PRESSURE from above
Animal welfare continues improving with demands from buyers
By Greg Cima
When livestock are brought to a slaughter plant today, they are less agitated, less often shocked with prods, and more likely to have a humane death than they were prior to the late 1990s, according to Temple Grandin, PhD.
She saw the greatest change in late 1999 and early 2000, when she worked to implement animal welfare auditing programs at slaughter plants that supplied McDonald's and Wendy's.
“I saw more change happen in a six-month period than I had seen in my entire 25-year career prior to that time,” she said. She credited that shift to the desires of large retailers, which told their suppliers to fix welfare problems.
In the 2006 paper “Why Should I Know About Animal Welfare Audits,” Susan D. Eicher with the Livestock Behavior Research Unit of the Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service, indicated such retail companies initiated animal welfare audits and increased welfare standards starting in 1999 in response to activist campaigns, particularly the “McCruelty,” “Murder King,” and “Wicked Wendy's” campaigns by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
Dr. Grandin, who is a professor of animal science at Colorado State University, designer of livestock handling facilities, and author of animal welfare standards for the American Meat Institute Foundation, said conditions today at meatpacking plants typically support good welfare, and improvements continue even though some animals arrive at the plants in poor condition. Those animals often are old, lame, heat-stressed, or, when they are unaccustomed to close contact with humans, wild with fear, she said.
Just as retailers used their purchasing power to pressure meatpackers to meet the retailers’ welfare standards, Dr. Grandin expects that packers and processors will press for changes at the supplier farms.
“There's going to be some pressure going back down the chain,” she said.
As that pressure has been coming down—from consumers to retailers to packers to farms—those buying meat and milk have been requiring suppliers to participate in a mix of programs intended to improve animal welfare.
Internal and external controls
In October 2012, Tyson Foods announced that the company was starting the Tyson FarmCheck Program to “personally audit the treatment of animals at the livestock and poultry farms that supply the company,” starting with some of the 3,000 farms that supply the company's pork. In the announcement, CEO Donnie Smith said the company knows consumers want assurances their food is produced responsibly, and he expects the audits will verify that Tyson's 12,000 livestock and poultry farmers are “the best in the world.”
“But, if we find problems, we want them fixed right away,” he said.
When the Humane Society of the United States announced in May 2012 that a member working at a Wyoming farm secretly recorded video of farm workers kicking and punching pigs, it also prominently stated that the farm was a Tyson Foods supplier. The HSUS also encouraged people to contact Tyson to discourage buying from that farm.
Dr. Jennifer B. Walker, director of dairy stewardship for Dean Foods, said her company wants to develop an animal welfare program that demonstrates dairy cow welfare is improving. Such a program ideally could be used throughout the dairy industry, rather than give one company a competitive advantage, she said.
But she also said it is unfair to expect that the best producers will carry the water for those uninterested in doing what is best for the dairy industry
“We can't afford to do business with people who don't understand our commitment and aren't committed to the same values we are, and that's a matter of choosing good people to do business with,” Dr. Walker said. “And so, if a farm doesn't meet our expectations in that regard and isn't willing to try, then I think they will find themselves limited in their market access.
“They may have markets with somebody else, but again, folks who have a brand at stake can't afford to do business with those who want to put us at risk.”
Kathi Brock, director of the American Humane Association's Humane Heartland welfare audit program, said Americans are increasingly asking not only whether food is produced under conditions they accept but also whether the auditors backing the food producers are credible. Retailers are increasingly demanding that farms submit to third-party welfare audits.
“They do not want to have a recall based on poor health in a herd or flock, and they assume that (with) the credibility of the American Humane Association, putting our name and our legacy behind the label, that they can be assured,” she said.
Some “major” retailers considering participation likely will need about two years to meet the standards, Brock said.
“But what they have said is, ‘The way we are doing things is not ethically correct, it's not scientifically verified, and it's socially unacceptable, and we're not going to be able to continue to do business that way,’” she said.
Because of the cost of participating in the United Egg Producers Certified program, fewer egg producers likely would seek certification if fewer retail and food service companies required it, according to Gene Gregory, who was president and CEO of the UEP until Jan. 1.
“On the other hand, we also know that there are producers that are so proud of the fact that they have implemented this program that they would say to you, ‘We would never go back to where we were before, even if we didn't have to do this,’” Gregory said.
Gregory noted that the UEP program has been endorsed by restaurant and grocery trade organizations, and 85 percent of eggs produced in the U.S. come from participating farms.
Birds owned by participants look and live better as well as produce more eggs, Gregory said. He has seen improvement, for example, as many egg producers have installed conveyor belts that catch and remove hen manure, preventing it from falling onto other birds and improving air quality.
“It made a major difference in the housing and welfare of the birds,” Gregory said.
Owner education
In addition to third-party audit programs, other welfare-related educational and industry benchmarking programs are being voluntarily adopted by farms or required by meatpackers and milk processors.
About 70 percent of milk produced in the U.S. comes from dairies participating in the National Milk Producers Federation's Farmers Assuring Responsible Management program, the organization announced in March 2013. Betsy Flores, senior director of animal health and welfare for the NMPF, said the program primarily gives retailers assurances from cooperatives and processors, which use program data to show what practices are used by their suppliers.
The program was started in 2009, and Flores said data collected so far have provided a baseline rather than shown whether participation is connected with improvements. But the data point to some areas where dairies could improve, she said, citing the 2013 annual report that indicates only 68 percent of participating dairies applied antiseptic on calf navels after birth, and only 80 percent had established veterinarian-client-patient relationships.
“As farms go back for that second evaluation within the program, that's when we'll start seeing whether or not we're having an impact on improving animal care on the farms,” Flores said.
Sherrie Niekamp, director of animal welfare for the Pork Checkoff program of the National Pork Board, said most major meatpackers in the pork industry are requiring that swine producers participate in the Pork Quality Assurance Plus certification program. The program is intended to identify needed industry improvements, and advisers who perform site assessments tell producers how their farms compare with expectations and what areas could be liabilities.
Dr. Lisa M. Tokach, a member of the AVMA Animal Welfare Committee and the American Association of Swine Veterinarians Pig Welfare Committee, said the PQA program gives those who embrace it tools to improve welfare and operations. For example, she has shown farm employees that they can move swine through barns and onto trucks more quickly and without electric prods by changing lighting and bringing five or six through at a time rather than 20.
Maintaining order
Dr. Grandin said the improvements made in animal welfare need mainte nance. Standards work if they are as clear and measurable as traffic rules, and she likened auditors to police who enforce speed limits.
“The advantage of measuring it is then you don't creep back into bad habits,” Dr. Grandin said. “It's just like police have got to measure speed, because if you didn't measure it, people would be going 60 miles an hour past their high school.”
Dr. Walker said Dean Foods would like to see the entire dairy supply chain participate in an audit program that measures factors such as lameness and health, evaluates success on the basis of demonstrated efforts, and holds suppliers accountable for some basic, critical considerations such as properly handling nonambulatory cows and ending the practice of tail docking.
“We need to be able to demonstrate to people that we are trying and we are concerned,” Dr. Walker said.
On the other hand, she said, “window dressing” programs, or those that fail to give evidence that participants are making changes, can raise consumer expectations only to have them fall short. She said, “They've been focused on a message and what people want to hear, and, I think, if we take the approach where we want to do what is best for the cow, everything else will fall into place.”
Vice president's message to students is one of care
Threlfall assures students AVMA is working on solutions to their problems
Interview by R. Scott Nolen
Dr. Walter R. Threlfall has been busy since his election as AVMA vice president last August. As the Association's liaison to the Student AVMA and student chapters, Dr. Threlfall has been visiting veterinary colleges across the country.
When he talks with students, Dr. Threlfall offers professional advice and reassures them about their choice of careers. He also explains that the AVMA not only understands their worries but also is working to find solutions to some of the more pressing challenges they face, such as high educational debt load and low starting salaries.
Almost halfway into his two-year term, Dr. Threlfall talked to JAVMA News about all he's learned while on the road.
Do you have a message or key points for the students during these visits?
My message to the students is primarily one that we—the AVMA—care, and I certainly care about their future. I want them to have the same opportunities that I had when beginning my professional career, and I honestly believe it is possible. However, it will require that we all work together to solve their problems as well as our own. None of the entities involved will be able to do it alone. All segments of our profession, including students, must be heard from, or we will not solve our problems. If the best leadership of this entire profession is not able to solve the problems, then I don't know who would be able to do it.
Are there common issues you're hearing from students?
