Bel-Rea History

The following is an article I wrote for the newsletter, but reveals the history of Bel-Rea which many Bel-Rea grads may be interested in:

Bel-Rea: Become Involved in One of the Strongest Traditions Since the Inception of Veterinary Technology.

Erik Fausak, MSLIS, MA, LVT, CVT, RLAT

Bel-Rea Graduate, 2000

Faculty, Bel-Rea, 2010 - current

Ivy league schools have a fearsome reputation in academia. We all know their names: Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, Yale, Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, and Princeton. Part of the term, “Ivy League”, and the reason these schools are so revered, is that they are the oldest schools in the country¹. They've been doing academia longer than anyone. Similarly, when we look at the origins of veterinary technology, Bel-Rea has been there since the beginning.  Veterinary technology developed as an emerging discipline in the 1960s.  The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) started developing standards of veterinary technology in 1967².  In 1970, Bel-Rea Institute of Animal Technology was founded by Drs. Dan Dean and Fred Fodrea³.  Bel-rea’s name comes from the combination of Dr. Fodrea’s wife’s maiden name (Bell) and the last three letters of Dr. Fodrea’s name (rea) (Tammy Schneider, written communication, August 2014).  Drs. Robert Taylor and Nolan Rucker arrived as experienced surgeons and assumed operation of Bel-rea and Alameda East Veterinary Hospital (a training hospital for veterinary technicians from the Bel-Rea program).  

As a matter of fact, both the school and hospital were on one campus³.  In an interview with Dr. Rucker (March 2015), he recalls that they started with 5 students.  He said the need for veterinary technicians were becoming obvious at the rapidly developing Alameda East Veterinary Hospital.  The rapid growth of Alameda East Veterinary Hospital was in itself an impressive accomplishment in a geographic area that has always been saturated with veterinarians.  At the time, the field of veterinary technology was non-existent, but Alameda needed trained staff to assist the busy veterinarians.  The field has grown considerably since that time, and one can even find a great deal of specializations and new areas developing within veterinary technology⁴. 

The combination of academic rigor and clinical hands-on experience led to the accreditation of Bel-Rea by the AVMA in 1975.   Bel-rea is the oldest AVMA accredited Veterinary Technology program in Colorado and one of the eight oldest programs in the continent⁵.  The fact that veterinary technology has expanded significantly and has a great outlook is no hidden fact⁶.  A growth that has been partially made by the graduates of Bel-rea.

The AVMA has already accredited 9 schools this year alone, the total number of veterinary technology schools are staggering at 236⁵.   The question is, which ones are the “ivy leagues”?  Very few schools have been training and defining veterinary technicians as long as Bel-Rea Institute of Animal Technology.  My father always told me higher education is about learning how to think and Bel-Rea knows exactly how to develop the desirable thinking qualities of a veterinary technician:  Independent thinking, self-improvement, attention to detail, professionalism, and the ability to anticipate the needs of a situation.  All of these qualities combined create the difference between a technician and a great technician.  Check out Bel-rea and see what kind of a technician you will become with a program that has been there since the beginning of veterinary technology. 

1.        Ivy League. New World Encycl. 2014. Available at: http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Ivy_League. Accessed February 27, 2015.

2.        Bassert JM, Thomas JA, McCurnin DM. McCurnin’s clinical textbook for veterinary technicians.; 2014.

3.        Technology B-RI of A. About Bel-REa. In: Bel-Rea Catalog.; 2010:4.

4.        NAVTA. NAVTA > Specialties. 2011. Available at: https://navta.net/specialties/specialties. Accessed March 11, 2015.

5.        AVMA. Veterinary Technology Programs Accredited by the AVMA CVTEA. Available at: https://www.avma.org/ProfessionalDevelopment/Education/Accreditation/Programs/Pages/vettech-programs-all-programs-list.aspx. Accessed February 27, 2015.

6.        U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics. Veterinary Technologists and Technicians : Occupational Outlook Handbook: : U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Available at: http://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/veterinary-technologists-and-technicians.htm. Accessed March 2, 2015.