Author: Site Administrator

Hawaii Veterinary Medical Association Mentorship Program

The Hawaii Veterinary Medical Association will be starting a mentorship pilot program. This program is for recent graduates who are interested in connecting with a HVMA veterinarian that has knowledge and experience to share, as well as guidance for your career.

Mentors and mentees shall both be HVMA members and commit to the program for 12 months. The process will begin with the interested mentee initiating contact through an introductory e-mail or letter. If accepted, a mentor will contact the mentee to set up a meeting to discuss the expectations, goals, frequency of meetings, and confidentiality of the program.

Why be a mentor?
Being a mentor can be a rewarding experience as you share the knowledge and expertise you have with fellow mentees to help them transition to veterinary professional life. You also gain opportunities to build upon your communication and leadership skills. Mentees can share with you the latest
techniques, and treatments in the veterinary field.

Why be a mentee?
Being a mentee is an amazing opportunity to discuss any challenges, concerns, and goals you have with another colleague who may have gone through similar experiences. Mentors can be a source of information, provide encouragement and support.

Read more and find the applications on our Mentorship Program page.

Mentorship Opportunity with Assets High School

Looking to mentor a student in the community? Assets High School’s Mentorship Program extends learning beyond the curriculum. It enhances self-esteem through career related responsibility and provides access to community role models. The Mentorship Program matches students, based on their interests and personal qualifications, with various companies and organizations in the community. Students in grades 10 through 12 work for high school credit at their mentorship sites every Wednesday from September through April.

The program is similar to college internships, but for high school students. A prospective student will create a resume and cover letter and actually “interview” to get the job. We try to give students as much real world experience as possible. This is a non-paid position. Most of our students complete their required 5.5 hours per week on Wednesdays. However, the hours are flexible, based on your needs.

To inquire about being a mentor, or to learn more about the Assets program, download the brochure or contact Jason Wagner at 808-423-1356 or jwagner@assets-school.org.

Letter from the President – April 2022

Alfred Mina, DVM
HVMA President

Happy Easter Everyone!

Hope everyone is doing well and adjusting to the new COVID-19 Pandemic lifting of the mask mandate. Do what is best for your situation to keep you and your staff safe.

The HVMA board is continually preparing for the upcoming in-person HVMA Annual meeting scheduled for November 2022. We are planning on having great speakers from different disciplines to share their knowledge with all of us.

It seems like we’re still facing professional staffing shortages in the islands. Many of us have been affected by the pandemic, causing staff shortage and supply chain issues. Hopefully, the rest of 2022 gets better as we continue to stay healthy, vigilantly safe, and happy.

Thank you to those who continue to support HVMA. A lot of this is done through membership dues. If you haven’t renewed your membership yet, please feel free to renew here.

Please don’t forget to check in on our online CE provided by HVMA. Let us know if there’s any specific topics that we can investigate for future presentations. Please continue to stay safe and hope to see you all soon!

Aloha from Big Island,
Alfred J. Mina, DVM
HVMA President

SB 2798 Hearing Notice 2/23/2022 – Testimony Needed

SB 2798 will be heard on Wednesday February 23, 2022 at 9:30am by the Senate Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection via videoconference. Please submit written testimony in support of this bill which will amend Chapter 471, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to better define the practice and parameters of veterinary medicine and veterinary telemedicine to protect Hawaii consumers and their pets from inadequate, improper, or unlicensed veterinary care. In addition, to address the current shortage of licensed veterinarians in Hawaii, this bill will also provide for the temporary permitting of out-of-state veterinarians and ensure international veterinary school graduates of both AVMA Council on Education and AAVSB approved programs are able to qualify for licensure examination in Hawaii. For more background on this bill, see this post.