The common problems mentioned by students are just that: common, very common. If one focuses on the changes of the past 20 years, it is no big surprise that some of these problems were going to happen. That is not to say every challenge could have been foreseen, but communication between all the veterinary groups and listening would have helped prevent some. Student concerns are justified. Too much debt, too high of interest rates on their loans, fewer jobs in their areas of interest, a failure of income to keep up with their investments, problems with the educational systems, and lack of hands-on experience. All of these problems concern me and other leaders in our profession, including within the AVMA. The primary difference between then and now is the students of today are living the experience. If someone would have discouraged my dream career instead of helping me as most did, I would have not looked kindly on those individuals.
What is their opinion of the AVMA?
Their view of AVMA is mixed. They want to see the parent organization do more for them sooner rather than later. Many are losing faith that we, the AVMA, will be able to solve their problems. They are not expecting miracles, just some rapid signs of assistance. Again, I confirm that we alone will not be able to solve all their problems. It will require everyone—AVMA; veterinary medical colleges, including veterinary educators; veterinary students; practitioners; and all others in various aspects of the veterinary profession—to do it. I know we can do it, but we must work together.
Is there anything the AVMA should be doing for students that it isn't already?
I personally believe the AVMA needs to set some short-term goals that can be accomplished in six to 12 months. The demonstration of tangible results in a short period of time to what they consider important problems, even if not as grandiose as we might like, would demonstrate we are moving forward.
Has your view of the vice presidency evolved since taking office?
The vice presidency is very much what I imagined it to be. Having been involved in veterinary education my entire professional life, it has been evident the problems (students) face today were coming for approximately a decade and did not occur overnight, so it is not surprising to hear their concerns. It is great to reassure many, especially in small student groups at schools and colleges, that there is hope for their future, but they need to take a more active role in becoming as excellent as they can be at graduation.
The enthusiasm of those students who are involved convinces me that they will be an active part of the solution so long as we permit them to be involved and listen to them. They will not have all the answers, and that is not what I am stating, but to not listen to their ideas would be a grave error on the profession's part. They experience the educational system from the learner's side, they obtain the loans, they are the ones to repay the loans, they must find the positions and want ones they will love, they are in the trenches, and they are our scouts. I love the interaction with them and their enthusiasm regarding veterinary medicine.
It is, however, disappointing to see their frustration, and sometimes, loss of hope. Personally, my greatest disappointment is that I have been unable to do much to assist them other than cheer them on. I encourage their submission of ideas to correct whatever they think we can correct, no matter how ridiculous it may appear to them. I think we have worked on the obvious for a while, so something different might just do it.
What is your response to the Governance and Member Participation Task Force's proposals to eliminate the AVMA vice presidency position and grant veterinary students full AVMA membership?
Eliminating the vice presidency position would not affect me, so I think I can be honest in my opinion. I believe the visitation by the vice president of AVMA and as a member of the Executive Board making contact with students demonstrates we want their ideas and want to assist them, listen to them, want their input, and most importantly, care about them as a group and as individuals. We then need to follow through by coming up with the solutions to give proof we are doing our best and not just making idle promises.
Without a vice president, we lose that contact person. The time put into this position is considerable but well worth it. I personally believe it is a priceless position. Even if there was a voting student member on the Executive Board, the current vice president (by) description brings or should bring great experience regarding their problems and be a problem solver to the board, which a student may not have at that point in their career. This previous veterinary student and life experience is invaluable.
Regarding students having full AVMA membership, this would necessitate students paying dues comparable to those of graduate veterinarians or some mechanism by which there is equity for full dues-paying members and those at a reduced fee structure. I am not opposed to it but there is the added responsibility of being informed on issues and candidates. It is like the political process everywhere: Some will take on the responsibility seriously and do their homework before voting, while others will not. Students should largely determine their involvement in AVMA, but they need to first consider all aspects of that involvement before reaching a decision, as will AVMA in its to-be-determined new governance plan.
Anything else you want to discuss?
I seriously believe representatives of all parties involved in our great profession need to meet as a task force, committee, or such an entity to consider all possible solutions to the problems previously delineated and emerging ones regarding our students. The only requests I would make are that the word “can't” not be used in the discussion and that the discussions be friendly. Our profession survived the introduction of the horseless carriage, the elimination of hog cholera, and problems as significant as, or more so than, the ones currently facing our profession. We can work together to solve them or do nothing and lose control of our destiny. I believe working together is the better option. I challenge all students and members of the profession to provide me with suggestions as to how we identify solutions to student problems at a reasonable rate and not drag it out until the problem, right or wrong, solves itself.
I thank all of you who supported me and welcome your comments at any time. This is a team effort. My position is to be positive, informed, a problem solver; to keep the students involved, and finally assist them to accomplish (the) goal of having the same dream profession I was blessed with. Anything less is doing our profession and them a disservice.
SAVMA supports competencies study
Student symposium also site of lectures, competitions, diversity forum
By Malinda Larkin
In-between a Southern tailgate party and a traditional Louisiana crawfish boil, 1,300 students from 45 veterinary colleges found time to attend lectures, wet labs, and day trips during the 44th annual Student AVMA Educational Symposium, March 21–23 at Louisiana State University.
The SAVMA House of Delegates also met during the symposium and heard from speakers who discussed decisions recent graduates face and what's being done to help them.
Great expectations
What's generated plenty of discussion in recent years is the preparedness of these newly minted veterinarians. Increasingly, many say they feel unprepared to enter practice, and opt for further education instead.
According to the 2012 AVMA Senior Survey, among those who had accepted employment offers, 49.3 percent had accepted an internship. Comparatively, 36.8 percent pursued advanced education in 2007 and 24.7 percent in 2002.
About 40 percent of the 2012 students pursuing advanced education said they did so because they wanted to practice better-quality veterinary medicine, 38 percent said it was because they planned to apply for a residency, and 18.3 percent believed they needed more training before entering veterinary practice.
One of the strategic goals that came out of the North American Veterinary Medical Education Consortium in 2010 was to “graduate career-ready veterinarians who are educated and skilled in an agreed-upon set of core competencies” (see JAVMA, Sept. 15, 2011, page 737).
Tomasina Lucia and Hillary Carroll, third-year veterinary students who are part of the Washington State University Surgery Skills Research Group, are doing their part through a study. They addressed student delegates about a survey they recently sent out that gauges competence expectations.
Lucia told JAVMA News that the idea came about last year after they heard practitioners say at conferences that veterinary graduates now are substantially less practice-ready than they were 10 or even 15 years ago.
“It's a huge problem, and it's not going to be solved by one paper, but we wanted to be constructive. We wanted to explore the issue of being practice-ready. What does practice-ready mean?” she said. “We didn't find much information in the literature. So, we thought it would be a good way to start and lay the groundwork for the conversation, looking at what the specific skills are that we should learn in vet school to make us productive so that we can be hireable upon graduation.”
The student researchers received approval from the AVMA Executive Board this past March to access mailing addresses for 2,500 randomly chosen general practitioners as well as 500 graduates from the classes of 2011 and 2012.
Lucia and Carroll asked and received permission from the SAVMA HOD to forward the survey to chapter members and to promote the project to ensure a high response rate. They were also authorized to forward the survey to residents.
The research group sent the electronic survey in April to students at all U.S. and Caribbean veterinary colleges; surveys for practitioners and recent graduates will be sent later this year. Participants will be asked to consider a list of eight surgical procedures, such as canine spay and neuter and equine laceration repair, and then determine the time needed for completion of each procedure by a recent graduate and the expected independence level on a scale ranging from “shouldn't be able to perform unsupervised” to “should perform unsupervised and be able to handle common complications.”
Eight other skills, such as hand ties or cystocentesis, are included to gauge whether they are of value to employers or whether schools need to teach them anymore. Demographic questions will be asked, too.
So far, the pilot data have indicated that time estimates for procedures have hardly varied but that “independence level” ratings have varied. Faculty and practitioners had the lowest expectations, while recent graduates and veterinary students had the highest expectations.
“That was interesting, because it's opposite of what you hear from folks. I will be interested to see if it holds true across the country,” Lucia said.
Some comments from faculty also piqued Lucia's interest. “The gist was, ‘I'm giving you this low independence level (rating) because I know you'll see one of these (surgical procedures), but you won't cut one in veterinary school,’” Lucia said. “It kind of speaks to how we have all these students going into internships and residencies, and should we have more of a five-year program if faculty are not expecting us to be practice-ready upon graduation? I'm hoping this will answer that question.”
