Meet Our Care Team!

Christy J. Boris, BS, CVT

Christy has been at Gardner Animal Care Center since 2002 but has been in the field of veterinary medicine since 1991. Prior to coming to Gardner Animal Care Center, Christy worked at a small animal hospital in her hometown of Keene, NH as an assistant hospital manager. She is a member of the Massachusetts Veterinary Technician Association where she serves as the organization’s corresponding secretary. In October 2012 she was awarded the MVTA Veterinary Technician of the Year. She is also a member of the National Association of Veterinary Technicians in America. She is married and has two cats: Simon Theodore Boris and Gideon Dillinger Boris. She likes anything athletic (especially trail running- she ran her first 60-mile race in October of 2014) and is a hardcore #3 Dale Earnhardt fan!

Kim Richard, CVT

Kim graduated from Becker Jr. College with an Associate’s Degree in Science specializing in Veterinary Medicine. Upon graduation, she started employment at Framingham Animal Hospital. Kim then moved to sunny San Diego, CA, and worked at El Cajon Rancho Veterinary Clinic. She then moved to Monterey and worked at Pacific Grove Animal Hospital. When she returned to Gardner, Kim finally took employment at Gardner Animal Care Center in 1989. Many years and many changes later, she still enjoys her technician job thoroughly.

Lynn Kelley, CVT

Lynn graduated from Becker College in 2008 with an Associate of Science Degree in Veterinary Technology. Shortly thereafter, she passed the veterinary technician national exam and became a certified veterinary technician. She also earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Worcester State College in 2004.

Lynn joined the Gardner Animal Care Center team in July 2008, and prior to that worked as a veterinary technician in a non-profit animal shelter. Lynn has loved animals from a very young age and can’t imagine herself in any other occupation. She enjoys volunteering at feral cat spay and neuter clinics and doing her part in controlling pet overpopulation.

In her spare time, Lynn enjoys camping, traveling, music, collecting books, and being with family and friends. She shares her home with two dogs – a Cairn Terrier named Reese, and a Beagle that (sometimes) answers to Dale.

Haley Boucher, CVT

Haley studied at Becker College in the Animal Science Program, graduated in 2013 and became a CVT (certified veterinary technician) not long after. Prior to joining the GACC team, Haley completed her externship hours here and had a such a great experience she was thrilled to be called back as a permanent member of the team. Since early childhood, she has had a love for animals and always knew that working with them is what she wanted to do. Haley lives in New Hampshire with her boyfriend and three dogs, a sheltie mix named Beetle, a Pomeranian mix named Binckley, and a Chihuahua mix named Oliver. In her spare time, she enjoys yoga, running, hiking, and spending time with her friends and family.

Joel T. Powers, CVT, RN

(November 15, 1984 – March 7, 2010)

Gone, but never forgotten.

Linda Laffond

Linda has been a member of the Gardner Animal Care Center since 2004. Prior to her coming to GACC, Linda worked as a Veterinary Technician at a domestic and wildlife clinic in Wickford, RI. She was also a boarding manager and veterinary assistant at a small animal hospital in Jacksonville, FL. Her compassion for animals is obvious to the owners and team members. A lot of her time is spent counseling our clients on the importance of healthy nutrition and weight management. Outside of the hospital, Linda spends much of her time outdoors biking, hiking, or enjoying road trips. She has 3 rescue cats, Alice, Moonpie, and Reese.

April Llewelyn, GACC Manager

When April was about eight years old, she decided to become a dog groomer. This decision was largely influenced by her desire to work with animals. She has always had a strong love for animals. After graduating from a culinary arts program, she went on to Becker College and enrolled in the animal care/grooming program. She also took canine massage classes at the Spencer School of Massage. April has worked for a kennel, grooming facility, and other veterinary offices before finding herself at the Gardner Animal Care Center. After many years of hard work and dedication, she now heads the department of our Client Service Representatives.

April was born in Gardner, Massachusetts. Her family moved frequently starting when April was four. She has lived in numerous parts of Massachusetts – Winchendon, Royalston, Athol, Orange, Colrain, Greenfield, Ashfield, Amherst, Hubbardston and Gardner – and has had the chance to enjoy the many cultures of Massachusetts.

April was married in April 2006 to her husband, Bruce. In 2007, they welcomed their daughter, Morgan, to the family. Their house is protected by one cat and four dogs. When not working, you can find her roller skating, ice skating, bowling, watching movies, enjoying dinner and spending time with her family.

Jennifer LaFleur

From as far back as Jennifer can remember, she had a great love for animals. Her first pet was a hamster named Fluff-a-Nutter. Since him, things have gotten a little crazy. She loves to foster and care for animals of all kinds.

Jennifer was born in Germany and moved to the United States when she was three. She spent her childhood in Fitchburg and Lunenburg. She attended Monty Tech where she took four years of culinary arts classes. Jennifer had a pet mouse that lived in her locker there – the teachers never knew! She would even take him to classes with her in her purse. After she graduated high school, she began working at Twin City Animal Hospital and has been working at animal hospitals ever since.

Jennifer lives in Winchendon with her husband, Randy, daughter, Rachael, and son, Zachary. Their home is owned by LOTS of pets! It’s a lot of work but she would not change a thing. Life is good!

Michelle Bourdages

Michelle started working as a client services representative in September 2015. She lives with her two cats, Merlin and Max, and her two dogs, Rosey and Ginger. She has a degree in commercial art and design. Michelle was self-employed for nine years as a nail technician. Prior to joining us, she also took an online course for medical transcription. Her hobbies include gardening, painting, stained glass, and crafting.

