Veterinary Support
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Melissa Grimm
Melissa's cat Linus
1 of 2 »Certified Veterinary Technician
Melissa Grimm
Melissa started in the veterinary field in 2003 but has worked with animals, horses mostly, since 1996. Melissa graduated from Portland Community College (PCC) and became a Certified Veterinary Technician in 2007. Caring for animals has been her career choice for as long as she can remember. Melissa shares her home with Linus, a 5-year-old polydactyl shorthaired cat, Francis, a 4-year-old shorthaired cat, and Niels Bohr a 4-year-old guinea pig. All of Melissa’s pets are named after Nobel Prize winning scientists. Their favorite thing to do is cuddle on the couch under the blankets.Each of her pets has something special. Linus has an extra toe on each foot that enables him to open cupboard doors with ease. Francis has white spots hidden between his toes on the underside of each paw. And Niels has learned to squeal when he hears the sound of veggies being chopped up in the kitchen.
When in Portland you must check out Melissa’s top pick restaurants.
• Karam, which has amazing Lebanese food and home made pitas
• Screen Door - there are few things more perfect than chicken and waffles
• Pix Patisserie – chocolaty, sugary heaven!
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Libby Hohn
Certified Veterinary Technician
Libby Hohn, CVT
Veterinary Tech School: Portland Community College
Libby became a certified veterinary technician in 2007 and was drawn to veterinary medicine because of her son. Before entering the technician program Libby was doing a double major in psychology and music, but her heart was not in it. Her son made her realize she needed to do what she loved and she has been at Raleigh Hills ever since. Libby plans on getting certified in surgery and emergency/critical care.
Libby has two Pembroke Welsh Corgis at home named Sara and Selwyn, and three rescued cats named Emma, Badger, and Tilly. Interesting fact - Emma received her name from a series of treatments she received as a kitten when she was having some GI trouble. Libby loves taking the dogs to the beach where they play in the sand and love to socialize, however they both hate water. All of Libby’s pets have vastly different personalities and range from The Loud Mouth, The ADD, The Depressed, The Angry, and The Silly.
When Libby was in high school, she played violin with the Portland Youth Philharmonic. She now loves going to the symphony and taking her son to the children’s concerts. Libby still plays the violin every week and hopes to join the Beaverton Symphony Orchestra when she gets more free time. Libby also loves driving around the country to see all the greenery.
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Anneliese Kiefer, CVT
Certified Veterinary Technician
Anneliese Kiefer
Anneliese is a Certified Veterinary Technician and has her bachelor's degree in fine art from The Evergreen State College with an emphasis on painting, ceramics, installation art and art theory. Anneliese has worked in the veterinary community since 2003 as both a technician and client specialist in general practice, oncology and specialty surgery. She enjoys world travel, snowboarding, rock climbing, and living in Portland. She shares her home with her acrobatic cat Fiesta, the handsome but not particularly smart cat Buddy, the vocal boarder collie mix Francis Fancy Pants, and her very fur-tolerant husband.
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Morgan and Remmie
Certified Veterinary Technician
Morgan McCann
Morgan has been working in the Veterinary field since 2006, and started as a veterinary assistant to better prepare herself for Veterinary school. She became a certified technician in 2010, and began working at Raleigh Hills shortly there after.
Morgan has three adoring pets, Ellie the dog, Edward the handsome cat, and Marley the cat. Edward is actually the most handsome cat on the planet, and it is really unfair for all the other cats (although mom may be biased). Ellie has three legs and two different colored eyes. Even with three legs, Ellie gets around with ease and still thinks it is a good idea to pull mom everywhere they go. Morgan and Ellie love to hike! Ellie’s favorite trails are in Forest Park because of the mud for her to squish around in.
Working in the veterinary field is a dirty job! Sometimes Morgan has had the pleasure of being urinated on, defecated on, and even vomited on at numerous occasions. Morgan is also an avid Karaoke fan and goes every week!
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Certified Veterinary Technician
Nancy Moritz, CVT
Nancy has been a licensed veterinary technician since 1985. Nancy started at Michigan State University and majored in English. After realizing her true passion was working with animals, she attended the Veterinary Technician Program at MSU (Go Green!).
Nancy and her husband now share their home with Cora, a lab terrier mix, Josie, a 16 yr old feline, and Spider, a 13 yr old feline. Nancy also cares for two feral cats she rescued from her neighborhood, Chief and Itchy.Cora’s life began on a rocky note and she has been monitored for heart problems over the last 4 years. Thankfully, she is doing wonderfully and always shows her sweet and gentle side with one of the biggest toothiest grins. In their free time, Nancy, her husband and Cora love going to the Oregon coast. Cora especially loves to run and frolic on the sandy beaches. They also enjoy many of the Portland eateries, especially Lucky Lab Brew Pub were even Cora is allowed to eat!
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Michael
Certified Veterinary Technician
Michael Stewman, CVT
Michael has been working in the veterinary field since 1990, when he began as a kennel assistant his senior year of high school. Michael became a certified technician in 2004. He is a very driven man and has gone back to school to become a veterinarian. Michael shares his home with his cat, Meow, who was rescued from a dumpster when he was only 5 weeks old. Meow is a smart kitty and even knows how to say his own name! As long as he does not have to go to work with Michael, he is happy.