The students will work with Dr. John Gay, associate professor of epidemiology at WSU, on the data analysis. Their goal is to have the results published in JAVMA or another veterinary journal within two years.
Another speaker, Stith Keiser, business manager for American Animal Hospital Association Career Development, informed student delegates about the association's new mentorship program (see page 1328).
Soliciting feedback
SAVMA HOD members also tackled sundry other student-related issues.
Student delegates created the Task Force on SAVMA Membership Benefits, which will evaluate what SAVMA currently provides for its members and whether any of that needs to change. Elise Ackley, SAVMA president, initiated the idea for the task force.
“I'm constantly hearing from SAVMA chapter presidents and students, especially in this economy, with high loan burdens, ‘What is SAVMA doing for me?’” she said. “Do we really need to offer a discount on North Face jackets, or could we offer something else or more scholarships or putting more money back to the students?”
The task force is anticipated to forward recommendations for consideration at next year's symposium.
In-between sessions, the SAVMA HOD participated in a town hall session with AVMA Executive Board members Drs. Clark K. Fobian, president-elect; Walter R. Threlfall, vice president; Joseph H. Kinnarney, District III; Larry G. Dee, District IV; Chip Price, District VIII; and Thomas F. Meyer, District XI.
Ackley said, at times, the event probably felt like the Spanish Inquisition for board members, but that it meant a lot to students that the AVMA leaders listened and answered questions.
“Students want to feel like they're being heard, and to have Executive Board members there and answering questions—that speaks volumes to the profession,” Ackley said.
Students asked what the AVMA was doing or could do about new veterinary schools applying for accreditation, increasing class sizes, and rising tuition.
“The board members did a good job of not being political but explaining the role of the AVMA,” she said, in that the Association is more geared toward advocacy and providing member benefits. “I think they did a good job clarifying what exactly their role is and what the students’ role in these things can be, too.”
Former SAVMA President Bridget Heilsberg updated the SAVMA HOD on the AVMA Task Force on Governance and Member Participation, on which she serves. Ackley said a letter-writing campaign to AVMA HOD members may be in the works, aimed at encouraging delegates to vote in favor of a new governance structure.
LSU School of Veterinary Medicine Dean Peter Haynes addressed the SAVMA HOD and discussed the Feb. 24 New York Times article “High debt and falling demand trap new vets.”
Outside the SAVMA HOD session were plenty of other activities.
On the last day, a diversity forum was held, consisting of lectures on sexual diversity. Also, a panel discussion took place with international veterinarians talking about how their cultural and ethnic diversity influenced the way they practice veterinary medicine in the U.S.
The forum coincided with national meetings of the Broad Spectrum Veterinary Student Association and the Veterinary Students as One in Culture and Ethnicity organization.
Students also got a chance to explore Louisiana with tours of Baton Rouge museums, plantations, the Global Wildlife Center, the Audubon Zoo, Avery Island, and the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas.
Coming and going
Outgoing 2012–2013 SAVMA officers are Bridget Heilsberg, Colorado State University, president; Chad Clancy, Iowa State University, secretary; Erich Roush, University of Wisconsin-Madison, treasurer; Taylor Simon, Louisiana State University, information technology officer; Julie Stafford, Oregon State University, international exchange officer; Andrew Stas, University of Pennsylvania, global and public health officer; and Melissa Andritz, Cornell University, editor of The Vet Gazette.
Incoming 2013–2014 SAVMA officers are Elise Ackley, Louisiana State University, president; Caitlin Pohlit, The Ohio State University, secretary; Al Claiborne, University of Tennessee, treasurer; Chase Crawford, Texas A&M University, information technology officer; Steen Smith, Oregon State University, international exchange officer; Scott Dudis, Cornell University, global and public health officer; Kyle Donnelly, University of Florida, editor of The Vet Gazette; Ricci Karkula, Texas A&M University, president-elect; Samuel Smith, University of Tennessee, international exchange officer–elect; Ashley Brendenberg, St. George's University, global and public health officer–elect; and Rebecca Eddy, Cornell University, veterinary economics ad hoc officer–elect.
Planning is already under way for next year as veterinary students at Colorado State University gear up for the 2014 SAVMA Symposium, March 20–22.
‘Southern girl’ takes on SAVMA presidency
Student AVMA President Elise Ackley, a third-year veterinary student at Louisiana State University, calls herself a “true Southern girl.”
She has spent most of her life in the Bayou State, growing up in Shreveport, La., and moving to Baton Rouge four years ago.
Initially, Ackley considered going to medical school, but decided in her sophomore year at Millsaps College in Jackson, Miss., to become a veterinarian. She transferred to LSU her junior year and applied to veterinary school “for practice.”
“I didn't think I'd get in, but somehow I did after my third year of undergrad,” she said.
Ackley is pursuing a government and corporate practice track. She aims to apply this fall for the AVMA Congressional Science Fellowship Program, which allows veterinarians to serve for one year in Washington, D.C., as scientific advisers to members of Congress.
This past summer, Ackley interned at the AVMA Governmental Relations Division, and this spring, she completed an internship with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's office.
“I would love to work on agricultural policy once I graduate. That's my passion; that's where I'm happiest. I want to work on bigger-picture things for the profession, working on things like the Farm Bill and compounding issues,” Ackley said.
She says her interest in politics and government came about early, thanks to her politically charged family. Her dad is a “staunch Republican” and her mom a “raging liberal.”
“One candidate's sign would be in the yard, and the next day it'd be missing and a new candidate's sign would be out there. We always would have good political conversations around the dinner table,” she said.
As SAVMA president, Ackley plans to follow previous presidents’ lead in increasing public awareness of SAVMA's goals and mission to convey the student voice at the AVMA and national public level.
She also wants to encourage students to start formal relationships with their state VMAs and work to create a student seat on their boards.
“That way, they hear student issues directly, and they'll have a more direct line advocacy-wise to better understand all the issues happening at the student level,” Ackley said.
Revenues rise with patient visits
AAHA conference features positive State of the Industry Report for 2012
By Katie Burns
Revenues rose a mean of 5.6 percent for companion animal practices between 2011 and 2012 alongside an increase in patient visits, according to the annual State of the Industry Report from the American Animal Hospital Association.
The positive report was released at AAHA's yearly conference, March 14–17 in Phoenix. The conference also featured sessions from Partners for Healthy Pets on communicating with clients (see page 1325) and from the Pet Nutrition Alliance on practical applications of nutrition (page 1327).
Coming up in June, AAHA will introduce a toolkit to help practices set up mentoring programs for veterinarians who are new graduates (page 1328).
During the March conference, Dr. Kate Knutson assumed the office of AAHA president (page 1329). The association also gave a number of awards (page 1333).
State of the Industry Report
Dr. Mike Cavanaugh, AAHA executive director and chief executive officer, presented the State of the Industry Report during the opening session of the conference. For the report, AAHA and Idexx Laboratories Inc. analyzed data from AAHA-accredited and nonaccredited companion animal practices across the United States.
Averaging across practices, patient visits had decreased 0.6 percent in 2010 before increasing 0.4 percent in 2011 and increasing 3.6 percent in 2012.
“About 25 percent of hospitals drove revenue growth that was greater than 10 percent in spite of the economic downturn and the other challenges we know are facing our profession,” Dr. Cavanaugh said. “These are hospitals that took growth into their own hands.”
A follow-up study by AAHA and Idexx examined differences between practices with a revenue increase of 10 percent or more and practices with a revenue decrease of 5 percent or more. Neither location nor practice size determined whether practices were growers or decliners.
“The first key to growth is focusing on strengthening your client relationships,” Dr. Cavanaugh said.
Growers tend to believe that growth results from a practice's reputation or being well-known, word of mouth or referrals, and client communications. Decliners tend to believe that growth depends on specialized care or services and growth in the region or economy.
“The growers understand that having a full array of services is a key part of their offering, but that alone is not enough to drive growth,” Dr. Cavanaugh said. “What's more important for growth is the ability of the veterinary team to communicate the value of the service in language that clients can understand.”
The second key to growth is driving regular patient visits for preventive care. Among the strategies to increase such visits is booking the next appointment prior to checkout. Human dentistry has achieved an 80 percent rate of forward booking for preventive care, Dr. Cavanaugh said, but the rate is only 5 percent in veterinary medicine.
Increasing the latter figure to 10 percent could generate $350 million for veterinary practices, according to analysis by AAHA and Idexx. The estimate is $450 million when combining the increase in forward booking with effective reminder systems. The estimate approaches $1 billion, or $40,000 per every practice in the country, under the assumption that regular patient visits for preventive care lead to visits for other services such as dental cleaning.
