Major Gift to Fund Innovative Equi-Assist Program

Wilson College has received a major gift that will be used to establish an innovative program that will train students to provide home health care for horses. The new “equi-assist” program will be a concentration within Wilson’s veterinary medical technology (VMT) major beginning next fall.

The program is being developed in conjunction with philanthropist and lifelong horsewoman Margaret Hamilton Duprey, who recently pledged $500,000 over three years to build Wilson’s equi-assist program. Duprey and her husband, Bob, own and operate Cherry Knoll Farm, which is the home of dressage, open jumpers, steeplechase and hunter competition horses, as well as prize-winning Black Angus cattle. The farm has locations in Pennsylvania and Florida.

Similar to people, horses with health issues can respond more positively to treatment in their home setting than in a veterinary hospital, according to Duprey, who said she has seen examples many times with her own horses. The equi-assist program will give Wilson VMT graduates the training and ability to work independently, under the direction of the attending veterinarian, to provide equine nursing veterinary care in a horse’s home environment.

“I think it will be something that will be very well-received in all aspects of the equine industry,” said Duprey, who noted that in addition to quicker recovery times for horses, the equine home health care veterinary nurse concept “cuts down on the cost of a horse staying in a hospital.”

The equi-assist concentration will complement existing VMT concentrations in biology and business and entrepreneurship. Students enrolled in the equi-assist program “will be trained to coordinate communication and care between all stakeholders – owner, trainer, veterinarian and managers,” according to Wilson’s proposal for the program. “This specialized training … would increase the veterinary technologist’s ability to be a valuable resource in the veterinary medical team, allowing better utilization of veterinary technologists in the workforce and a strategic advantage for the equine veterinarian. This unprecedented level of training will distinguish Wilson graduates and the program.”

Wilson VMT Program Director Freya Burnett is developing the curriculum for the equi-assist concentration.

Wilson’s VMT program is one of only 22 in the nation that provides a four-year degree in veterinary medical technology and is the only one of its kind in Pennsylvania, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Employment of veterinary technologists and technicians is projected to grow 30 percent from 2012 to 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. “Because veterinarians perform specialized tasks, clinics and animal hospitals are increasingly using veterinary technologists and technicians to provide more general care and perform more laboratory work. Furthermore, veterinarians will continue to prefer higher skilled veterinary technologists and technicians over veterinary assistants for more complex work,” a 2014 report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics says.

Wilson officials are excited about the specialized training the equi-assist program will give students, according to Vice President for Institutional Advancement Camilla Rawleigh. “We’re extraordinarily grateful to Mrs. Duprey for her generous gift and her faith and confidence in Wilson College,” Rawleigh said. “Her gift will make a real difference by providing new opportunities for our VMT students.

Duprey, who visited the Wilson campus last summer and was impressed with its VMT and equestrian facilities, said her hope is for Wilson vet techs “to become the best in the world.”

“Wilson College is on the map for its vet tech program but this would make it world-renowned,” said Duprey, who has been an active member of the equine community her entire life. She is a graduate of Cabrini College in Radnor, Pa., which she served as a trustee for a number of years. She is a member of a variety of boards and serves as a trustee for the United States Equestrian Team Foundation and the Hamilton Family Foundation, a private charitable foundation based in Wayne, Pa.

MEDIA CONTACT: Cathy Mentzer, Manager of Media Relations
Phone: 717-262-2604
Email: cathy.mentzer@wilson.edu