Janna R. Poll, MBA, SPHR, CMPE
Hospital Administrator

Janna Poll is the Hospital Administrator at VRCC, responsible to the Board of Managers for the hospital facilities, committees, shared hospital staff, and coordinating the activities and programs of the hospital and eight specialties. Janna came to VRCC in 2002 after spending ten years at The Children’s Hospital as the Administrator of the Cardiac Care Center. She holds an MBA with a healthcare administration emphasis, as well as professional certifications with MGMA and SHRM. Ms. Poll currently serves on the board of the American Animal Hospital Association and the Board of the Veterinary Specialty Practice Alliance.

Lara Velarde
Administrative Assistant

Lara was born in the US Navy.  She lived all over the United States as a child, including South Carolina, New York, Virginia, Hawaii, and California.  She graduated from the historic Point Loma High School in San Diego, CA.  Lara received her Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from University of Colorado, Boulder. She joined VRCC in 2005 and has been happily working here ever since.  Lara lives in Thornton with her husband, two cats Buffy & Faith, and her dog Zoe.

Craig Cousins
Purchasing and Facilities

Craig is originally from northern New Mexico where he started volunteering in Veterinary Clinics at age 13! He moved to Denver in the fall of 1999, and graduated from Bel-Rea Institute of Animal Technology in the spring of 2001. He has been with VRCC since he moved to Denver.
Craig deals with the infrastructure and logistics of day to day operations for VRCC, along with helping implement state of the art equipment and programs to deliver the best quality medicine to VRCC’s clients.
Craig lives in Highlands Ranch with his 2 dogs, Anakin and Jabba. As you can guess by the names of his dogs, he is a huge Star Wars fan! When not at work, you can find him either touring the mountains on his motorcycles or scuba diving in the Caribbean.  

John Oslick, BA, MBA
Client Service Manager

John is a native of Pennsylvania, where he started his professional career working at The Children’s Institute, a school for children with neurological impairment and cerebral palsy.  After 10 years at the ‘Tute, John completed his MBA and decided to follow his sister and brother to the mountain state of Colorado.  He joined the VRCC team as Client Service Manager in August of 2003.  In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his family (especially his 20-month-old niece, Cheyenne!) and friends, taking in movies, concerts, attending gymnastics events with his dad, and enjoying lazy summer days camping with his friends in the hills of Colorado.  John lives in Denver with his 2 cats, Wylder (Maine Coon) and Logan (DSH).  John is especially proud of the wonderful work done at VRCC and is glad to be a part of such a great team!

Deborah Knowlton

Deborah was born and raised in Denver, Colorado. Prior to joining VRCC she worked at another veterinary emergency hospital in Highlands Ranch. In her spare time, Deborah enjoys playing the piano and cello, reading, and spending time with her family and friends. She now lives in Englewood with her sister and their three dogs, Tucker, Sable, and Duncan.

Lisa Owens

Lisa moved to Colorado 17 years ago from her home state of Illinois to be closer to her 3 sisters, multiple nieces and mother. She decided to work with animals after 8 years on a psychiatric unit for the chronically mentally ill.  Lisa, a self-proclaimed country girl, lives in Elizabeth on 1 1/2 acres with her 5 dogs, who range in size from a 75-lb lab to a 5 1/2-lb toy poodle.  She enjoys volunteering with abused horses and bringing her therapy dog to work with mentally and behaviorally challenged children.

Kelly Dusak

Kelly has been in the Veterinary Field for 5 1/2 years.  She worked  
at another Emergency Veterinary Hospital in the Denver area before  
joining the VRCC team last summer.  She is a Colorado native and  
enjoys reading and traveling.  Her lab mix Katie likes to accompany  
her on car rides and walks everywhere she goes.

Lynette Works

Lynette is a fourth generation native of Colorado.  Prior to joining the team at VRCC in October of 2004, Lynette worked in the Customer Service department for a home electronics firm.  When not attending to all of your pets’ needs, she enjoys cooking, camping, fishing, and competitive volleyball.  Lynette shares her home with her two goofy cats, Romy and Anna Michelle.  She is very proud to be able to work alongside such dedicated and outstanding professionals.

Marc Schmaedecke

Marc is a Colorado native who has attended the University of Northern Colorado as a Music Major and the University of Colorado as a Biology major.  He is currently finishing his literature degree at Metro State College.  In his spare time, he enjoys playing music, backpacking, running, reading and relaxing with his wife and 3 dogs.

SPECIALTY PATIENT CARE (SPC) TECHNICIANS

Erik Boor

Erik Boor graduated from CSU in 1994 with a B.S. in Biology and a minor in Anatomy.  He graduated from the Bel Rea Institute in 1996.  His career as a technician at VRCC began in April of 1998 with CVES and took on the role of Specialty Patient Care technician in January of 2000.  Erik has a six year-old son named Dillon and was recently promoted to Second Degree Black belt in American Freestyle Tae Kwon Do.

Jessica Mares

After working in the financial planning industry for 5 years, Jessica moved to Denver from Kansas City in 2004, where she attended Bel-Rea and graduated with honors in 2005.   She has a history of working in general practice for 3 years before and during school.  After internship, she knew that her interest was in critical care and thus came to work at VRCC for the overnight specialty patient care team.

Jessica’s family includes a wonderful and patient husband,  2 labradors (Otis & Santana), a minature boxer (Max), and a special needs cat (Randy).  In her free time she enjoys road trips, concerts, spending time with family and friends, horseback riding and traveling to foreign countries.

