A community is made up of people, not city or county boundaries. Communities bring people together and allow them to build up, educate, fellowship, and ultimately live life with one another.
Dr. Sam Smith is one member of the local community that has made her way back and has this same idea in mind.
Smith grew up on a beef and tobacco farm in Sharps Chapel, Tennessee. After attending Lincoln Memorial University, she attended the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine and received her DVM in 2014. Smith has now returned home to help the community through veterinary care at the Blain Veterinary Clinic.
Smith’s story is slightly different from others in her career field as she had been in the workforce for six years before attending vet school.
Once Smith started vet school, she decided that it may be wise to get background knowledge of health and preventative medicine in order to effectively work with producers through her upcoming veterinary work.
“Being a veterinarian (of any kind), puts us in a unique position to educate animal owners and the community about zoonotic diseases and food safety,” Smith said.
Blaine Veterinary Clinic is a second home to Smith as she is able to work with a friend of 15 years, Dr. Janeen Brady. Once Smith moved to Blaine after marrying her husband she decided to stop and visit Brady’s clinic and it all fell into place.
“The longer we talked the more she thought that adding a second veterinarian with some large animal experience to the clinic might be a good idea, so here I am,” Smith said. “I was able to support the mission of the clinic to provide compassionate, affordable care to our patients and their families.”
Before settling in Blaine, Smith completed an internship at UTCVM and completed her residency in farm animal field service with an emphasis on preventative medicine. After completing her residency, she was an assistant professor at LMU’s Veterinary School where she worked the fourth-year clinical large animal service and rotation.
Prior to joining the team at Blaine, Smith was a farm animal exclusive veterinarian but now she is started to revisit the small animal side of things as well. While Smith is continually up for a farm call dealing with cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and camelids she also has interests in learning about a few different species. Smith is currently studying poultry and honeybees as she would like to add them to her practice one day.
“My true passion is learning from owners and producers and in turn, educating them in regard to how they can improve their herds or flocks. I want producers to feel like I am part of their team to make their herds/flocks more profitable if that is their goal,” Smith said.
Smith is excited to be back home and with “her people” where she can be a small part of the community that allows producers in the area to be more profitable and enjoy their animal endeavors whether that be pets or livestock.