‘The Incredible Dr. Pol’: Dr. Emily Gets Brutally Honest About Being a Woman in the Veterinary Field
The new, sixteenth season of The Incredible Dr. Pol starts tomorrow, Jan. 11 at 9:00PM EST on NatGeo WILD!
Dr. Emily, one of Dr. Pol’s best and beloved staff veterinarians (who is no longer with his veterinary service) shared recently on her blog the challenges of being a woman veterinarian. She and Dr. Brenda certainly kicked down a lot of general misconceptions about women working with large farm animals on the National Geographic WILD reality show.
Dr. Emily, on the show, always kept her emotions and private matters close to her vest. But recently, she’s started her own blog and has opened up, not only about being a female veterinarian, but about so much more.
Read on to find out what Dr. Emily shared about the field as a whole.
Dr. Pol’s new season starts tomorrow
With the new season starting tomorrow, the show continues to take viewers on veterinary calls with Dr. Pol and the other doctors on staff at Pol Veterinary Services as they make their rounds to visit calving cows, constipated pigs, horses needing castration, and more in their Michigan town.
And it’s clearly a big hit. It’s the network’s top-rated program and also on Disney Plus, where it’s in demand with younger audiences.
Dr. Pol spoke with The Chicago Tribune in 2018 about his sudden fame and the show’s fans.
“I’ve said many times, the show is about animals. The people that watch the show love animals — and people that love animals are good people. And those are the ones that come to meet us.”
“We were walking down the street here and suddenly this man looked at us and said, ‘Dr. Pol! Gimme a picture! We love your show!’ That is fantastic. We meet the nicest people.”
Dr. Emily on the veterinary life
Dr. Emily in her honest, funny, and even educational blog, talks openly about the things she finds most challenging about being a veterinarian, such as clients’ attitudes towards how much it costs to have their animals treated.
In her blog post with the tongue-in-cheek headline of, “Vets are just in it for the money,” the 35-year-old veterinarian explains, “We love animals, but we must make money to live, to support our children. I’ve never heard of someone telling a car mechanic they shouldn’t charge money and just fix the car because they love it. . . We want to help you and your animal. That’s all we want. Please consider all of this next time you are upset with a vet bill.”
Dr. Emily wants girls aspiring to be veterinarians to know this
Working in a field that has been mostly dominated by men, Dr. Emily has found her own voice and proven herself to countless farmers and other veterinarians who didn’t think she had it in her.
She tells her story colorfully on her blog in another post, of how she gradually came into her own.
“When I was in vet school, I got a purple stethoscope – my favorite color! Unfortunately, my dog ate it. . . I was convinced, as a girl, I wouldn’t be respected on the farm with “good ole boys” if I had a purple or pink stethoscope, so I purchased a brown one with copper finish.”
“I eventually established myself as a strong person, and no longer had to hide that I was a woman. . . eventually got to the point where I would wear earrings or *gasp* make-up or a sparkly headband that was my daughter’s out to the farms and never got a lick of push back.”
“I really love when people ask me about why I have an ugly, brown stethoscope because I get to tell them about how I used to be scared to be me, but once I was me and figured out people were okay with that, I get to be me and love it!”
Read more: ‘The Incredible Dr. Pol’: What Is His Net Worth and What Is the Veterinarian’s Ethnicity?
