Animal Health Solution - a Henry Schein Animal Health magazine for veterinary professionals
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1351441
What do you do to give back to your community? As a veterinary clinic, we treat our local police canines. But we try to go beyond just providing veterinary care for these local heroes. Every year we do an angel tree for the police dogs to make sure that they get new toys to help keep them entertained. We also have created and maintain a donation fund for the retired K9s, as once they are retired, the handlers and new owners are responsible for their veterinary care. As working dogs, these dogs can have greater requirements into retirement than a typical pet does, and veterinary care can get expensive. We believe that just because they are retired, doesn't mean that they shouldn't receive the same wonderful care as they did when they were on active duty. We try to do everything we can to make sure that these dogs are well cared for throughout the remaining years they have. In addition to taking care of the police dogs, we host several volunteers and students throughout the year. As a team, we try to do everything we can to help educate individuals that are interested in becoming veterinary professionals or just want to know more about the profession. Giving people insight into the profession will only help to better veterinary medicine. What is the most challenging thing about your job? One of the most challenging aspects of the job is the more difficult cases and sick pets. As a general practice, we see a lot of our patients from the time they are puppies until they are senior pets. Watching a pet grow through its life, and helping to take care of allows us to form bonds with both the pets and the owners. But when the time comes to help a pet cross the rainbow bridge, because we have been lucky enough to create those bonds, it is difficult to not only lose the pet but to see the grief the owners are dealing with as well. We have become friends with a good majority of our clients, and seeing someone you care for hurting is never easy. What is the most rewarding part of your job? One of the most rewarding parts of my job is the ability to educate others. Whether it is educating the clients on the best care for their pets, and making sure they have all the tools they need to properly care for their pets or helping people who are new to the profession learn and grow, I absolutely love to teach people. As a manager, passing on the knowledge I have gained over the years to those who are just out of school creates a sense of pride in the work that I do. I also love to continue learning. Veterinary medicine is a constantly changing field, and there is always something new to learn about. For anyone just entering the veterinary profession, what advice would you give them? Learn everything you can. Never stop trying to learn and grow. If you are faced with something you don't have enough information about, there are resources to help you. Try to make as many connections in the veterinary field as possible. You never know who might be the one person that can change everything for you. And finally, take care of yourself. Veterinary medicine is both physically and mentally draining. It is okay to create boundaries and not push yourself beyond those boundaries. If you don't take care of yourself, then you won't be able to take care of your patients. What are you most excited for in 2021? 2021 has a lot of potential for change in the veterinary field. With the challenges that we faced in 2020, we can only go up from here. We've seen a lot of negative changes over the last year with the stress that people have been dealing with in the day-to- day changes that have occurred due to the pandemic. I think now, we can finally start focusing on how we are going to make this better. The world has been changed forever, and the veterinary profession has a big job to do to figure out how to adapt to the changes moving forward. I believe that we are going to see a lot of new innovations and changes in 2021 that will help better veterinary medicine for everyone. 19 April 2021 | Product and Promotions Guide