Three other keys to growth are using technology to strengthen client relationships and drive preventive care; setting goals and measuring results; and, for AAHA-accredited practices, promoting the value of AAHA accreditation standards.
“The state of our industry and our profession are at least moving (in) the right direction again,” Dr. Cavanaugh said. “These data are certainly encouraging, compared to what we've been seeing the last few years.”
AAHA initiatives
Starting in late 2012, AAHA named several companies as preferred business providers to offer discounts to AAHA members on products that advance a client-centric approach to practice management.
In November 2012, AAHA and Idexx announced an agreement to offer the latest version of the Idexx Cornerstone Practice Management System with the new Idexx Pet Health Network Pro client communication service. Analysis by AAHA and Idexx found that an integrated, client-centric approach—including practice marketing, regular newsletters, client education, and post-visit report cards—generates more word of mouth, stronger loyalty among pet owners, and better compliance with care recommendations.
In January 2013, AAHA and Nestle Purina PetCare announced an agreement to offer Purina's Partners in Wellness customizable wellness programs. Partners in Wellness allows veterinarians to implement and manage wellness programs through most practice management systems. In February 2013, AAHA and Beyond Indigo Pets announced an agreement to offer website design and marketing services.
Among other initiatives, AAHA continues to provide guidelines for the treatment of cats and dogs. The association recently revised its dental guidelines; was nearly ready at press time to release new guidelines on fluid therapy, developed in collaboration with the American Association of Feline Practitioners; and expects to release new guidelines later this year on weight management.
Also during the March conference in Phoenix, AAHA donated $1,000 to the Rescue Operation for Animals of the Reservation, which supports rescue groups on reservations. The city of Phoenix matched the donation, and the company BlogPaws donated $2,500. Conference attendees donated almost $2,000.
The AAHA conference drew a total of 3,691 attendees—including 1,233 veterinarians, 272 veterinary technicians, and 104 veterinary students and veterinary technician students. The association's membership encompasses about 3,400 AAHA-accredited practices and 1,900 nonaccredited practices.
Communicating with clients key to preventive care
By Katie Burns
While gearing up to launch a consumer campaign, Partners for Healthy Pets is stepping up efforts to help practitioners promote preventive care to clients.
The coalition of more than 60 organizations, including the AVMA and American Animal Hospital Association, has a mission “to ensure that pets receive the preventive healthcare they deserve through regular visits to a veterinarian.”
At veterinary conferences, Partners for Healthy Pets has been demonstrating its free online resource toolbox for practitioners and organizing sessions on topics in preventive care. The AAHA conference in March featured a day of sessions on communication with clients that was sponsored by Idexx Laboratories Inc. and through a strategic alliance with the coalition.
“There's a gap that exists between what we as a veterinary profession believe and communicate about preventative pet health care and what pet owners understand about preventative pet health care,” said Dr. Jason B. Coe, speaker for the sessions and chair in communications at the University of Guelph Ontario Veterinary College.
Communication strategies
The series of sessions explored communication with clients regarding preventive care and other veterinary care. Dr. Coe and audience members discussed strategies for delivering an effective care recommendation, overcoming communication barriers, communicating the cost of care, and activating the veterinary team to achieve optimal outcomes.
Dr. Coe said a lack of time is among the barriers to communication in the examination room. One strategy is to set the agenda for the appointment up front by soliciting concerns, listening, screening for further concerns, and confirming the list.
Client misinformation and client resistance are other barriers to communication. Dr. Coe recommended exploring the client's perspective, then framing recommendations in response to that perspective.
“We can break communication into two global patterns. One is a veterinarian-centered approach, which is very focused on information delivery—so, developing a well-conceived, well-delivered message, launching it into the air and letting it smack down onto the client, much like a shot put,” Dr. Coe said.
“The other approach is a more relationship-centered approach. It has been described or equated to a Frisbee approach, where if I throw you the Frisbee, you catch it, and you're going to throw it back, and we're going to go back and forth on a regular basis.”
He said the Frisbee approach results in greater client satisfaction and adherence to recommendations but does not necessarily take more time.
Communicating about the cost of care poses its own problems. Dr. Coe found an atmosphere of suspicion exists among pet owners about the motivations behind veterinarians’ recommendations in “A focus group study of veterinarians’ and pet owners’ perceptions of the monetary aspects of veterinary care” (J Am Vet Med Assoc 2007;231:1510–1518).
“It's not that we don't share with them the time and service we're providing, but it's about going that next step to really communicate where's the value both from preventative care as well as all other care to the health and well-being of their animal,” Dr. Coe said.
Dr. Coe said three valuable communication tools for difficult cost conversations are empathy statements, partnership statements, and “I wish” statements. Empathy statements start with phrases such as “I can see that you” or “I can appreciate that you.” Partnership statements incorporate terms such as “we,” “us,” “let's,” and “together.” Statements starting with “I wish” also can help diminish conflict.
Promoting prevention
In late summer, Partners for Healthy Pets will launch its consumer campaign to promote the value of preventive care. In late May, with the support of member companies, the coalition will start a practice enrollment program to engage practices in discussing preventive care with clients.
Brenda Andresen, Partners for Healthy Pets marketing and project director, said sales representatives for the member companies will talk with practitioners about coming on board with the coalition's efforts. The enrollment program will point practitioners toward the online resource toolbox.
“We're really trying to make it easy for practice teams to talk with their clients about the importance of preventive care by putting in their hands ready-to-go materials,” Andresen said.
Partners for Healthy Pets launched the toolbox at last year's AVMA convention. Among the most popular tools are the AVMA-AAHA guidelines for preventive care and the “Words That Work” videos illustrating ways to improve communication with clients, Andresen said. Practitioners also have shown a lot of interest in tools for offering annual care plans to clients.
Other tools include a survey to assess the perspectives of clients and the veterinary team on preventive care, resources on Internet marketing and social media, and resources on cat-friendly practice.
Andresen said practitioners can take a tidbit here and a tidbit there from the toolbox to meet the needs in their practice.
“Good practices are already talking about preventive pet care, but this helps you take it that extra step,” Andresen said. “If the pet owner isn't truly understanding the critical importance, then it's not going to have the effect we all want.”
Alliance seeks to offer insight into pet nutrition
By Katie Burns
The Pet Nutrition Alliance aims to become the go-to source for “nonbranded” information on pet nutrition, independent of manufacturers.
The PNA—consisting of the American Animal Hospital Association, the AVMA, and other veterinary associations—already offers resources on nutrition for veterinarians and organizes sessions at veterinary conferences. A day of sessions on the practical application of nutrition drew a crowd of practitioners during the AAHA conference in March.
“Clients are craving information, and what I know is that it's really a quagmire,” said Dr. Julie Churchill, speaker for the sessions and director of nutrition services at the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine. “You guys have busy, busy, busy jobs. Keeping up with 5,000 different pet foods is mind-boggling.”
Dr. Churchill is a member of the PNA committee developing tools to offer nonbranded nutritional information. She spoke in one session about how to evaluate pet foods to make the best recommendations, particularly by looking at labels.
Clients are reading the labels on pet food, Dr. Churchill said. The AAHA nutrition guidelines can help veterinarians make sense of that information.
The nutritional adequacy statement indicates whether a diet is complete and balanced, supplying everything essential in the right proportions. Dr. Churchill said processed foods for people tend to provide taste and convenience, but foods are processed for pets to provide a complete and balanced diet.
The same statement on the label indicates whether the manufacturer of the pet food determined the nutritional adequacy of the diet through a mathematical or chemical analysis or a feeding trial. Dr. Churchill prefers the latter.
The statement also specifies the life stages for which a pet food is complete and balanced. A maintenance diet is basically an adult diet. Some diets are for growth or reproduction. A diet for all life stages includes growth and reproduction, so it is usually higher in calories than a maintenance diet. The definitions of senior or geriatric diets vary by manufacturer.
The AAHA nutrition guidelines suggest contacting manufacturers with concerns or questions, such as questions about the calories in a diet. Dr. Churchill noted that the feeding guidelines on labels are just a starting point because of individual variation in pets.
Ingredients are simply the means to nutrients, Dr. Churchill continued. The ingredient list is not a high priority for her, but clients ask a lot of questions about certain ingredients such as grains. The PNA tools committee will offer information about ingredients in regard to the nutrients they provide.
