IF YOU enrol in an animal care course at Box Hill Institute in Lilydale, you could be lucky enough to have Dr Patricia Stewart as a teacher.
Dr Stewart teaches many of the veterinary nurse subjects in the Certificate IV in Veterinary Nursing. She graduated from the University of Melbourne (1980) with a first class honours degree.
Dr Steward said it was a calling from a young age.
“I have wanted to be a veterinarian since I was about nine years old,” she said.
“Animals have always been a major love of my life and luckily I have been able to combine this love with my career.”
Dr Stewart has worked in a range of different veterinary clinics over the years, treating animals large and small.
She worked at the University of Melbourne Veterinary Hospital as a small animal surgical resident for a couple of these years, successfully completing a Masters of Veterinary Studies in small animal surgery and qualifying for a membership in the Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists.
Dr Stewart is president of the Victorian Australian Veterinary Association, and writes a pet health column in the ‘Herald Sun’ weekend magazine.
Dr Stewart is excited about the new Lilydale campus.
“Having a campus in Lilydale is wonderful as I know that there are people young and old who live in and around the Yarra Valley who would love to get access to the high-class training that I know Box Hill Institute can provide,” she said.
“I believe Box Hill has developed world-class training in the animal care disciplines: veterinary nursing, animal grooming, captive animal care, animal technology, horse studies and companion animal care.”
At Lilydale, Box Hill Institute will deliver the Certificate III in Animal Studies course (among others) which is a potential pathway to veterinary nursing.
“Animal welfare has come ahead in leaps and bounds since I first became a veterinarian,” she said.
“Dogs and cats have come out of the backyard and now sit comfortably on the couch.”
Students would have to go a long way to find someone with more experience and expertise than Dr Stewart, when it comes to working with animals.
But at Box Hill Institute’s Lilydale campus, she’s just around the corner.