Kasey Quinones

Kasey started at the Gardner Animal Care Center in 2014. Kasey went to school in South Carolina for business management while serving four years in the United States Air Force. After her enlistment, she returned to Massachusetts and was married shortly after. She and her husband have three boys that keep them very busy! When Kasey was about 7-years-old she witnessed a stray cat deliver a litter of kittens. Since then she knew she wanted to do something that involved animals. She believes working for a veterinarian is a great way to provide customer service which she loves doing and also being around animals all day.

In her free time, Kasey likes spending time with her family and being outdoors. She is also a big baseball fan. You can usually find Kasey at the local baseball field watching her kids play. At home, Kasey has two American Bullies named Vayda and Brix and a cat named Kiki.

Gina Cuzzi, Supervisor

Gina has been with Gardner Animal Care Center as an ACT since April 2015. She is currently attending Mount Wachusett in the Allied Health Program. At an early age, Gina knew she wanted to work in either the human or animal healthcare field. Gina lives in a small town in New Hampshire with her family, boyfriend and two dogs, Molly and Xena. Molly is a very chubby and friendly chihuahua mix. Xena thinks she’s a lap dog but is actually a Great Dane/Cane Corso mix.

Gina enjoys photographing her dog Xena as well as all the fantastic daycare dogs. In her spare time, you won’t find Gina without her shadow, Xena. The two love to go on walks, hikes, and swimming.

Kolby Ross

Animal Care Technician

Kolby has been with the Gardner Animal Care Center as an ACT since May 2018. She is currently going to school at Mount Wachusett Community College for her degree in Veterinary Technology. Before applying to the Vet Tech program, she completed five semesters at Fitchburg State University studying Business Management. 

Kolby has a Chocolate Lab named Owen and a puppy nephew named Niko who is a Lab Mix; she spends a lot of her free time with them. Kolby has always had a love for animals as well as caring for them and has always wanted to work in the Veterinary field. Kolby loves working at the Gardner Animal Care Center and can’t wait to finally become a Veterinary Technician! 

Grooming is provided by Woof Wagon!

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Claudia Romard Hofmann, CPDT-KA

Claudia is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT-KA) with more than 30 years of experience in dog training and canine behavior modification. Claudia is originally from Germany where she started training dogs competitively at the young age of 14, competed in the sport of Schutzhund in Regional and National Level competitions, taught pet obedience classes since the early 90s and after she moved into the US in 2002 she immediately started to do the same here; personally her biggest success as a dog trainer and handler was her “Vice National Schutzhund Champion” title in 2006.

In 2007 we were fortunate to add Claudia to our team, and she has been teaching classes ever since. Claudia teaches on Saturdays only as her “real job” as an Assistant Manager in a Bank requires her attention Monday through Friday. Along with standard training classes, Claudia specializes in problem behavior dogs and finding individualized solutions to address these problems.

Claudia is passionate about all dogs and her main objective is to help our clients learn to understand their individual dogs better, based upon the dogs own characteristics and tendencies that might differ from other dogs in the class. Her teaching style is based on canine behavior science and transparency in its approach. Her classes are not “cookie-cutter,” everyone receives the same basic training, but the pace and detailed technique are dependent on the individual needs of the team. Claudia’s strives to create a respectful and trusting relationship and the bond between human and dog.

Many employee pets, including Dr. Mike’s and Dr. Brian’s dogs, have been through her classes with great success.

Claudia’s favorite breed has been the German Shepherd Dog and her Kennel name “van Gogh” is world known. Claudia and her son share their home with a 13-year-old sable GSD and a 6-year-old rescued Pitbull-Mix who is a certified Therapy Dog.

Karen Rich CPDT-KA

Karen is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT-KA) who hosts obedience classes on weeknights and evenings here at the GACC. She is a CGC and PUPPY S.T.A.R evaluator for the American Kennel Club (AKC) and a SPOT evaluator for the United Kennel Club (UKC). Karen teaches Advanced Canine Good Citizen classes and Therapy Dog Training classes in our 3,000 sq. ft. indoor training facility. She also teaches Puppy Preschool, Puppy Obedience, and Basic Obedience classes in the same facility on weeknight evenings throughout the year. She is certified in all levels of dog obedience training and has been instrumental in helping many dogs at GACC achieve advanced levels in Canine Good Citizenship, as well as going on to become therapy dogs. She is dedicated to helping dogs fit well into our society through behavior training.

Since 1998, Karen has been active in the area of animal-assisted therapy (AAT). Her background in psychiatry and education equipped her to move into this field and to become an educator, as well as a tester/observer for the Alliance of Therapy Dogs. Many of her students have gone on to actively visit hospitals, nursing homes, schools, libraries, and senior centers, bringing joy and hope to others. Karen and her dog, Mya, are very active in the community, visiting several medical facilities each week. Mya has made well over 650 therapeutic visits, and has reached the highest title of therapy dogs that the AKC awards- “Distinguished Therapy Dog.” Mya can be seen acting as a “demo” dog and assistant in some of GACC’s obedience classes as well.

Karen has a particular interest in the early socialization of dogs and strengthening the human-animal bond. She is GACC’s dog behavioral instructor for the GACC Daycare team. She is currently supervised by three cats, two Golden Retrievers, and a German Shepherd Dog, who bring her much happiness, keep her on her toes, and teach her new things all the time!