Janette Vuksinich

A Colorado Native, Janette graduated from the Bel-Rea Institute of Animal Technology in December of 1998.  She worked in general practice for 2 years prior to joining the Specialty Patient Care team at VRCC 7 years ago.  She has also been with Central Emergency Services for the past 5 years.  She attended Metropolitan State College of Denver for 5 years in pursuit of a degree in zoology, business management, and an Associate Brokers degree in real estate.  Janette enjoys spending time with her English Mastiff Jade and Jades kitty Toni.  Other interests include spending time in the mountains, mountain biking/cycling, scuba diving, traveling to new places, forensic sciences, and reading.

Claire Grasso

After graduating from the Bel-Rea Institute of Animal Technology in  
2004, Claire has been honing her skills in emergency and critical  
care. She recently joined the SPC's in February of this year and hopes  
to continue her learning experiences and expand her knowledge base.   
She has a long term goal of specializing in anesthesia.   She has one  
little doggy named Sherlock, two guinea pigs that think they own the  
place, and several fish under her care.

PRACTICE ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGERS

Debbie Mangels
Cardiology

Debbie joined Veterinary Heart and Lung Specialists in September 2003 after working in general practices for 13 years.  She has a daughter Amanda and 2 dogs, Yogi and Sierra and 2 cats, Taz and Nunya.

Miriam Cabrera
Dermatology

Miriam Cabrera holds a Bachelors of Science Degree in animal science from Kansas State University and a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Universidad Nacional Pedro Henriquez Ureña in the Dominican Republic. Miriam has worked with veterinary dermatologists, including Dr. Messinger, from 1994- 2002 in the Orlando area where she managed the Veterinary Dermatology Center. She left the area to manage a general practice in South Florida. Her last year was dedicated to working with a veterinary ophthalmologist where she has expanded her knowledge immensely.  Miriam takes great pleasure in working with patients and their human family members as well as referring veterinarians. She is dedicated to excellent client communication and service and compasstionate animal care.  Miriam grew up in Puerto Rico. Miriam and her husband are the “parents” of three cats. She is also fluent in Spanish. Miriam enjoys sewing cross stitching, scrap booking and family life.

Joan VanDewater
Emergency

Ms. VanDewater joined the CVES staff in March of 2003 as Business Specialist. She received her B.S. in Business Administration with an emphasis in Management from The Master's College in Santa Clarita, California in May of 1993. After moving to Colorado in 1995, Joan gained experience in Project Management, Customer Service/Technical Support Management, and Office Management through her 4+ years of employment at Learn2.com. Most recently Joan served as the Program Support Assistant to the Administrator and Medical Director of the Integrative Medicine Program at the University of Colorado Hospital helping to start the program from scratch. She then decided to take her experience and knowledge gained through human medicine and apply it to animal medicine at CVES.

Ms. VanDewater will work in tandem with the management team that consists of Dr. Sam Romano, Dr. Luke Rump, and Tammi Abt to provide management and leadership to the exceptional CVES team of Doctors and Technicians.

Lori Ramig
Internal Medicine

Lori began working in the pet care industry in 1979 and has worked exclusively in veterinary medicine as a veterinary technician and manager since 1989.  She has worked with the VRCC Internal Medicine/Daytime Emergency Referral and Triage Service since 1991 and is the Practice Administrator for this department.  Lori graduated from Regis University completing a Bachelor Degree in Business Administration in 2007.   

Colleen Chambers, BS, CVT
Surgery

Colleen is a Colorado native and earned her Bachelor of Science degree at Colorado State University. She has three children and a lively yellow lab. After continuing her education and graduating from Bel-Rea, she worked for a veterinary emergency hospital in Greenwood Village.  Colleen has been with VSS since 1990 as a surgical technician and Practice Manager. She assisted Dr. Neely for many years and each year took on more of the business duties. Colleen co-chairs the YAPS (Youth and Pet Survivors) program. This program of the Animal Care Foundation, partners children and pets with cancer in a pen-pal relationship. Colleen is also the Outreach Coordinator and mission pilot participant for Lifeline Pilots. This organization assists patients and their families in getting free transportation to scheduled appointments and surgeries. The Colorado chapter of Lifeline Serves Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Montana and New Mexico.  In her spare time she enjoys mountain biking, road biking, hiking, kayaking, skiing, snowshoeing and golf.

Kim Hartman, MA, CVT
Ophthalmology

 Kim first came to know VRCC as a client after being referred to Veterinary Cancer Specialists with her Great Dane “Maggie”, in need of chemotherapy.   After many years of working in corporate positions for companies such as Citibank and Qwest, she decided to make a soul-filling career change into the veterinary field, influenced greatly by seeing the care and expertise “Maggie” received.  Kim became a VRCC employee in 2004 as a Technician Assistant and began coursework in a Veterinary Technology program.  She completed the A.A.S. degree in 2006 and is now a Certified Veterinary Technician.  Additionally, she now enjoys the opportunity of contributing to the Veterinary field by merging previous work experience with newly acquired veterinary clinical knowledge as the Practice Manager for Ophthalmology.  Kim and her husband Brian share their Lone Tree home with two previous VRCC blood donor cats, “Angel” and “Tizzy”, as well “Ki” a Shepherd mix and “Loki” a Belgian Terverun.

Christi Fabela
Oncology

 Christi grew up in the San Diego area loving the sunshine and beaches. She moved to Texas where she received her bachelor’s and met her husband of 13 years, Sean. The two moved to Colorado, started a construction company and began a family that now includes their two sons, two shih-tzus, a golden retriever, a boxer and a Siamese! Their free time is spent snowmobiling, camping, boating and of course the proverbial sports with the boys! Christi has been managing businesses since 1990 and is excited about learning about veterinary medicine while utilizing her skill set on the business end.