Keeping up with Dr. Carey Hemmelgarn

Veterinarians provide a valuable service to the community, caring for the pets most owners view as family. It’s an important job, and one that many vets spend their entire lives perfecting. Well after a veterinarian gets their license, they continue to grow and take classes, so they can better serve those pets.

Dr. Hemmelgarn is an intensive care specialist who saw a gap in the education needs of other veterinarians. Although there are lots of courses out there for common medical issues in dogs, there aren’t quite as many for emergency situations and critical care education.

To fill this need, Dr. Hemmelgarn teamed up with Dr. KimMi Whitehead to create “Intensivets” an educational program designed to fill that gap. 

The duo met in an emergency critical care residency, where they quickly bonded over their shared passion for critical care. They both loved the fast pace nature of providing emergency care, and how the day could change at a moment’s notice.

Dr. Hemmelgarn has a particular skill for handling septic patients, as well as poly-trauma. She has also published two papers on the pathophysiology and treatment of Heat Stroke in small animal patients. Together, this is a wealth of knowledge, and one she wanted to make available to other vets so as many pets as possible could have access to emergency medical care.

Intensivets is the solution to that. It features a number of valuable classes, such as handling disease outbreak in shelter situations, and cardiopulminary resuscitation.

Although critical care is Dr. Hemmelgarn’s passion, she also has a wealth of other interests. Outside of the veterinary world, she likes to work out after a stressful day in the clinic. Her workout may come in the form of a vigorous run, or by riding the peloton.

She also likes to go to the beach and spend time stand-up paddle boarding as ways to relax. Dr. Hemmelgarn is married to a fellow vet, who also understands the stress of the medical field, and who also enjoys many of the same things she does to help relax and recooperate.

Dr. Hemmelgarn also believes that everyone should embrace the unfamiliar. If you ever get a chance to go on vacation, push your boundaries and go somewhere exotic. Let the culture and beauty of the unusual embrace you. It’s a truly life changing experience, and it can only happen if you step outside of your comfort zone.

 Like many veterinarians, Dr. Hemmelgarn is also aware of the major problems afflicting the industry. Her biggest concern is how much debt many young students are saddled with. It’s very costly to become a veterinarian, and unfortunately the lifetime earning potential for veterinarians isn’t quite as good as other jobs in the medical field.

Dr. Hemmelgarn is an incredible veterinarian, with a great deal of talent in critical care. She loves to explore the world, to share her knowledge, and to help make the world a better and safer place for the pets we all love.