PHCOC 2025-2026 Underserved Areas Award Winner
Wednesday, September 9, 2026 at 01:00PM Melissa Waltiere
People parked their cars in an endless snaking row in the dim dark of morning—the people of the reservation with their mixed-breed dogs and cats, waiting for the care their animals desperately needed. We hurriedly checked in each animal, preparing for the long day ahead. Though the work was exhausting, nothing has ever made me feel happier than working with underserved communities. Striving to serve the underserved is the lifeblood of my veterinary journey. Before matriculation, I volunteered hundreds of hours to organizations that bring high quality, high volume spay and neuter, (HQHVSN) and wellness services to Native American and unhoused communities – and nothing has ever made me feel happier. The first time I visited a Native American reservation, I delivered pet food door to door in the Navajo Nation of Northern Arizona. The poverty I encountered struck me to the core – widespread lack of electricity and running water; one vehicle shared by large, close-knit families; holes in roofs; cars balanced on rocks; packs of dogs trotting through gas station parking lots, covered in hundreds of ticks; a little girl standing barefoot at the door of a dilapidated building she called home. I felt like I had been transported into a photograph from the cover of National Geographic magazine. Despite all these things, the beauty and power of the Navajo people’s culture towered proudly against this desolate backdrop. The resiliency I sensed in their community evoked the very definition of the word sacred. The joy, dignity and pride that the people carried along with the heavy burden of a history of unspeakable brutality and generational trauma - contradicted yet complemented one another like the red Navajo rock beneath a brilliant blue, cloudless desert sky. The first Rural Area Veterinary Services (RAVS) clinic trip I attended two years later catalyzed the latent desire that lay in my heart to serve underserved communities. I arrived at Standing Rock, North Dakota with an open heart and open mind, devoid of expectation. As I learned how to transform a gymnasium into a highly efficient and organized spay and neuter clinic, my heart began to find its home. The certainty and rightness I found within myself grew stronger throughout the week as I reveled in the privilege of working with shelter veterinarians from around the United States; they all possessed such talent, good humor, humility and compassion that it was contagious. The happiness and appreciation that the families experienced as they received vital services for their pets was worth far more than any monetary payment I could have received from my time spent there. On the plane ride home I knew - without a single doubt - from the core of my being, that I wanted to become a veterinarian who served these forgotten communities. I started volunteering with a local organization, The Parker Project, who brings HQHVSN and wellness services to Navajo nation and Hopi tribes. I immersed myself in service of reservation cats and dogs and the people who love them. I attended my second RAVS clinic in Colville, WA. By this point, I had been accepted into veterinary school. Returning to the organization that ignited my passion, knowing I was about to start veterinary school, I was overtaken by an overwhelming happiness and hope for my future. Through the thrill (and exhaustion) of being a student of veterinary medicine, I have continued to volunteer as much as possible. I spent my last spring break volunteering for RAVS in San Carlos, AZ, bringing wellness services to a community impacted by a lack of access to care. This past summer I attended my first surgery RAVS trip as a student in Fort Berthold, ND. I appreciated and enjoyed everything I was privileged to do on this trip: sharing a smile and conversation with a young child as I performed a physical exam and administered vaccines to her puppy; laughing with an elder as we discussed her spicy cat; scrubbing into surgery and learning alongside adept veterinarians confident in their skills. The clinic performed hundreds of surgeries throughout the week, and my first prescrotal canine neuter was one of them. As I move closer to graduation, I am unwavering in my dedication to build my skills as a veterinary student and to bring those skills, with compassion, as a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine to communities with limited access to care. It is my vision to work in shelter and community medicine, bringing affordable care to forgotten communities and uplifting all people without judgment. I strive to become a veterinarian who decreases suffering in marginalized communities by investing deeply in them, who sees people in their struggle and their strength—a veterinarian who understands the love people have for their pets and brings that love into completion by providing services that were previously inaccessible.