“The body recognizes food by the nutrients,” Dr. Churchill said. “Grains are as biologically appropriate as any other carbohydrate.”
The PNA advocates for every pet to receive a nutritional assessment at every veterinary visit.
“Food is medicine. We've kind of forgotten that,” said Dr. Kate Knutson, AAHA president and PNA chair. “It's an area we've abdicated or given away to people with less knowledge than we have ourselves.”
She added, “It's very complicated, but we as a hospital or a clinic need to be able to explain it to our clients.”
Toolkit created to encourage mentorships
By Malinda Larkin
A free mentorship toolkit will soon be available that aims to create a viable, applicable mentorship program that educates both practice owners and new veterinarians, and can be used just before and during a new graduate's transition into the workforce.
The American Animal Hospital Association created the resource to address the perceived disparity between the skill set of new graduates and the skills they need to be successful in today's private practice environment.
“Mentorship has been a buzzword for recent graduates over the last four to five years,” said Stith Keiser, business manager for AAHA Career Development and chair of the VetPartners Career Development Special Interest Group. VetPartners is a practice managers’ and consultants’ association.
“It's something that new grads want when they get out of school, because they feel like they don't have the skills, necessarily, when they graduate to go out and be practice-ready veterinarians. I think a lot are perfectly competent to do it; it's more of a confidence issue.”
The program is meant for veterinary students who are considering internships but don't intend to pursue a residency or go into a high-end equine practice. Keiser said, in these cases, students are rolling the dice, because an internship doesn't guarantee mentorship. Plus, the mean internship salary in 2012 was $29,116 compared with $65,404 for starting salaries in practice.
“So we have these students with already high student debt going out and taking really low-paying internships to get extra coaching when it's a 50–50 shot,” he said.
AAHA also hopes this new initiative can stem turnover among new graduates and its cost to practice owners, shorten the time it takes for new graduates to become productive in practice, and create an “exit strategy” for practice owners who are unsatisfied with a new hire's work.
AAHA first attempted to address the lack of mentorship when it released mentoring guidelines in 2008.
Keiser said the association found that the guidelines did a good job defining what mentorship should be, but practice owners and recent graduates said the document wasn't action-oriented and they couldn't do much with it.
In response, AAHA sent a survey to 6,000 practices this past September to measure the success of past mentorship programs and their willingness to participate in a mentorship program and to solicit their opinions regarding the most efficient method for introducing such a program.
What the association found was most practices don't have a formal mentoring program set up.
“Mainly it was because they didn't feel like they had any guidance to put one in place, or they didn't know how to track results,” Keiser said.
AAHA took that input and worked with its Recent Graduate Task Force, along with VetPartners and the Veterinary Business Management Association to create the toolkit, which comprises the following:
• A white paper with an executive summary and results from the September 2012 AAHA survey.
• A mentorship “introductory” letter for both practice owners and new graduates.
• A detailed, measurable, and customizable mentorship program.
• Tools to track and measure results of a mentorship program by focusing on skill sets, knowledge base, and benchmarks such as average client transaction, production, and number of new clients. These tools include a mentee and mentor skills inventory and an “Is my practice financially ready to hire?” worksheet.
• AAHA mentorship guidelines.
“In the past, mentees were big on mentorship, but the mentors were wondering how it will help them if they're spending time mentoring. It costs them money and time. So we wanted a way for mentors to track the progress of mentees and see how mentoring them benefits their practices,” with tangible, hard numbers, Keiser said.
The mentorship toolkit is scheduled to be available at mentorship.aahanet.org starting in June and will be password protected.
AAHA is asking that mentees be AAHA members, with membership being free for recent graduates. Mentoring practices do not have to be associated with AAHA.
AAHA plans to promote the toolkit to students and practice owners by sending speakers to every U.S. and Canadian veterinary college as well as national veterinary conferences.
Elise Ackley, Student AVMA president, said she wants her organization to be involved in promoting the toolkit and that students are already excited about it.
“I feel this is the solution to the internship crisis,” she said. “I feel like a solid mentorship program in place could mitigate feelings for a need of an internship, in some cases.”
AAHA president sees uncertainty for profession
By Katie Burns
Dr. Kate Knutson is passionate about veterinary medicine, but she thinks the profession is at a tipping point economically.
She has seen aspects of the issue in her own practice, Pet Crossing Animal Hospital & Dental Clinic, outside Minneapolis. Now she is looking at the issue across thousands of practices as president of the American Animal Hospital Association, an office she assumed during the association's conference in March.
The economics were better when Dr. Knutson graduated from the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine in 1996 and opened her hospital with Dr. Steve Barghusen in 1997.
The partners established the practice by buying out a satellite clinic of an AAHA-accredited practice. They later added an associate veterinarian. The practice model revolves around one veterinarian being the primary care provider for each patient.
“I love veterinary medicine,” Dr. Knutson said. “It's fulfilling, it's fun to work with the people I work with. I like my clients, I adore my patients.”
Even as a veterinary student, Dr. Knutson was an AAHA member. As a practitioner, she undertook her first major project with the association by serving as a member of the committee that developed the first AAHA Dental Care Guidelines for Cats and Dogs. She also served on the committee that recently revised the guidelines.
For the past six years, Dr. Knutson has been a member of the AAHA board. A pending proposal to amend the association's bylaws seeks to streamline the composition of the board.
“All around the country, associations are downsizing their boards of directors to get more work done efficiently with less people,” Dr. Knutson said.
In the coming year, AAHA will focus much of its attention on Partners for Healthy Pets, a coalition with the AVMA and other organizations to promote veterinary visits for preventive care. Dr. Knutson said AAHA members continue to have concerns about the state of the industry, despite AAHA's positive State of the Industry Report for 2012.
“It feels as if we're in a position where things could go very badly, or we can get our act together,” Dr. Knutson said. “I think our clients really would love to have us practice medicine on their pets. They just don't understand all that we're capable of, and so many other avenues are taking away their money—because people spend a lot of money on pets; it's just they spend very little money on veterinary care.”
Another focus for AAHA in the coming year will be promoting accredited practices to the public, particularly via social media. In February, the association launched the “I Choose AAHA” campaign with photos of pet owners and veterinary professionals holding signs explaining why they choose AAHA-accredited practices.
Dr. Knutson thinks the biggest challenge for the veterinary profession as a whole is to become more efficient, but she is not sure of the solution.
“We need to figure out how to streamline veterinary medicine so veterinarians are spending most of their time doing medicine,” she said.
Among her other activities, Dr. Knutson serves as chair of the Pet Nutrition Alliance. She works with the AAHA student chapter at the University of Minnesota and with the Cornerstone Advocate Program, which establishes safe housing for animals that belong to victims of domestic violence.
Joining Dr. Knutson as AAHA officers are Drs. Kate Crumley, Youngsville, N.C., president-elect; Tracey Jensen, Wellington, Colo., vice president; Aman Sukhija, Ormond Beach, Fla., secretary-treasurer; and Mark Russak, Berlin, Ct., immediate past president.
Texas high court reaffirms pets are property
Reverses appellate court ruling that dog owner can recover ‘sentimental value’ damages
By R. Scott Nolen
The Texas Supreme Court on April 5 reversed a controversial ruling by a state appellate court that would have allowed the owners of a wrongfully euthanized pet dog to sue for emotional damages.
“The court upheld a legal precedent that has served the people and animals of Texas well for over 100 years,” Dr. Jed Ford, Texas VMA president, said. “While animals play important roles in our lives, it was critical that the court maintain its position that noneconomic damages are unavailable for the loss of an animal. To have ruled otherwise would have had a dramatic negative impact on the practice of veterinary medicine in Texas and animal care in general.”
In its opinion, the high court attested that “Texans love their dogs. Throughout the Lone Star State, canine companions are treated—and treasured—not as mere personal property but as beloved friends and confidants, even family members.”
The court even sympathized with the grief of those whose companion animals are killed as a result of negligence. However, the justices held that the bond between man and animal does not negate a 122-year-old legal precedent that bars emotional damage claims for a pet's death.
“Pets are property in the eyes of the law, and we decline to permit non-economic damages rooted solely in an owner's subjective feelings,” Justice Don Willett wrote. “True, a beloved companion dog is not a fungible, inanimate object like, say, a toaster. The term ‘property’ is not a pejorative but a legal descriptor, and its use should not be misconstrued as discounting the emotional attachment that pet owners undeniably feel.
“Nevertheless, under established legal doctrine, recovery in pet-death cases is, barring legislative reclassification, limited to loss of value, not loss of relationship.”
