Spotlight: Pao Ortega, LVT
We hope you're absolutely thriving this Thursday, we sure are as we show off our next AMAZING veterinary technician from our community currently a licensed veterinary technician at Banfield Pet Hospital Snellville, Pao has entered the chat!
"I have loved animals since I was a child, ever since I was in middle school I know I wanted to be a Veterinarian. After I graduated high school my plan was to get a bachelor's in biology and then apply for vet school. Unfortunately, for various reasons I was not able to go right away into college and took off school for 2 years. I learned about the veterinary technician program at Gwinnett Tech and proceeded to start that way to get my foot in the door. I started working at Banfield Pet Hospital during my first semester in the program, and it helped me use what I was doing hands on when we started doing clinical rotations. I graduated in the summer of 2021 and got my license in the fall of the same year.
Doing the CVT appointments with Banfield has been a great opportunity to help me become more comfortable with my own skills and being able to alleviate the doctors with their busy schedule. I enjoy being able to take more time with building a relationship with the clients and their fur babies. Considering I learned everything in school in English, I love the relief I see with Spanish speaking clients when they have someone they can communicate with and understand their concerns.
I have loved being able to be part of volunteer opportunities to help provide vaccines in communities with little to no access to them. I definitely still feel like a baby LVT, but I've been lucky to have many experienced nurses help me along and make me more comfortable. Even though it feels a little scary, I'm hoping to go into emergency or specialty in the future. Regardless of which was things go, I know this field has many opportunities to continue to grow and learn."
Knowing Pao personally, I can verify she's a genuine rockstar no matter how crazy busy the day, when Pao is in - it just gets done. From rolling through surgeries with ease to knocking out countless CVT appointments - she's a calm in the storm that never sways, even when she gets pulled every which way. Thank you for being you Pao, you make this world a better place
