Reno Native Returns Home to Bring Veterinary Care to Underserved Families

Dr. Stephany Vasquez-Perez Launches Bilingual House Call Practice, One of Only Two Nevada Practices to Receive Practice Incubation Grant

SPARKS, NV, UNITED STATES, December 15, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- After years of practicing in Oregon, Dr. Stephany Vasquez-Perez, DVM, has returned to her Reno roots with a mission: to provide accessible, compassionate veterinary care to the diverse families of Reno/Sparks—especially those who face barriers to traditional clinic visits.

Dr. Vasquez-Perez is one of only two veterinarians in Nevada to receive a practice incubation grant from Petopia.org, due to generous funding by The Dave & Cheryl Duffield Foundation and Heal House Call Veterinarian. This two-year grant supports her commitment to serving vulnerable communities while creating a house call practice that's built to last, bringing veterinary care directly into the homes of families who need it most.

"House call veterinary medicine isn't just convenient—for many families, it's the difference between receiving care and going without," says Dr. Vasquez-Perez.

The Reno/Sparks region faces unique challenges in accessing veterinary care. According to the CDC, the Truckee Valley ranks among the nation's highest for transportation vulnerability, and with seniors comprising 36% of Nevada's population—approximately a quarter experiencing ambulatory difficulty—in-home veterinary care removes critical barriers to pet health services.

For many families, these barriers are compounded by language. Spanish-speaking households represent a significant portion of the population, and Dr. Vasquez-Perez's bilingual services directly address the communication gaps that often prevent families from understanding after-care instructions or possible care options when their pet has a health crisis.

"Being able to provide veterinary care in Spanish isn't just about translation—it's about cultural understanding, building trust, and ensuring that every family in Reno has equal access to quality veterinary medicine," Dr. Vasquez-Perez explains. "I'm here to serve as both a healthcare provider and a role model, showing that veterinary medicine welcomes and needs diverse voices."

Dr. Vasquez-Perez earned her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Oregon State University's Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine while raising her own family—an experience that shaped her understanding of the challenges diverse families face.

"Family is everything to me, and that value extends to how I practice veterinary medicine," she says. "I understand that pets are family, and I'm committed to treating them with the same care and respect I'd want for my own loved ones."

Now back in Reno with her husband, three children, and mother, Dr. Vasquez-Perez is surrounded by the extended family that drew her home.

Dr. Vasquez-Perez's Heal House Call Veterinarian practice offers comprehensive veterinary services for dogs, cats, and other companion animals. She has a particular passion for preventative care and dental health. Her services include wellness examinations with personalized vaccination protocols, diagnostic evaluations and evidence-based treatment, dental health assessments, behavioral consultations, pain management and hospice care, and compassionate end-of-life services in the comfort of home.

"My passion for veterinary medicine stems from my belief that every pet deserves individualized, compassionate care in their most comfortable environment—their home," she says. "The best medicine is often the care we provide before problems develop."

"This is exactly the kind of community-centered practice the veterinary profession needs," says Betsy Banks Saul, co-founder of Heal House Call Veterinarian and founder of Petfinder.com.

Heal House Call Veterinarian supports independently owned mobile veterinary practices like Dr. Vasquez-Perez's, handling business infrastructure so local veterinarians can focus on what they love most—healing pets.

Three out of four pets in vulnerable communities have never received veterinary care—a statistic that Dr. Vasquez-Perez's practice aims to change. This isn't Heal's first Reno initiative. Dr. Vasquez-Perez joins her colleague, Dr. Sarah Wilson, who was the first veterinarian in Nevada to receive a practice incubation grant, funded by PetSmart Charities through the SPCA of Northern Nevada.

That collaboration led to one of the nation's largest vaccination clinics in 2024, when Heal house call veterinarians from across the country traveled to Reno to join Dr. Wilson in support of SPCA of Northern Nevada's goals during a critical veterinary care shortage. Working alongside numerous community partners, over 700 pets were vaccinated and microchipped in a single day—a powerful demonstration of what's possible when veterinarians, animal welfare organizations, and communities unite to address access barriers.

Through Petopia.org's practice incubation program, funded by The Dave and Cheryl Duffield Foundation, Dr. Vasquez-Perez's two-year incubation grant provides financial support during the business start-up phase, prioritizing service to families experiencing insecurity. During this phase, Dr. Vasquez-Perez creates a practice that's built to last.

To schedule a house call visit or learn more, go to: healhousecall.com/svasquez

About Heal House Call Veterinarian
Heal House Call Veterinarian is the brainchild of Betsy Banks Saul, founder of Petfinder, Petfinder Foundation, and Petopia.org, and Erin O'Leary, DVM, creator of the original Heal mobile practice. Heal's mission is to empower independent veterinarians that crave a deeper relationship with pet parents, flexible schedules, and customer service support so that they can focus on the art of medicine, spending the majority of their time doing what they love—caring for pets. From its launch, Heal has raised the industry expectations for the treatment and empowerment of veterinarians, addressing key challenges including rapid corporatization, veterinarian shortages, financial stress from school loans, and the need for flexible scheduling. Heal's focus on lifestyle, work-life balance, and low barriers to practice ownership addresses these industry-wide challenges. http://www.healhousecall.com

About The Dave & Cheryl Duffield Foundation
The Dave & Cheryl Duffield Foundation is a private charitable foundation based in Incline Village, Nevada. The Duffields are also the founders of Maddie's Fund, a leading animal welfare foundation dedicated to revolutionizing the status and well-being of companion animals. While the Duffields are long-time benefactors of companion animal causes, the Foundation also allows them to focus their philanthropic efforts in other areas they are passionate about, including supporting military veterans and giving back to their local community. https://www.duffieldfoundation.org/

About Petopia.org
Three out of four pets in vulnerable communities have never seen a vet, even though veterinarians believe that all pets deserve care. Petopia helps veterinarians expand their care to vulnerable communities as part of their mission to promote community health by supporting healthy connections between humans, animals and environment and to reduce animal suffering by providing for access to veterinary care, promoting animal welfare and preserving open space through direct support, demonstration research, projects, marketing, and support services. Individuals can sponsor a veterinary visit with a donation as low as $10 by going to https://www.petopia.org/make-a-donation.

Betsy Banks Saul
Heal House Call Veterinarian
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