Adapting, changing with the times
with a customer first focus
STORY BY MIKE ELSWICK | PHOTOS BY GINIA HOOPER
Dr. Mark Jousan is right where he wants
to be.
With a life-long love of animals
and of his native Shelby County, the owner of
Shelby Veterinary Associates is following a lifeplan
of being able to both work in Shelby County
and raise a family here.
“I was never one who had the desire to stray
too far away,” he says. Jousan grew up in the
Joaquin area on a farm where animals were a part
of his family’s every day routine.
“It was just something I wanted to do,” Jousan
says. “I had my goal set for that and never really
ventured out to look for other opportunities.”
Participating in 4-H and FFA as a youngster,
he both honed that affection for animals and
expanded his understanding of both livestock and
the role four-legged creatures have in enhancing
a human’s quality of life.
“I don’t ever remember wanting to do
anything else,” he says. “We had show calves
while I was growing up, cats and dogs, horses and
about every kind of animal you could think of on
the farm.”
After graduating from Joaquin High School,
Jousan headed off to Texas A&M University
where he completed enough prerequisite hours
in three years of undergraduate work to enter
Texas A&M’s College of Veterinary Medicine &
Biomedical Sciences.
“While working on my undergraduate hours
I was able to work as a technician for a couple
of years,” Jousan says. “And, growing up, I had
experience with lots of animals. One thing just led
to another.”
Four years later, in 2005 he graduated as a
Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, with job offers
from across the state, from Gilmer in Northeast
Texas and Central Texas all the way out to far
West Texas. When Dr. Wayne Kyle, then the
owner of Shelby Veterinary Associates, offered
him an opportunity to work in Shelby County,
Jousan says it did not take long to make a
decision.
“That was the clinic I used while growing up
for show calves, dogs and other animals,” he says.
“I came back home at spring break time to visit
him and see how he was doing and he said, ‘hey,
you want to come back and work?’ I said sure.”
He came back to Shelby County and kicked
off this career. Five years later he purchased the
clinic and has been the proprietor since 2010.
While at A&M, he met his future wife, Kristin.
The two were married in 2007 and have three
children; Landree, 8; Luke, 6, and
Lakelee, 4.
“They also share my love for
animals with us showing chickens and
Simbrah heifers,” Jousan says. The
children all go to Center schools.
Kristin is from Crockett and
was also raised on a farm where her family grew
cotton. Up until this fall she has been a stay-athome
mom, but now is a new teacher at Center
ISD’s F.L. Moffett Primary campus starting this
school year.
“She’s really looking forward to teaching,”
he says.
While Jousan loves his work, his family is
also a top priority. Aside from getting through
the pandemic in recent months, he said among
the largest challenges he has faced has been in
seeking a good “work-life balance” between the
job and his family.
“In the beginning it was hard to tell people
no,” Jousan says. “Just working to keep that worklife
balance and spend time with those three kids
who are going to grow up way too fast — I want
them to know their dad was not just a vet, I want
them to know he was a dad.”
That same challenge faces many people in
the medical field, and those working to start a
business, who may have issues which come up on
nights, weekends, holidays and the wee hours of
the morning.
“I think that’s the biggest thing when you’re
trying to start your own business in any venture, is
just trying to find that work-life balance to where
you can sustain yourself and sustain your family
and still maintain a viable business,” he says.
Challenging times
While life on the farm and years of working
as a vet prepared him for many of the challenges
he and his staff face on a routine basis, nothing
has prepared them for the arrival of the COVID-19
pandemic.
About the same time Texas Gov. Greg
Abbott’s this past spring issued executive orders
putting social gathering and social distancing
rules in place, effectively shutting down many
businesses and even churches, Shelby Veterinary
Associates shifted gears in a big way.
“We just feel blessed that we were deemed
essential and were able to work through this,”
Jousan said. Several clients are veterans who
have post traumatic stress disorders and he serves
many others who rely on their pets for emotional
AT A GLANCE
WHAT:
Shelby Veterinary
Associates —
a full service
animal hospital
WHO:
Locally Owned
and Operated by
Dr. Mark Jousan, DVM
WHERE:
407 Moffett Drive
Center, TX 75935
WHEN:
Monday – Friday
8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
PHONE:
(936) 598-3423
WEBSITE:
shelbyvets.com
FACEBOOK:
@Shelby-Veterinary-
Associates
Business MATTERS | 2020 Fall Edition 5