Meet Our Team

The idea of wanting to be a veterinarian started at a very young age for Dr. Linkenheimer. He attended Edinboro University and received a Bachelors in Biology degree and a secondary education teaching certification. He received his doctor of veterinary medicine (DVM) degree from Mississippi State University in 1995.
He worked emergency medicine for 5 years. His dream of opening his own practice was fulfilled in 2000, when River Valley Veterinary Hospital opened its doors.
Dr. Linkenheimer and his family are controlled by four dogs, Sam and Ella (Katrina rescues), Piper and Jewel, two sisters from West Virginia, along with two rescue cats, Peek-a-boo and Bob and multiple fish. He loves collecting eclectic music for his 1990’s Ipod, reading and cooking.

Dr. honse grew up in rural North Mississippi and attended veterinary school at Mississippi State University.

She has been with River Valley for more than 8 years, and truly enjoys her job, her patients & her clients. She has a special interest in soft tissue surgery and senior pets.

Dr. Honse lives on a hobby farm with her son, Ryan, 3 cats, 2 mules, 1 horse and 1 angry bird. She enjoys trail riding her mules, gardening, going to the beach and spending time with her family.

Where did you grow up? – Gibsonia PA, North of Pittsburgh.
Education? – University of Pittsburgh Graduated 2020 from their undergraduate business program.
What was your first job? – I worked at Wendy’s when I was 16 then worked as a personal trainer for first 2 years of college.
What made you choose this profession? – The passion I have for helping clients and their animals.
Why did you start with River Valley and greatest accomplishments there? -I started working at river valley because I saw that my parents needed help in brining them up to speed with the new technology. I helped them modernize our systems and now we are able to grow exponential and compete with the corporate businesses.
What is something unique about you that most people don’t know? – favorite hobbies are lifting and working on my truck.
What do you find most rewarding at River Valley? – Seeing smiling faces on clients when we help them get the care they deserve and receiving complements that this is the best experience and vet hospital they have ever been to.
Goals for the future. – Continue to grow in my position and hopefully open this place up to be a 24/7 emergency clinic.

Dawn grew up in Mulkeytown, a rural area in Southern Illinois.

She attended Christopher Community High School and her first job was as a dishwasher at a local cafe.

As a child living in the country, Dawn always had a love of the surrounding wildlife and occasional stray animal that was dumped by people in the local towns. As a result, She was always interacting with wildlife and her family never went without a dog. Animals became a huge part of Dawn’s life and over the years developed the necessary skills to approach and handle them.

Dawn sought out employment at River Valley after moving to Pennsylvania. The location in Springdale is a nice area and upon entering the facility she knew this was the kind of place where she could feel comfortable and appreciated. Having not been here long, Dawn’s greatest accomplishment has been interacting with the clientele as a receptionist. Her previous background in this field had my focus on the animals themselves.

Dawn enjoys editing photography. Photo manipulation is a way to create art from something that we would normally take for granted.

The greatest reward working at River Valley is knowing that the sick or injured animal scheduled is on it’s way to recovery.

Dawn’s future goal is to be capable of navigating reception and technician to show my full potential at River Valley.

Becky decided to rejoin the workforce when her daughter started her senior year of high school. She joined the River Valley Veterinary Hospital family in 2013 as their receptionist and could not be happier with her decision. Her favorite part of the job is listening to clients’ wonderful pet stories! Becky resides on a small farm with her family and they share their lives with two dogs, three cats, a large host of farm animals.
When she isn’t tending to clients’ needs here at the clinic, Becky enjoys spending time with her family, talking with friends on the phone, watching her favorite TV shows, and traveling.

What better way to satisfy her love of animals, than to work at a veterinary hospital? Bretta joined our team at River Valley Veterinary Hospital in August of 2007. Bretta serves as one of River Valley Veterinary Hospital’s veteran Customer Care Specialists.

Bretta strives to make sure all our patient’s needs have been met. She particularly likes  gretting the clinic’s four legged visitors in the lobby with a treat.

In her time away from work, Bretta likes to camp and spend time in the great outdoors. She mostly enjoys chilling with family and friends around a good fire.

Bretta has three children and is G-Ma to two little cuties. Her home is made up of a trio of trouble-making Labradors.

Lauren has always adored the company of animals, and she knew that she’d like to use her passion in a meaningful way to impact others. Here at River Valley Veterinary Hospital, she’s able to better the lives of pets and their owners daily as a Veterinary Technician and the Front Office Manager! Lauren joined the River Valley Veterinary family in the fall of 2007; she was thrilled to learn upon interviewing that she would be cross-trained as a Technician! Now, Lauren is able to use her skill set every day to make every patient as comfortable as possible. She makes it her personal mission to ensure that every visitor to the clinic — furry and otherwise — feels welcome.
Outside of work, Lauren enjoys spending time with her family, especially traveling to Ocean City with her husband, two daughters and stepsons. At home, the family is rounded out by Maddi, an English bulldog, and a tiny little terror named Boots.

Linda has wanted to put her time and effort toward the betterment of animals for as long as she can remember—she prides herself on her listening skills, and loves being able to problem-solve and find solutions for the area’s pet owners! Linda serves as the General Manager of River Valley Veterinary Services. Linda first joined the hospital team in 2006, when she signed on as a Veterinary Technician, and was promoted to the General Manager position in the summer of 2014. When she’s not assisting a veterinarian, you can find Linda managing her talented staff, ordering supplies, and making sure the clinic is functioning smoothly in order to best serve the area’s animal parents. In her time away from work, Linda enjoys landscaping, gardening, vacationing, and spending time with her own pets. She lives with two dogs, Phantom and Oliver, as well as a pair of cats named Mr. Kitters and Biff.

Tara has always loved working with animals since she was a little girl. Tara is currently going to Penn foster to become a certified vet tech.

Her favourite dog breed is a German Sheperd. Tara worked in a ER pet hospital for 3 years and enjoyed it. She also completed her intership at the ER hospital.

Tara joined the River Valley Veterinary Hospital team in 2022 and she loves how much compassion and dedication the team gives to pet owners. Tara is amazed how far veterinary medicine has come. 

When it comes  to client’s pets, Tara will treat them like her own.

Growing up, Alexis’ mother always told her that she was meant to work with animals. She could not see her taking any other career path. Alexis started out at community college soon realizing she had more to offer in life, she applied and was accepted into Vet Tech Institute of Pittsburgh and through hard work and compassion she graduated in February 2019. As the newest addition to River Valley, Alexis enjoys hearing clients tell her how special their pets are to them while assuring them they are just as special to us. She also enjoys knowing that she is assisting in the well being of your pet. Alexis grew up in Sarver and lives with her mom and brother. Their household is shared with a 1 ½ year old Siberian Husky named Aleu who is quite sassy and talkative. In her free time, Alexis enjoys playing volleyball, hiking, horseback riding and spending time with her grandparents.

Nessa has had love for animals since she was a young child and that love has only grown with time and she knew she wanted to make a difference in the lives of animals. Nessa started with River Valley Veterinary Hospital in 2019 and became the Client Experience Specialist in May of 2022.

Nessa enjoys fostering with a few local rescues in late 2019 and has helped dozens of animals finid their fur-ever homes since! Nessa and her husband Tim are a blended family and share 5 boys, in addition to their boys, they have a small zoo of dogs and cats and you’ll often find a foster animal(or a few) mixed in!

Nessa enjoys travelling with her family and visiting the ocean any chance she gets in addition to being outdoords, swimming, hiking and spending time with family and friends.