Greetings animal loving angels of the world! We hope you are enjoying the wonderful weather and making happy memories with your beloved animals. We are honored as your veterinary team to be able to help make more of those happy times possible. I am truly humbled and grateful to all of our wonderful clients who truly appreciate us, are considerate when we have emergencies, and are kind to us even when it’s sometimes not so easy. Thank you, thank you, thank you. You, and the miracles we see everyday are the things that keep us going, like the Bernese Mountain dog with a brain tumor who with our holistic supplements is living her best life 2 years longer than expected and still going strong.
Now seems like a good time to remind animal owners in our community, that, if you love your animals like family, please love and appreciate your veterinary team, too! As you may or may not know, we are still, post COVID, in a severe shortage in our profession, of both veterinarians and veterinary support staff. Veterinary colleges have increased class sizes, and brought new vet schools online, but it will still take several more years for those new graduates to be licensed to practice and help alleviate the shortage. So many people who want to work at a vets office, seem to think that all veterinary personnel do all day is cuddle puppies and kittens. This is what I have seen is one of the primary reasons for high turn-over in our profession, as this is truly a hospital, where we have to have consistent attention to detail, double check every word on hundreds of prescriptions labels for accuracy, keep track of countless details, and answer multitudes of questions from anxious pet owners who expect answers to their concerns immediately, no matter how many animals we have in the back room that might be bleeding to death in that same moment.
It is a rewarding career, but it is also stressful and requires a tremendous amount of integrity, compassion, and willingness to have difficult conversations with people, even under extreme pressure. We do it because we love it. But it’s not easy. There is a high rate of suicide and mental health issues among veterinarians. So today I implore you, that if you love your animals, love your veterinary team working so hard to help keep them healthy! Before COVID we often got gifts of flowers, candy, Starbucks gift cards, bagels, and sweet notes from clients thanking us for our work, especially during the holidays. Since COVID, everyone seems more demanding, stressed, strapped with finances, quicker to leave negative reviews and less appreciative than in years past. No wonder we have mental health issues in the profession!
Not to worry, we at Aspen Park Vet are not going anywhere, we are tough cookies and we can handle the pressures whether we get gifts and kudos or not. We are penultimate professionals and will always do our best every day no matter how stressful the days get. It just seemed like a good time to remind the community just how hard my entire team works, every single day, to provide the outstanding care you come to expect.
With another veterinary practice in the community providing less service due to many of the factors listed above, it is bound to get tougher for those in the profession, before it gets easier. And then when those new vets and vet techs do graduate, we will all have to be patient with them as they learn the ropes of real life day to day practice. So I don’t see the pressures of the veterinary industry lightning up any time soon. It’s a good thing we don’t mind working hard!
In conclusion, this is not a complaint, simply an opportunity to remind us all to be kind to each other. We all went through a lot during COVID, and life will never be the same in all industries. Now just seems like a good time to take stock in everything that is going right, how far we have come since those scary dark times, and how it’s time for us to not only survive, but thrive, with our animal friends. Our life is ours to make of it what we wish. And I wish for you all to have so much joy, happiness, and health, for both yourselves, your families, and your animal friends. And if myself and my team at Aspen Park Vet Hospital can assist you in that journey, we are honored to play a small part. Thank you to all of our wonderful clients, and we have many, who do clearly appreciate us and our dedication! You are the ones who give us the strength and courage to carry on, even on the most difficult days. We appreciate you! And of course, the opportunity to cuddle and love on your precious pets, and share in the joy they bring to the world, including ours.
Thank you all, and God bless! DrQ and the Crew of Aspen Park Vet and the ResqRanch.