Horse owners in Southwest Virginia and adjacent states have faced the same nightmare: Their animal colicking at midnight with nowhere to turn or calling their regular vet only to learn they’re already handling another emergency two counties away.

Without dedicated emergency coverage, faculty veterinarians have been pulling double duty — handling scheduled appointments during the day and then working through the night when emergencies arise. By morning, they’re exhausted and still have a full day of teaching and regular cases ahead.

“It’s been difficult for the faculty to absorb that need while maintaining the daytime services, the teaching services, and the research enterprise,” said Byron.

The human cost is real, but so is the suffering of animals. Every delay means more pain for horses with colic, more risk for mares having difficult births, and more anxiety for owners watching their animals in distress.

Carla Enriquez has become the cornerstone of a new dedicated emergency service to fill a gap for Southwest Virginia’s large animal community.

She earned her veterinary degree from Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Ecudor, where she grew up, in 2019. Enriquez then headed to the U.S. for advanced training — first an internship at the University of Tennessee, then a large animal internal medicine residency at New Bolton Center, University of Pennsylvania.

After finishing her residency, Enriquez was looking for more. ‘As a resident, I always wanted to be a fellow and gain that extra knowledge,’ she said.

She pursued an emergency and critical care fellowship — two additional years of specialized training that’s still uncommon in veterinary medicine. Most veterinarians stop after pursuing one specialty due to the time, physical, and financial demands involved. Think of it as becoming a specialist within a specialty.

“The fellowship was basically like an emergency surgery residency for me,” she explained. “Coming from an internal medicine background, my goal was training in soft tissue emergency surgery and critical care by a team  of double boarded specialists in a busy emergency service .”

The result? She can handle the complex medical puzzles, infectious diseases, neonate care, ophthalmic emergencies and the surgical emergencies that walk through the door at 2 a.m. Whether it’s colic surgery, a C-section, or severe laceration, she brings both the internal medicine knowledge and surgical skills that emergencies demand.

In 2024, she became board-certified in large animal internal medicine. This August, she’ll sit for her emergency and critical care boards. Success would make her one of the few veterinarians nationwide with expertise in both areas — the perfect match for round-the-clock emergency work that demands both diagnostic depth and surgical speed.

According to available data from veterinary specialty boards, there are over 1,000 diplomates of the American College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care (ACVECC) in the United States, and several hundred board-certified large animal internal medicine specialists in North America. Holding board certification in both of these specialties is extremely uncommon, and it is widely considered to be rare, with only a small number of veterinarians likely to hold both credentials, and very few specializing in large animal species.

Enriquez isn’t starting from scratch. A veterinary college hospital in Northern Virginia has already demonstrated that this model is effective.

In 2023, the Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center in Leesburg introduced a dedicated emergency and critical care team that’s changing lives for Northern Virginia horse owners. Colic cases that once might have been lost to time delays now get immediate surgical intervention. Foaling emergencies get expert attention within the critical first hour.

The model is simple yet revolutionary: dedicated emergency veterinarians who have chosen this specialty are available when a crisis strikes — no more interrupting scheduled appointments. No more asking daytime clinicians to work all night, then show up the next morning.

Now, that same life-saving approach is coming to Blacksburg.

Enriquez will begin providing emergency services this fall as part of the college’s new program, starting with nights, weekends, and holidays — the times when emergencies can’t wait until morning. A second emergency clinician will also be joining the team this fall, allowing the service to launch fully staffed. “My goal is to help establish the emergency service here, which is down the line, going to act like a 24-hour service,” she said. “So, if you as a client or referring veterinarian have an emergency, you call the front desk, and they will direct you to one of the emergency clinicians.”

The plan mirrors what’s working in Leesburg. Eventually, students and residents will rotate through the emergency service, learning from veterinarians who chose this specialty. Details on referral protocols and service access will be announced as the launch date approaches.

Enriquez’s position exists because of a generous donation by animal advocates Karen Waldron and Shawn Ricci.

Their $4 million gift to the Veterinary Teaching Hospital is making two emergency positions possible — one for large animals, one for small animals.

“The ability to begin our emergency service with two dedicated faculty changes everything for large animal care because that allows us to position a dedicated service focused exclusively on emergency and critical care,” Byron explains. “Having dedicated emergency coverage means our other faculty can focus on their scheduled cases, teaching, and research without the constant worry of being called away for emergencies. It’s going to dramatically improve both the quality of our services and our faculty’s work-life balance.”