Updated HI State Laws Related to Animals

The following are law changes passed in 2021:

New: Animal sexual assault https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol14_Ch0701-0853/HRS0711/HRS_0711-1109_0008.htm

Amended: Tethering https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol14_Ch0701-0853/HRS0711/HRS_0711-1109.htm

New: Veterinary emergency care https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol10_Ch0436-0474/HRS0471/HRS_0471-0017.htm

New: Veterinary mandatory reporting https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol10_Ch0436-0474/HRS0471/HRS_0471-0018.htm

Microchipping, statewide:
Amended: https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol03_Ch0121-0200D/HRS0143/HRS_0143-0002.htm
New: https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol03_Ch0121-0200D/HRS0143/HRS_0143-0002_0002.htm

Upcoming free training on the role of veterinarians in identifying animal abuse:

Tuesday, May 3rd, 10:00-11:15am HST
https://www.justiceclearinghouse.com/webinar/the-forgotten-partner-in-responding-to-animal-abuse-the-veterinarian/ (registration required)

Meet a Board Member – Atiya Hakeem

Atiya Hakeem
Assistant to the Exec VP

Atiya Hakeem received her PhD from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Until 2015 she was a neuroscientist at Caltech studying primate vision and social cognition in humans, apes, elephants, and cetaceans. In 2016 she moved back to Honolulu and has worked in various capacities at the Honolulu Zoo as an animal keeper and veterinary assistant until joining the HVMA as Assistant to the Executive VP in 2021.

Letter from the President – January 2022

Alfred Mina, DVM
HVMA President

Happy New Year Everyone!

As the COVID -19 Pandemic continues through 2022, we’ve learned how to adapt to providing veterinary care to the communities in Hawaii.  However, many of us have been affected by the omicron variant hitting close to home, causing staff shortage and supply chain issues.  Hopefully, 2022 gets better as we continue to stay vigilantly safe, healthy, and happy.  The HVMA board will continue to meet bi-monthly this year to discuss veterinary-related issues and prepare for HVMA Annual Meeting scheduled for November 2022.

If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact us. 

Alfred J. Mina, DVM
HVMA President

Pet Kokua Wellness Clinics

The Hawaiian Humane Society is seeking licensed veterinarians to assist with community outreach clinics in District 9 (Ewa Beach, Waipahu, Mililani).  Pet Kōkua Wellness Clinics are pop-up veterinary clinics that assist low-income and houseless pet owners with wellness checks, vaccinations, flea/tick preventatives, heartworm tests and preventatives, deworming, and treatments for minor illnesses and injury, at no cost to the owner.

Clinics are generally hosted one to two times a month, are 4 hours long and are generally appointment-based.  The Pet Kōkua Program is able to offer veterinarians a stipend of $250 per clinic due to a generous grant from the City & County of Honolulu.  If interested, please email outreach@hawaiianhumane.org with your general availability. You may also call Suzy Tam at 808-356-2225 with any questions.

HVMA Scholarship Announcement

Applications for the HVMA scholarship for current veterinary students from Hawaii are being accepted. Students must be enrolled full-time in an AVMA-accredited doctoral program of veterinary medicine and have graduated from a high school in Hawaii. Please share with any students you are mentoring!
All submissions due by 3/31/2022.
Application details here.

COVID-19 Vaccination Campaign Launch

On Monday, AVMA launched a targeted campaign to encourage members, the veterinary healthcare team, and clients to get vaccinated against COVID-19 if they are able. This campaign was encouraged by the CDC, as the agency recognizes the key role veterinarians play in society and public health. You may see campaign elements in your email, social media feeds, through advertising on websites that you visit, in your mailbox, or even on digital screens at various businesses.

As veterinarians, we understand the power of vaccines and are uniquely qualified to share their importance in preventing and controlling disease, and we have created a variety of materials for members to use in sharing this information in their practices and communities.  These include posters for practice lobbies and back office areas, client handouts, talking points for discussing the vaccine with clients or the public, an FAQ about the vaccine itself, language you can use for on-hold messages or on appointment reminders and videos.  Many of the materials offer multiple versions featuring veterinarians interacting with various animal species, so that they are relevant to different audiences.  Physical campaign materials will be mailed the week of December 3rd to practices located within geographic areas that have been reported by the CDC to have lower vaccination rates. You are invited to view www.avma.org/VaccinationTools to view and download any of these materials.

We fully understand that not every veterinarian will be comfortable discussing the COVID-19 vaccine, and that every encounter with a colleague or client simply isn’t going lend itself to a conversation about vaccination against COVID-19.  The resource materials are intended to make that conversation easier for those who are comfortable and do want to take the opportunity to discuss it with their colleagues and clients.

Please let us know if you have any questions. 

Thank you,

Dr. Gail Golab
Chief Veterinary Officer

Angela Roberts
Chief Marketing and Communications Officer

American Veterinary Medical Association