Member Spotlight Provides Important Reminder
A Look at the Minnesota Department of Health Zoonotic Diseases Unit

Dr. Joni Scheftel still remembers the moment that her life was changed forever. She was a partner in a mixed animal veterinary practice in Watertown, MN when a tragic farm accident caused the death of an 8-year-old boy and rocked the community.

“I needed to do something,” Dr. Scheftel recalls.

Dr. Scheftel went and got a Master of Public Health degree and planned to work in occupational health with the goal of improving farm safety. While she has been involved in numerous projects that have made an impact in that area, she realized her strength was in infectious disease. She took a field experience opportunity with the Minnesota Department of Health and turned it into a full-time job becoming the State Public Health Veterinarian leading the Zoonotic Diseases Unit. After working in mixed practice for 20 years, she now has put in 20 at the Minnesota Department of Health.

The MVMA visited the Zoonotic Diseases Unit last year to find out how their jobs and lives changed when the COVID-19 pandemic started and followed up with a trip recently to see how things are going now.

“My group was amazing and really gave it everything,” Dr. Scheftel reflected when asked about her team. “We did things we never knew we could do.”

The Zoonotic Diseases Unit was working seven days a week for two and a half years straight from the time the COVID-19 pandemic began until just recently. Members of Dr. Scheftel’s team split up to lead other units taking roles in areas such as critical infrastructure, health care worker monitoring, school safety and the mortality team, which included investigating every suspected COVID death in Minnesota to be sure that COVID was the cause of death, and not an incidental finding.

When Dr. Scheftel left working in practice she worried she wouldn’t be helping enough people. While working in practice she could clearly see she was helping people every day when they came in with their pets.

“Helping people is what keeps me going,” she remarked.

It is safe to say, Dr. Scheftel and her team are helping people at a remarkable level in her role now. During the pandemic she was a resource for veterinary clinics across the state and MVMA membership leaned on her expertise for the ever-changing COVID-19 landscape. She and her team helped over 50 veterinary clinics, always willing to answer a question about the challenges they were facing.

“We are all in this together,” Dr. Scheftel said. “Our job (at the Minnesota Department of Health) is to be a liaison between human health and animal health. Veterinarians can call us, and we will help them out to work through problems together.”

Work has mostly gone back to normal for the Zoonotic Diseases Unit at the Minnesota Department of Health, although their role has been changed forever since the pandemic started. Right now, the team is busy taking on the challenges brought on by Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza and rabies awareness and education continue to be top of mind. On our MVMA visit they were preparing an educational workshop for a local police department on how to handle animal bites and animals they come across that are suspicious for rabies.

As their work throughout the pandemic has shown, this team can be a trusted and counted on resource for MVMA members, especially with Dr. Scheftel leading the way.

“I am always ready for new challenges,” Dr. Scheftel said. “That’s partly due to the great veterinary education I received. We were taught the basics and then told to go out and do it.”

Dr. Scheftel was the MVMA President in 2019 and won the MVMA Veterinarian of the Year in 2020 for her efforts throughout the pandemic. She volunteers her time and resources on a regular basis with involvement in many MVMA committees including the Governmental Affairs Committee, Public Health Committee, Small Animal Welfare Committee and State Fair - Miracle of Birth Center Subcommittee. In addition to her service at the MVMA, she has spent a number of years working as a delegate, alternate delegate and a committee member and chair for the AVMA.

“I know about one thing (animal and human medicine). I don’t do a lot of volunteering in the community, so this is my way of giving back,” Dr. Scheftel said. “I love being around and working with other veterinarians. There is no finer group. We are all basically the same in our personalities and temperaments and it’s very rewarding to be around other veterinarians working together.”