In June 2009 a mixed-breed dog named Avery escaped from owners Kathryn and Jeremy Medlen and was picked up by animal control. A shelter employee mistakenly euthanized the dog, and the Medlens sued to recover Avery's intrinsic value, because the dog had little or no market value. When the trial judge dismissed the lawsuit, the family went to Fort Worth's 2nd Court of Appeals.
The defense cited a case from 1891 in which the Texas Supreme Court ruled a dog's value may be determined by either the animal's market value or its usefulness to the owner.
The Medlens argued Texas law has a long tradition of allowing plaintiffs to recover special damages for the loss of personal property that has no market value but is irreplaceable and has sentimental value to the owner, such as a family photo album. The Medlens asked the appellate court to apply that same standard to Avery, because they were denied the dog's companionship by an act of negligence.
The 2nd Court agreed with the Medlens, and the defendant appealed to the Texas Supreme Court (see JAVMA, Jan. 15, 2012, page 128).
The high court determined that the appellate court decision would have a “peculiar” result, however, by allowing wrongful death damages for pets when state law limits such claims to human relationships between husband and wife, and parent and child.
“The Medlens request something remarkable: that pet owners have the same legal footing as those who lose a spouse, parent, or child,” Justice Willett wrote. “Moreover, they seek damages they plainly could not seek if other close relatives (or friends) were negligently killed: siblings, step-children, grandparents, dear friends, and others.
“Losing one's pet, even one considered family, should not invite damages unavailable if an actual human family member were lost. Put differently, the Medlens seek emotion-based damages for the death of ‘man's best friend’ when the law denies such damages for the death of a human best friend. For all their noble and praiseworthy qualities, dogs are not human beings, and the Texas common-law tort system should not prioritize human-animal relationships over intimate human-human relationships, particularly familial ones.”
The Texas VMA and AVMA are among several organizations that filed amicus curiae briefs with the court opposing noneconomic damages for pet loss.
“We think the court got it right,” said Adrian Hochstadt, director of the AVMA State Legislative and Regulatory Affairs Department. “We sympathize with the Medlens’ loss and recognize their bond with Avery, but the court was correct in not creating a sweeping new remedy that would ultimately raise the cost of pet ownership and threaten access to care.”
The circumstances of the appeal were unusual. The defendant had considered dropping the appeal because of the associated costs, but then the TVMA stepped in with financial support, given the high profile and importance of this legal precedent. Initially, the AVMA and AVMA PLIT contributed $20,000 and $10,000, respectively, to help cover the state association's legal expenses. The final bill of $183,364 was much higher than anyone anticipated, however, and in April, the AVMA and PLIT each gave the TVMA an additional $25,000.
That many animal-interest organizations opposed reinterpreting Texas law clearly held sway with the justices. “Appreciating this case's significant implications, numerous animal advocacy organizations have submitted amicus curiae briefs,” Willet wrote. “And while there is no unanimous ‘pro pet’ position—organizations committed to animal well-being are arrayed on both sides—the vast majority of pet-friendly groups oppose the Medlens’ request for emotion-based damages, lest greater liability raise the cost of pet ownership and ultimately cause companion animals more harm than good.”
While the state Supreme Court declined to depart from the conventional understanding of Texas tort law, it did leave the door open for lawmakers to do so.
“The Legislature has passed a wrongful-death statute for humans; it has not (yet) for animals,” according to the court opinion. “Given the competing public-policy considerations, we believe if there is to be expanded recovery in pet-death cases, it, too, should be confronted legislatively, not judicially.”
Horse slaughter on the horizon?
Horse meat production debated at state, federal level
Talk of horse slaughter operations in the U.S. has resumed in earnest six years after the last processing plant closed.
Currently, no facilities are approved for horse slaughter in the United States. A federal ban on the use of federal funds to inspect horses destined for human consumption took effect in 2006, effectively halting domestic slaughter in the U.S. But a decision by Congress in November 2011 to lift the ban opened the door for companies to open slaughterhouses.
The first company to apply for equine meat inspections by the Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service was Valley Meat Co. in Roswell, N.M., in December 2011. This past October, Valley Meat owner Rick de los Santos sued the USDA for delaying the processing of the application.
According to the complaint: “In the spring of 2012, USDA altered its stance on this issue due to political and special interest pressure, effectively allowing the issue to become politicized. The evidence will show a marked change in cooperation of USDA with Plaintiff and sudden change in availability of USDA to be able to issue a grant of inspection as well provide inspection of equine animals for slaughter for human consumption. … USDA officials have repeatedly made statements that this issue is ‘political’ and relied upon that as the reason that they have failed to act according to the directives of Congress thus arbitrarily and capriciously failing to act in violation of the (Administrative Procedure Act).”
In early March, the USDA announced its plan to process the application for inspecting horse slaughter at Valley Meat Co.; the company's lawsuit is still pending. A decision on the application is imminent. If approved and inspections begin, processing at the Valley Meat plant could begin shortly.
In addition, the USDA FSIS has two other active applications for equine inspection services, according to FSIS public affairs staff. They were submitted by Rains Natural Meats in Gallatin, Mo., and Responsible Transportation in Sigourney, Iowa.
Recently proposed federal legislation seeks to put a halt to these efforts by outlawing the export of U.S.-produced horse meat for sale in foreign markets as well as banning the export of horses for slaughter.
The Safeguard American Food Exports Act of 2013 (H.R. 1094/S. 541), introduced March 12, would amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to prevent the re-establishment of the U.S. horse processing industry and ban the export of horses for processing in Canada and Mexico.
Pennsylvania Rep. Patrick Meehan and Illinois Rep. Jan Schakowsky introduced the House of Representatives version, and Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham introduced the Senate version.
H.R. 1094 has been referred to the House Subcommittee on Livestock, Rural Development, and Credit for review. Meanwhile, S. 541 has been referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions for consideration.
State legislation dealing with equine slaughter began popping up across the country this year, too.
Oklahoma lifted its 50-year ban on the practice March 29 when Gov. Mary Fallin signed a new law that will allow facilities to process and export horse meat. The law takes effect Nov. 1.
In New Mexico, a bill (H.B. 90) introduced in the state house Jan. 16 would allocate money for the New Mexico Department of Agriculture to study the feasibility of locating a horse slaughter facility in the state.
The New York State Assembly is considering a bill (A.B. 3905) introduced Jan. 29 that would prohibit the slaughter of horses intended for human consumption and the export of horse meat. Maine's House of Representatives introduced a similar bill (L.D. 1286) March 28.
Community
Accolades
Student AVMA
The Student AVMA House of Delegates presented awards during its annual session March 22–23 at Louisiana State University.
Dr. David Cross (MO ‘00), an assistant teaching professor in the University of Missouri-Columbia College of Veterinary Medicine's Biomedical Sciences Department, received the Teaching Excellence Award.
Dr. Cross teaches anatomy to first-year students. He earned a master degree in animal husbandry at Michigan State University, a Master of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a doctorate in animal science focusing on reproductive physiology at The Ohio State University.
The Community Outreach Excellence Award went to Dr. Kimberly Stewart (ROS ‘06), who is assistant professor of Special Species and Clinical Sciences at Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Stewart founded and directs the St. Kitts Sea Turtle Monitoring Network at Ross, which is a member of the St. Kitts Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network.
She also is a coordinator of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization's St. Mary's Biosphere Reserve in St. Kitts.
Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine's Josh Project won this year's Josh Challenge. The Josh Challenge is a competition allowing Student AVMA chapters to help children, through the use of books and volunteers, overcome many of the fears they experience when faced with a hospital visit. Meghan Ruck, a first-year student at Ross, chaired the project. Students raised money for the Joseph N. France General Hospital's pediatric ward in Basseterre, St. Kitts.
American Animal Hospital Association
The American Animal Hospital Association honored a number of AAHA-accredited practices and a veterinary student during its annual meeting, March 14–17 in Phoenix.
Macungie Animal Hospital of Macungie, Pa., is the 2013 AAHA-Accredited Practice of the Year. The hospital employs a balance of medical and support personnel to give its clients and patients the very best service. The overall appearance and design of this the hospital exemplify the quality and standards expected of an AAHA-accredited practice. In addition, the practice demonstrates a commitment to continuing education by providing frequent team training activities and encouraging team members to attend online, local, regional, and national CE offerings.
Second place for AAHA-Accredited Practice of the Year went to Gardner Animal Care Center of Gardner, Mass. Third place went to Cleveland Park Animal Hospital of Greenville, S.C. A finalist was Markham Veterinary Clinic of Markham, Ontario.