Michael loves living close to Portland and tries to go to restaurants he has never tried before. With Portland having so many, it is not such a hard thing to do. Michael also likes the Portland nightlife scene.
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Kahlie Towle
Certified Veterinary Technician
Kahlie Towle
Kahlie has been in the veterinary field for 17 years. She has always had a love for animals and a passion for medicine and is truly a gifted technician. Kahlie has one dog named Mojo and a few rescued cats she shares her home with. Kahlie likes to walk behind Mojo on trails; “It grounds me to watch him take such pleasure in the simple joy of a walk”. Mojo is a big softy and loves to sleep under the covers, even though he is a big dog.
Kahlie enjoys going to the Tin Shed on NE Alberta St. Your dog is welcome there and they even have a section on the menu for them to order from.
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Kerri Zinser
Paco Zinser
Paco Zinser
1 of 3 »Certified Veterinary Technician
Kerri Zinser
Veterinary Tech School: Portland Community College
School: Associate of Science
Kerri has been in the veterinary field for 9 years and was drawn to veterinary medicine because of her passion to care for animals. Kerri and her husband live with their adventurous Chihuahua Paco. Paco has some of the biggest eyes; he really knows how to work the sad angle to melt his mom’s heart. He may be spoiled just a bit because of those eyes. In Kerri’s free time, she loves to take Paco to 1,000 Acers. The trail extends all the way from Troutdale to the Columbia River and enjoyed by all 4 legged friends. Kerri also frequents Lapella restaurant in downtown Vancouver, as they have amazing food and offer only local ingredients!
Kerri recently lost one of her best friends. Newman was a Jack Russell Terrier who had the cutest feet - you know you are a dog person when you love the smell and shape of your dog’s feet! Newman was quite the character and loved to get into mischief. Before Kerri married her husband, Newman would bring out her dirty laundry to share with him – often times, unfortunately, it was underwear. It was a very sad day when we lost Newman and he will be forever missed. Rest in Peace, old friend.
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Uta Briggs
Licensed Veterinary Technician
Uta Briggs
Veterinary Tech School: Portland Community College
Uta began her career in the Veterinary field in 2006, when she realized she could combine her lifelong love of animals, ambition to learn medicine, and desire to help her dog Sierra, age gracefully.
In 2000, Sierra found her way into Uta’s life at a youthful age of 4. She lived out her years by Uta’s side: traversing the California & Oregon mountains and beaches and befriending everyone she met - always with a smile on her face and relentless tail-wagging. Though Sierra has since passed away, she will live on in Uta’s heart and the hearts of many.
Uta graduated in 2010 from Portland Community College’s Veterinary Technician program, and has since enjoyed the learning opportunities available at Raleigh Hills Animal Hospital – ranging from general practice, specialty surgery, oncology and ophthalmology.
In her free time, she enjoys creating pieces of art, with a strong emphasis on pet portraits, using pastels, charcoal, and paint.
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Veterinary Assistant
Whitney Gassaway
Whitney has always known that her heart was made for veterinary medicine; ever since she was a little girl she wanted to work with animals. In 2007, she received her veterinary assistant certificate and has worked for Raleigh Hills the past four years.
Whitney has four pets at home. Marley is a high energy, 5-year-old lab mix who loves to give kisses. So many kisses, that every person who walks into her home gets a second shower followed by many apologies from Whitney. Whitney hopes that one day Marley will have some semblance of control over her tongue, but in the mean time, hand wipes help. Jasmine and Alley are 4-year-old cats and are also littermates who happen to be incredibly lazy, and Macey is the baby kitty of the family who is only a year and a half old. Whitney’s family loves to take Marley to Washington Park to enjoy all the different trails. While the cats do not get to go to the park they do take trips around the block on their harnesses.
Whitney’s four legged children love unconditionally and Whitney is very happy they are all very healthy right now (knock on wood).
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Debi Kent
Veterinary Assistant
Debi Kent
Debi has worked at Raleigh Hills since 2002. Her career in veterinary medicine started because of a non-profit Rescue Shelter in California. There she took care of many different animals both healthy and sick. Debi has two cats at home, Payton and Liberace. They were both rescues and Payton was so little he had to be bottle fed. Both cats also think they are dogs trapped in kitten bodies.
In Debi’s free time she loves roaming the different Saturday Markets; well, at least when the weather is nice.
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Katie Comer-Steele
Veterinary Assistant
Katie Steele
Katie started in the veterinary field when her cousin convinced her to apply for a job at the veterinary hospital she worked at. That was 15 years ago, and she has been hooked ever since. Katie shares her home with her husband, two children and their dog Lobo. Lobo looks like an Australian shepherd mix and has the brains to prove it. He can often be a little too smart, thus keeping Katie on her toes! The family loves to go hiking through the Columbia Gorge and taking road trips whenever possible.
Fun Fact: Katie and all of her pets have been named after John Wayne movie characters!
