Non Technical Summary
The large animal community of Interior Alaska has a proposed gap in access to quality veterinary care and animal husbandry education for owners. Interior Mobile vet proposes to fill this gap with building a sustainable mixed animal practice that focuses on a commitment to quality medicine, patient care and client education. Funding from this project will help continue driving efforts to build the momentum the practice has already established in trying to improve the overall quality of life of large animals in the interior through compassionate and educational veterinary medicine. Over time, the hopes is to become a collaborative care partner with large animal owners across the interior of the state. This will result in healthier, happier and more productive animals in sectors such as meat, milk and fiber for commercial and homesteading operations. Aside from the proposed increase in animal health and welfare, these efforts also have the potential to provide a sense of food security to communities that are susceptible to sudden disruptions in the food supply chain. Increasing local food and fiber supplies also has marked environmental benefits given the level of fossil fuels involved in transporting food to these remote areas of Alaska.

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
311	3299	1160	10%
311	3399	1160	10%
311	3499	1160	10%
311	3599	1160	10%
311	3699	1160	10%
311	3810	1160	40%
311	3820	1160	10%

Knowledge Area
311 - Animal Diseases;

Subject Of Investigation
3499 - Dairy cattle, general/other; 3299 - Poultry, general/other; 3820 - Goats, meat, and mohair; 3699 - Sheep and wool, general/other; 3599 - Swine, general/other; 3399 - Beef cattle, general/other; 3810 - Horses, ponies, and mules;

Field Of Science
1160 - Pathology;

Goals / Objectives
I started Interior Mobile Vet (IMV) in 2020 with specific goals of serving this unique demographic of Interior Alaska farmers. Farms here include large commercial farms (IMV clientele includes commercial dairy, beef, and poultry producers) and small hobby farms. Farms in my rural communities, even those smaller in scale, provide eggs, milk, and meat for entire communities. Clients range from newly transplanted hobby farmers forging their own path in this last frontier, to multi-generational commercial Alaskan farmers who have spent a lifetime navigating the challenges of the arctic.I expect the practice enhancements provided by this grant to have an impact on the number of clients IMV serves in the rural and large animal communities of Interior Alaska. In addition to that I anticipate that we will see an overall improvement in animal health and welfare, and thereby, public health and wellness in the communities IMV serves. Provided funding will also go towards helping IMV have established supoprt staff to free up more doctor time to go towards community outreach and educational events

Project Methods
IMV intends to reach the propsed goals through funding staff and additional equipment to better equip the practice. Support staff are an integral part of every veterinary practice in providing high quality medicine to it's patients and solid communication to clients. In the initial years of growth IMV had minimal support staff relying primarily on the doctor to accmoplish most duties. Being able to fund support staff will allow the doctor more time to practice medicine, see patients and focus on community outreach.educational events. Additional equipment that would be funded through this project include a spare practice vehicle and an ultrasound machine. The current mobile clinic really needs at least one day a week off work to allow time for mainteance, repairs and cleaning. We want to continue to be able to see patients on this day so a second, smaller practice vehicle is needed. The current ultrasound machines the practice has are very cumbersome and of low quality images. Utilizing a better machine will allow for better diagnotic capability and eas of use.