Palmyra area vet honored for dedicated career to farm animal health, welfare

The power of parental example can have a profound effect on a child’s life.

That certainly is true for Dr. Nanette “Nan” Hanshaw of Palmyra, who recently retired as chief of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s animal health division, Bureau of Animal Health and Diagnostic Services, after a career spanning nearly 26 years.

Hanshaw told LebTown during a recent interview at her home in North Londonderry Township that her career path was directly influenced by both of her parents – Harry Hanshaw, who owned a veterinary practice when she was a child, and Nancy Hanshaw, who had a deep love of animals.

“I grew up in an animal family where the animals come first, and then we had standardbreds. My dad got into them because he was a vet. It was all about the animals,” Hanshaw said. “I mean, that’s really all I knew. Didn’t do much of the stuff other kids did.”

Her mother wanted to be a veterinarian, according to Hanshaw, but times were different in the mid-1900s.

“Back then it was really hard to be a female and get into a vet school. There was only one other school at the time, so she just did all the support for him,” Hanshaw said. “I used to bring animals home from the clinic that had had surgery and needed to be kept warm and she’d stuff them under her sweatshirt and keep them warm.”

Hanshaw’s father ran Valley Animal Hospital out of their farm house when his practice was founded in the 1960s. Nan said she believed her father owned the business into the 1990s, when it was sold to the current owner. 

Valley Animal Hospital LLC is in the same building in the 500 block of East Ridge Road, North Londonderry Township, that was built by her father when he moved the practice from the family home into its own facility. 

“The kitchen was the treatment room, the dining room was the waiting room, and what’s now the laundry room were the kennels,” said Nan. “That was my life. I don’t remember the cows coming so much (to their home), but I think that’s a lot of why he built the clinic.”

The clinic, which is across the street from the family farm, included an area to treat livestock, she added.

“He had a large animal section. He had one of those really state-of-the-art tables at the time where he had stood the cow on them and you could hydraulically tip the cow up to work on its stomach to do surgery. That was pretty cool,” she said.

Hanshaw said she always knew what she wanted to do after she graduated from Palmyra Area High School. She attended Lebanon Valley College, like most of her family, and graduated in 1988 with a biology degree. She also received a doctor of veterinary medicine degree from North Carolina State University in 1998, and she worked several years at her father’s vet practice. 

“There was never any question about being with animals, and my whole family likes science,” she noted.

Hanshaw landed a job at the state ag department in 2000 and stayed with the agency until her retirement in early April. She rose through the ranks there during her tenure to become the chief of the animal division when she retired.

“At the department, it was mostly dealing with poultry and, of course, livestock. And the biggest trending I’ve seen is the link between public health and animal health,” she said. “So it’s called One Health now, the One Health Initiative, because so many diseases affect both man and animals.”

There was a particular focus recently on avian influenza given the most recent outbreak in 2022 that led to the destruction of 14.6 million chickens and turkeys in Pennsylvania over the past five years. 

When the disease became prevalent again across the commonwealth, Lancaster County was hit particularly hard. Lebanon County has had several reported outbreaks on local poultry farms, as previously reported by LebTown.

“The whole avian influenza now is that it can affect animals and in some cases humans. Most flus can move between species,” Hanshaw said. “Biosecurity is about teaching people how to try to keep disease out and away from their animals.”

There was a major emphasis at the department on educating producers about animal diseases like the avian flu. 

“Just with simple things like wearing clean boots when you go into your animals, keeping them clean. And that has also started transferring to the small animal side and the equine side as well. There are guidelines out there,” Hanshaw said. “The National Association of Public Health Veterinarians came out with guidelines on biosecurity in a clinic and just the same thing, keeping disease from spreading from animal to animal but also keeping humans safe.”

Fighting disease and illnesses in animals as a veterinarian is like being a sleuth, she said. 

“When I was in practice, just figuring out, it was like being a detective, figuring out what the problem was and making them better. You want to make them better for the animal and for the owner. And then at the department, just helping someone whose producers put their heart and soul into their animals,” Hanshaw said. “There are no easy days. There are no days off. There’s no late mornings. And just being able to help them navigate the regulations and help them get their animals on programs to keep them healthy.”

Raising awareness has especially been important with Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), or “high path AI,” which is a devastating viral disease affecting domestic poultry, wild birds and, increasingly, mammals such as dairy cattle. HPAI H5N1 strains cause rapid death rates, often near 100%, and are monitored by animal health officials to prevent widespread agricultural outbreaks.

“In the high path AI, it’s just so devastating to so many people. It was hard to watch. People who did everything the best they could, and the birds still got hit,” Hanshaw said. “They’re trying to feed us and take care of their families and it was hard.”

Retired now a few weeks, Hanshaw’s future plans are animal-centric. 

She is working to train Annie, her 4-year-old Portuguese water dog, to be a therapy animal. She also plans to volunteer at Supporting Paws Foundation, which is where she trains Annie.

“I’m keeping an open mind. I prefer to do as much as I can with Annie. What I’d like to do is get her used to things and get our local therapy dog group to be in the (Palmyra) holiday parade,” Hanshaw said. “Also looking for part-time, remote work, something with editing or technical writing. Just something that gives me a little more structure. But so far with Annie’s schedule, she keeps me pretty busy. She has quite the schedule on her calendar.”

Hanshaw said she has no regrets about retirement – even if she does miss her co-workers, who she said threw her a nice retirement party. 

Hanshaw was recently recognized with a citation from Gov. Josh Shapiro, a wooden plaque from PDA, and an award at the recent PennAg Industries Association’s banquet at the Lebanon Valley Exposition Center & Fairgrounds in North Cornwall Township.

At the banquet, Hanshaw was surprised since she had no idea that she was going to be honored. Speakers talked about her dedication and service to the industry. She noted in accepting the award that people shouldn’t be awarded for doing their jobs – even though she told LebTown she was grateful to be recognized by the association.

Meanwhile, she’s enjoying life post-retirement.  

“It’s been really nice, busy though. People don’t realize how much you can do or you have to do outside of work,” Hanshaw said. “I was a little worried because I’ve worked, started training horses for my dad when I was 9. That’s a long time to be working. But yeah, I am pretty much Annie’s transport now.”