NorthStar Veterinary Emergency Trauma & Specialty Center of Robbinsville, N.J., is the 2013 AAHA-Accredited Referral Practice of the Year. NorthStar VETS has earned AAHA accreditation in five specialties: surgery, theriogenology, ophthalmology, emergency and critical care, and small animal internal medicine. The success of this referral practice is reliant on CE and training. In addition, the team focuses on nurturing quality relationships with referring veterinarians and clients by providing numerous avenues of communication and opportunities to elicit feedback.
Laura Baltodano (WSU ‘13) received the Anna E. Worth AAHA Student Leadership Award. She has served as AAHA student team leader at Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine for two years. At WSU, she developed a program to give students hands-on experience in fundamental technical skills prior to fourth-year clinical rotations. She also is committed to advancing end-of-life care of companion animals within the veterinary profession.
Correction
Pictured is Dr. Brook Niemiec, San Diego, who is the president of the Academy of Veterinary Dentistry. The photo published on page 905 of the April 1, 2013, issue of JAVMA was incorrect.
Obituaries: AVMA member AVMA honor roll member Nonmember
Richard D. Barnes
Dr. Barnes (MSU ‘53), 83, Livonia, Mich., died Oct. 12, 2012. He practiced small animal medicine at Dearborn Veterinary Hospital in Dearborn, Mich., for 42 years. Dr. Barnes was active with the Dearborn Outer Drive Kiwanis Club. He served in the Army during the Korean War. Dr. Barnes’ wife, Joyce, and three sons survive him.
Joseph T. Blake
Dr. Blake (ISU ‘56), 94, Logan, Utah, died March 31, 2013. He was a professor at Utah State University prior to retirement in 1982. During his tenure, Dr. Blake taught animal science and conducted research on bovine heart disease. He was a Navy veteran of World War II. Dr. Blake is survived by three daughters and two sons.
Romaine J. Buzzetti
Dr. Buzzetti (ISU ‘49), 93, Argyle, Wis., died Feb. 7, 2013. Prior to retirement in 1987, he practiced small animal medicine with his oldest son, Dr. Robert C. Buzzetti (ISU ‘75), in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Dr. Buzzetti began his career in Alden, Iowa, where he owned a mixed animal practice for several years. During that time, he designed a mobile unit for use in large animal medicine that eventually became the prototype for similar units used today. Dr. Buzzetti then worked in Rogers, Ark., before joining his son in practice in Florida. He was a Navy veteran of World War II and earned several medals and commendations for his service.
Dr. Buzzetti is survived by two sons and two daughters. His other son Dr. Anthony R. Buzzetti (ISU ‘85) is also a small animal veterinarian in Indianapolis. Dr. Buzzetti's son-in-law, Dr. Byron G. Boysen (ISU ‘67), is a retired veterinary pathologist in Argyle, Wis. Memorials may be made to the ISU Foundation, 2505 University Blvd., Ames, IA 50010.
Terry R. Coonradt
Dr. Coonradt (ISU ‘78), 60, Canton, Ill., died March 3, 2013. A small animal practitioner, he owned Northview Animal Hospital in Canton. Earlier in his career, Dr. Coonradt owned Spoon River Animal Clinic in Canton. He was a member of the American Animal Hospital Association and Illinois State VMA. Dr. Coonradt was a past president of the Canton Area Chamber of Commerce. His wife, Jeanne; a daughter; and two sons survive him. Memorials may be made to Fulton County Humane Society, 22988 E. State Highway 9, Canton, IL 61520.
Garland R. Farmer
Dr. Farmer (COL ‘45), 89, Portland, Ore., died Jan. 9, 2013. Following graduation, he joined the Army with the rank of 1st lieutenant and worked as a food inspector in Kansas and Missouri. In 1947, Dr. Farmer was sent to Greece as part of the European Recovery Program, which helped rebuild European economies after World War II. He was later stationed in Giessen, Germany, where he continued his work as a food inspector. In 1950, Dr. Farmer moved back to the United States, working in Colorado for the next few years. He then studied nuclear physics at Reed College in Portland and worked as the health director for the Armed Forces Special Weapons Program for Above-Ground Nuclear Testing in Nevada.
In 1963, Dr. Farmer went to La Paz, Bolivia, where he supervised the construction of a food dehydration and packaging plant for the Bolivian military and managed the construction of eight Bolivian Army Demonstration and Production Farms. Dr. Farmer was honored with the Bolivian National Order of the Condor of the Andes for his service. He retired from the Army as a lieutenant colonel in 1966.
In retirement, Dr. Farmer served as the radiation health director for the state of Oregon for several years, authored the book “Unready Kilowatts: The High Tension Politics of Ecology,” served as a private environmental consultant, and worked for Hill's Pet Nutrition. His wife, Margaret, and a son survive him.
Sandra L. Harris-Davidson
Dr. Harris-Davidson (OSU ‘73), 64, Columbus, N.C., died Jan. 29, 2013. She practiced small animal medicine at Landrum Veterinary Hospital in Landrum, S.C., and Bonnie Brae Veterinary Hospital in Columbus and volunteered her services at the Foothills Humane Society. Dr. Harris-Davidson also bred, raised, and trained Trakehner horses. Earlier in her career, she worked in Florida, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. Dr. Harris-Davidson was a member of the North East Ohio Dressage Association, Foothills Riding Club, and Bainbridge Volunteer Fire Department. Her husband, Timothy, survives her. Memorials may be made to Foothills Humane Society, 989 Little Mountain Road, Columbus, NC 28722; or Hospice of the Carolina Foothills, 130 Forest Glenn Drive, Columbus, NC 28722.
Robert L. Kennedy
Dr. Kennedy (COR ‘55), 81, Greenwich, N.Y., died Jan. 28, 2013. Prior to retirement at the age of 70, he owned Durham-Newmarket Animal Hospital, a small animal practice in Durham, N.H. Before that, Dr. Kennedy owned Croton-on-Hudson Veterinary Clinic, a small animal practice in Croton, N.Y. Early in his career, he practiced equine medicine at Roosevelt Raceway and Meadowlands Raceway and was racetrack veterinarian at Yonkers Raceway for more than 20 years. Dr. Kennedy served as a 1st lieutenant in the Army as part of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps. His wife, Barbara; seven daughters; and three sons survive him.
Mort Kramer
Dr. Kramer (MID ‘45), 91, Northport, N.Y., died Feb. 4, 2013. Prior to retirement in 1991, he owned Huntington Animal Hospital, a small animal practice in Huntington Station, N.Y. Dr. Kramer was a member of the New York State VMS and Long Island VMA. He traveled to Europe after World War II as part of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, helping with the effort to restock the continent with horses. In 1964, Dr. Kramer volunteered his services in Liberia and was awarded the Order of the Star of Africa from Liberian president William Tubman. He is survived by his wife, Joyce, and two sons. One son, Dr. Jeff Kramer (COR ‘80), owns Huntington Animal Hospital.
Robert L. Miller
Dr. Miller (UP ‘47), 88, Fallbrook, Calif., died Feb. 2, 2013. He moved to Fallbrook in 1948 and established Fallbrook Veterinary Hospital, where he practiced mixed animal medicine until retirement in 1984. Dr. Miller also provided mobile veterinary services. Earlier in his career, Dr. Miller practiced in California at Fullerton and Anaheim. He was a founding member and a past president of the San Diego County VMA and a life member of the California VMA. Dr. Miller was also a past president of the Fallbrook Lions Club, an honorary member of the Fallbrook 4-H Club and Fallbrook chapter of the National FFA Organization, a founding member of the Fallbrook Ag Boosters Club, and a member of the Masonic Lodge, and was active with the Eagle Scouts. He received several honors for his civic service, including the Honorary Chapter Farmer Degree from the FFA in 1957, San Diego Boy Scout Council's Silver Beaver Award in 1976, and Honorary Service Award from the Fallbrook High School Parent Teachers Association in 1980. Dr. Miller's wife, Saranda; two daughters; and a son survive him. Memorials may be made to Fallbrook Ag Boosters, P.O. Box 2913, Fallbrook, CA 92088.
