Joliet, Kankakee and Surrounding Suburbs

I grew up right here in Kankakee, IL, along with my sisters and numerous family pets through the years. I don't remember a time when I didn't want to be a veterinarian. I loved visiting our family friend's farm and playing with all the young farm animals - the barn kittens were always my favorite. I took my role as kitten tamer and socializer very seriously! I got my first job in the veterinary field as a teenager, working as a kennel worker and veterinary assistant. I am fortunate to still work with and learn from that same veterinarian mentor today.

I attended undergrad and veterinary school at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, and worked in several small animal clinics in and around Chicago after graduation. I particularly enjoyed watching the bonds between families and seeing their pets grow and mature, but I felt called to do more for the communities I lived in. I returned to graduate school at Texas A & M University where I received a Master's in Veterinary Public Health. I spent the next decade of my life in Lansing, MI working for the Michigan Department of Community Health, first as a CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) officer and then as an epidemiologist focusing on healthcare-associated and resistant pathogens. In 2016, my kids and I returned to Kankakee to be closer to extended family. We currently enjoy the company of 2 dogs, 5 cats (how did that even happen?!) and 2 rats in our home - as well as 5 spoiled backyard chickens.

Returning to veterinary clinical practice was a difficult transition, but I again found the most rewarding aspect of veterinary care to be solving medical issues allowing me to provide relief to patients and their families to nurture the bond throughout a pet's life. In addition to my patients, I have helped numerous personal and family pets cross the rainbow bridge throughout the years. Most recently our 13 year old beagle, Augie P. Doggie, who suffered from Congestive Heart Failure. I wish that Aug had been in the comfort of our home in his final moments, but take peace knowing how much he loved sniffing around the clinic and enjoying a cheeseburger before his final journey. 

I feel it is a unique gift to ease suffering and an honor to be present to bear witness to the lifelong love between a family and pet in their final moments. When the opportunity to join Lap of Love presented itself, I knew it would be the perfect addition to my general practice work. Providing in-home veterinary hospice and end of life care will allow me to serve members of my community in one of the most difficult, yet loving and generous, moments of their pet's life.