Blue Springs Chamber Awards $5K for Innovative Business Idea

The Blue Springs Chamber of Commerce has awarded $5,000 to veterinarian Charity Vuagniaux of AniMed Animal Clinic in Blue Springs to be trained in animal acupuncture.

Vuagniaux won the award by defeating five other small businesses in the chamber’s recent innovation competition for the best new idea to improve a Blue Springs business. Entries were judged by business school students from the University of Missouri’s Trulaske School of Business and Park University.

Vuagniaux will use the $5,000 to become certified in animal acupuncture through the University of Colorado in Boulder. After completing online coursework, she will spend a week on campus next April taking hands-on classes and a final exam.

“These days it’s very competitive in the veterinary world, and you need to stand out,” Vuagniaux said. “There are very few veterinary acupuncturists in this area, and there is none in Blue Springs. I wanted to stand out by doing something different that’s going to be helpful.”

Ultimately, Vuagniaux said, it’s about offering viable choices to pet owners.

“At a certain point, some pain medicines stop helping, or they don’t help enough,” she said. “So you may have to combine medicine with acupuncture. And there are times when certain medicines make dogs or cats sick. So acupuncture is a great option.”

Acupuncture can also help rabbits, guinea pigs, birds, reptiles, ferrets and other exotic animals that are treated at AniMed Animal Clinic.

“Not every clinic sees those exotic animals,” Vuagniaux said.

After her acupuncture training is paid for, “the actual needles to do the acupuncture are pretty inexpensive,” she said. “So there’s not a lot of other cost to start up.”