Alex P. Murray
Dr. Murray (MSU ‘56), 81, Bay City, Mich., died Jan. 8, 2013. A mixed animal practitioner, he owned Tri-City Animal Hospital in Bay City for 34 years. In retirement, Dr. Murray practiced part-time in Michigan. He was a past member of the Bay City Board of Education. Dr. Murray is survived by his wife, Patricia, and four sons. Memorials may be made to the Michigan Animal Health Foundation, 2144 Commons Parkway, Okemos, MI 48864; St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, 2956 E. North Union Road, Bay City, MI 48706; or The Salvation Army, 615 Slaters Lane, P.O. Box 269, Alexandria, VA 22313.
Harry L. Newell
Dr. Newell (OSU ‘56), 82, St. Albans, W.Va., died March 8, 2013. Following graduation, he practiced small animal medicine at Charleston Veterinary Hospital and Avalon Dog and Cat Hospital in South Charleston. Five years later, Dr. Newell established Gateway Animal Hospital in St. Albans, W.Va., also establishing two part-time clinics in Madison and Logan, W.Va., which he later converted into full time hospitals. He went on to own and operate the Williamson Animal Hospital in Williamson, W.Va.; Phillips Animal Hospital in Charleston; Hurricane Veterinary Clinic in Hurricane, W.Va.; and Academy Animal Hospital in St. Albans. Dr. Newell served twice as the president of the West Virginia VMA and was a past president of the West Virginia Board of Veterinary Medicine. He was a past chair of the AVMA Political Action Committee Policy Board and served as West Virginia's delegate to the AVMA House of Delegates from 1978–1984.
Dr. Newell was a member of the West Virginia State House of Delegates from 1977–1978, a past president of the St. Albans Chamber of Commerce and St. Albans Rotary Club, and a past treasurer of the South Charleston Community Civic Council. He was also a member of the Masonic Lodge. Dr. Newell received The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine Alumni Recognition Award in 1981 and was West Virginia Veterinarian of the Year in 1988. He is survived by a daughter and two sons.
Robert W. Phillips
Dr. Phillips (COL ‘61), 84, Fort Collins, Colo., died Feb. 26, 2013.
After time in Montana as a rancher-cowboy, Dr. Phillips earned a doctorate in physiology and nutrition at the University of California-Davis. In 1964, he joined the Colorado State University faculty, where he was a professor of veterinary physiology and biophysics in the Department of Physiology. He trained a number of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in his laboratory, and some 130 papers were published in scientific journals as a result of research conducted. Colorado State presented Dr. Phillips with The Oliver P. Pennock Distinguished Service Award in 1983 and the 50 Year Career Achievement Award in 2010.
In June 1991, Dr. Phillips served on the ground crew for the Spacelab Life Sciences 1 mission aboard the shuttle Columbia, as principal contact on one of two radio loops between the payload crew and scientists on the ground whose experiments were being conducted. Originally, NASA had chosen him in 1984 to be aboard that flight. He had trained for six years as a payload specialist before developing a cardiac arrhythmia that removed his flight eligibility.
After SLS 1, he spent three years at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C., as chief scientist for the space station. In 1994, he joined NASA's Life Science Division, providing education and outreach primarily to science teachers and students. Dr. Phillips retired in 2005 but continued to give presentations about living in space and wrote the book “Grappling with Gravity: How Will Life Adapt to Living in Space?”
A veteran of the Korean War stationed in Alaska, he rose to the rank of first lieutenant in the infantry.
Dr. Phillips was a charter diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Nutrition, a distinguished scholar of the National Academies of Practice, and an emeritus member of the American Physiological Society and the American Institute of Nutrition. From 1998–2012, Dr. Phillips served on the board of directors for the Mark Morris Institute. His recent civic activities in Fort Collins included chairing the Expansion Grant Writing Subcommittee and serving on the Senior Advisory Board, Senior Center Expansion Committee, and Bicycle Advisory Committee.
Survivors include his wife, Nancy; three sons; and a daughter. Memorials may be made to the Dr. Robert and Nancy Phillips Scholarship fund to support CSU veterinary students whose studies emphasize nutrition or the biochemical processes related to metabolism in humans or other animals. Checks, notated with the scholarship name, should be mailed to Colorado State University Foundation, P.O. Box 1870, Fort Collins, CO 80522–1870.
Donald B. Popejoy
Dr. Popejoy (AUB ‘58), 78, Scottsboro, Ala., died Jan. 30, 2013. He was a partner in a small animal practice in Huntsville, Ala., for 26 years prior to retirement in 1990. Earlier in his career, Dr. Popejoy served in the Air Force. He was a past president of the Alabama and Madison County VMAs. Dr. Popejoy's wife, Elizabeth, and two daughters survive him. Memorials toward the Don Popejoy Spay/Neuter Fund may be made to Williams Animal Clinic, 23579 John T. Reid Parkway, Scottsboro, AL 35768.
Harry E. Reddick Jr.
Dr. Reddick (COR ‘49), 88, Dos Palos, Calif., died Jan. 14, 2013. Following graduation, he began working in Modesto, Calif., and, in 1951, he established his own mixed animal practice, where he remained until retirement 25 years later. Dr. Reddick helped with the efforts to contain the anthrax epidemic in the 1950s and ‘60s. He was also known for his expertise in dairy and feedlot medicine and spearheaded a biological pest control program in feedlots in the 1970s, using larval wasps to target flies. Active in civic life, Dr. Reddick was a past member of the Dos Palos School Board. He is survived by his wife, Maxine; two sons; a daughter; two stepdaughters; and two stepsons.
Holly H. Reed
Dr. Reed (CAL ‘86), 56, Bellevue, Wash., died Nov. 17, 2012. An exotic animal practitioner, she was senior veterinarian at Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma, Wash. Dr. Reed began her career as an associate veterinarian at the Albert Animal Hospital in Brisbane, Australia. From 1987–1989, she served as staff veterinarian at the Primate Foundation of Arizona in Phoenix. Dr. Reed then worked a year at the Bear Valley Bird and Animal Hospital in Apple Valley, Calif., before joining what was known as Paramount's Kings Island Wild Animal Habitat in Kings Island, Ohio, as a staff veterinarian. Dr. Reed began her career at Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in 1995. In addition to serving as veterinarian, she was species survival plan adviser for polar bears and red wolves, designed the animal hospital, coordinated internship/preceptor/externship programs for veterinary students, and provided relief veterinary services and helped develop veterinary programs for Northwest Trek Animal Park in Eatonville, Wash.
During her career, Dr. Reed also consulted for Polar Bears International and Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle and served as the veterinarian for research projects in Kenya and Papua New Guinea. She was a fellow of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association and a member of the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians, serving on several of its committees. Dr. Reed's husband, James, and a son survive her. Memorials may be made to Camp Side-by-Side, c/o University Presbyterian Church, 4540 15th Ave. N.E., Seattle, WA 98105; or Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium Zoo Society Conservation Fund, 5400 N. Pearl St., Tacoma, WA 98407.
Thurston J. Shirley Jr.
Dr. Shirley (GA ‘58), 79, Pendleton, S.C., died Jan. 2, 2013. He practiced mixed animal medicine in Pendleton for more than 48 years prior to retirement. Dr. Shirley volunteered with the Anderson County Humane Society and Clemson University Bull Test Station and helped establish the veterinary technology program at Tri-County Technical College. He is survived by a son and three daughters. Memorials may be made to Anderson County Humane Society, P.O. Box 2262, Anderson, SC 29622; or Hospice of the Upstate, 1835 Rogers Road, Anderson, SC 29621.
Charles F. Uecker
Dr. Uecker (COL ‘54), 87, Hettinger, N.D., died Dec. 1, 2012. He founded West River Veterinary Clinic, a large animal practice in Hettinger, where he practiced until retirement in 1993. In retirement, Dr. Uecker twice served as state veterinarian, in 1995 and in 1997. Dr. Uecker was a past president of the North Dakota VMA and a past member of the North Dakota Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners and what was known as the North Dakota Livestock Sanitary Board. He served as North Dakota's alternate delegate to the AVMA House of Delegates from 1972–1974 and was delegate from 1974–1976.
In 1985, Dr. Uecker was named North Dakota Veterinarian of the Year. He was active with the Hettinger Chamber of Commerce, Lions Club, and Boy Scouts of America. An avid gardener, Dr. Uecker received the North Dakota State University Outstanding Agriculturist Award in 1993. He was a Marine Corps veteran of World War II and participated in the invasion of Iwo Jima. Dr. Uecker received a Presidential Citation for his service. His wife, Edna; a daughter; and a son survive him. Memorials may be made to Hettinger Lutheran Church, 904 2nd Ave. S., Hettinger, ND 58639; or Dakota Buttes Museum, 400 11th St. S., Hettinger, ND 58639.