dog’s abdominal area, daubing the blood that seeped from the wound. Then
he slipped his fingers inside the cut, probing with a faraway look in his eyes,
seeing by touch. A few minutes later, the dog was being sewn up and wheeled
away to recover from heavy sedation. It was a fairly normal Monday. Smith would
be in and out of surgery until 10 that night.
“Everybody sends stuff here if they think
they’re going to die,” said Pete Smith, who founded his Milliron Clinic on Ohio
Rt. 550 near Albany in 1968. While other veterinarians have a regular core of
patients, Smith gets about 40 percent of his clients through referrals and
earns the most income from surgery and internal medicine, with a smaller
percentage in vaccinations.
Many of Smith’s referrals may come about
because of his technological capabilities. Since his facilities are equipped to
care for horses, he has many sophisticated toys that he can use to diagnose and
operate on cats and dogs.
“Because of the horses, we have a lot of
specific equipment,” he confirmed. This includes X-ray machines, EKG machines, automated
blood work machines, fluid therapy, dentistry facilities, ultrasound machines
and the capability to do orthopedic work. It also includes a facility that has
nearly 10,000 square feet of floor space, a straw-covered recovery room for
horses, and grounds to bury dogs, cats and horses (the latter with the assistance
of a backhoe). Smith said that Milliron is the only facility in Athens County
that does cremations.
Besides providing a burial service for
animals, Smith uses the Milliron Clinic farm to raise feed and uses his own
animals – a gang of lethargic cats that lounge about his waiting room – as blood
donors. “They work, say, 15 minutes a year,” he said.
Though Smith used to do house calls, he
stopped about 10 years ago as the demand went down. Also, it sometimes was
difficult to collect payment after working on the farm all day. Another factor in
cutting out farm calls was travel expenses. In the most extreme cases, Smith
made calls to Canada and once to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he cared for participants
in “The Wonderful World of Horses” show in the mid-1970s.
Smith works most with racehorses, but also
sees some trail and work horses.
“I probably don’t have any client that’s
responsible for one-tenth of one percent of my income. If somebody gets mad at
you, you can still survive,” he said wryly.
Milliron seems to gain many of its
patients by doing what many other clinics lack equipment to do, such as bone
plating, at competitive prices. Smith maintained that his clinic charges a fraction
of what the Ohio State University Veterinary College would want for such an operation.
He noted that major operations such as horse colic surgery, which takes nearly
100 gallons of IV fluid, is often half the price of other clinics because
Milliron’s rural setting and the lower standard of income hereabouts.
“I wanted a college town with pretty scenery
and cheap land,” Smith said of his decision to come to Athens County from
Southeastern Colorado in 1963. “I came to Athens and never regretted it.”
The
afternoon was waning, and it was time for Smith to go back to work after a
short nap on his cot in the back office. He explained that he caught a nap so
he “could still form complete sentences by eight o’clock in the evening.” As
the door opened to the car outside he stepped forward, blood from surgery still
present on his scrubs. “Be kind,” he said. “This is what I do for a living.”
Have a great week ahead.
Connect with Gina
Through captivating, powerful, and emotional anecdotes, we celebrate the life of Dr. Abbott P. Smith. His biography takes the reader from smiles to laughter to empathy and tears. Dr. Smith gave us compelling lessons learned from animals; the role animals play in the human condition, the joy of loving an animal, and the awe of their spirituality. A tender and profound look into the life of a skilled veterinarian.
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