Author: J. Yoshicedo, DVM

One Health Collaboration

Michelle Barbieri, DVM, MS, speaks to first and second-year medical students at the John A. Burns School of Medicine One Health Symposium in September. Dr. Barbieri is a Veterinary Medical Officer with NOAA and currently leads the Hawaiian Monk Seal Research Program. She shared her passion for conservation medicine and ecosystem health through the lens of her work with the endangered Hawaiian monk seal, discussing her team’s approach to threats posed from toxoplasmosis, canine distemper (morbillivirus), stray fishing gear, and rising sea levels. Her engaging presentation helped demonstrate the One Health concept: the inextricable interconnection of human, animal, and environmental health.

Board Nominations 2022

The HVMA Annual Business Meeting will be held on Saturday November 12 from 12-1pm at the Hilton Waikiki Beach Hotel in the Prince Jonah Room. Even if you are unable to attend the conference, all HVMA members and interested veterinarians are welcome to attend the business meeting. This year elections for board positions will also be held.

Our current slate of board nominees are as follows:
President-elect: Heather Kihara
Vice-President: Malia Lyons
Secretary: Jamie Furutani
Treasurer: Caren Tamura-Taira
AVMA delegate: Carolyn Naun
AVMA alternate delegate: Jenee Odani
Maui County delegate: Leo Murakami
Hawaii County delegate: Jacob Head
Executive Vice-President: Jill Yoshicedo

Other nominations may also be made at the Annual Business Meeting. If you are interested in serving on the board or on any of our committees, please speak to any current board member. We would love to have your participation!

ByLaws Amendment Proposal

The ByLaws Committee has proposed a change to Article 1, Section 1, regarding Active Members. This section currently reads:

Section 1.  Active Members. An Active Member shall be a graduate of a college or school of veterinary medicine accredited by the American Veterinary Medical Association and shall reside in the State of Hawaii.

To align with current Hawaii veterinary licensing requirements of the Hawaii Board of Veterinary Medicine (recently updated with the passage of SB2798 CD 1 in 2022), the proposal is to change Article 1, Section 1 to read:

Section 1. Active Members. An Active Member shall be a graduate of a veterinary college meeting all the standards established by the American Veterinary Medical Association Council on Education or a foreign college of veterinary medicine who has successfully completed the requirements established by the American Veterinary Medical Association Educational Commission for Foreign Veterinary Graduates or the American Association of Veterinary State Boards Program for the Assessment of
Veterinary Education Equivalence, and shall reside in the State of Hawaii.

The ByLaws amendment will be voted on at the Annual Business Meeting on Nov 12, 2022.

HVMA Mentorship Program Update

The Hawaii Veterinary Medical Association (HVMA) Mentorship program is a voluntary program that offers guidance and resources for new graduate veterinarians and mentoring opportunities for senior veterinarians in Hawaii. In addition, the program aims to foster mentee-mentor relationships among the veterinary community. 

The HVMA has recently partnered with MentorVet, which is a national organization that offers a structured platform for new graduate veterinarians and mentors in online modules, coaching, and resources. If you’re a new graduate veterinarian who has recently graduated within the past five years (class of 2017 to 2022) or you’re a veterinarian who has practiced for many years, please apply for the HVMA mentorship program below:

New Graduate Veterinarians/Mentee
Senior Veterinarians/Mentor

Meet a Board Member – Jerrisa Ching, DVM

Jerrisa Ching, DVM

Jerrisa was born and raised on the island of Oahu. She graduated from Moanalua High school and received her Bachelors of Science in Animal Science at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Jerrisa then attended Washington State University and received her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in May 2021. Shortly after, in December 2021, Jerrisa completed her Masters of Public Health with a Veterinary Public Health focus at University of Missouri – Columbia. Jerrisa is currently working in small animal general practice at Kama’aina Pet Hospital & Vetco Total Care. 

As the New Graduate Delegate, Jerrisa provides resources and information to new graduate veterinarians in Hawaii. She oversees the HVMA Mentorship Program for new graduate veterinarians, who graduated within the past five years, and veterinarians who have many years of experience in the veterinary profession. Jerrisa’s goal as a New Graduate Delegate is to strengthen the relationship among veterinarians in Hawaii while improving the veterinary medical profession.   

In Remembrance – Russell Shoji, DVM

Russell Shoji, DVM

Dr. Russell Shoji of Kaimuki passed away on June 9, 2022. He was a loving husband and father, former veterinarian, enthusiastic golfer, and avid fisherman. Russell is survived by his wife Laureen Shoji (née Katsuda); daughter Alyson Shoji; stepchildren, Daniel (Christina) Kong, Jenilee (Chris) Green, and Justin (Keiko)Kong; brother Dean (Renee) Shoji and sister Sandy (Paul) Hoshino; nephews Rane (Rie) Shoji and Lon Hoshino. Visitation from 10:00 a.m. Saturday, July 23, 2022, at Borthwick Mortuary, Maunakea Chapel; service 11:00 a.m. No flowers. Casual attire.

AVMA Update Summer 2022

The AVMA House of Delegates (HOD) convened in Philadelphia on July 28-29 in conjunction with the annual convention. The House of Delegates are the principal body within the Association responsible for establishing policy and providing direction for matters relating to veterinary medicine and shall be the representative body of the Principal and Constituent Allied Veterinary Organizations of the Association. This is Hawaii’s opportunity to weigh in on upcoming policy updates and other topics relating to our profession.

On the agenda for this meeting:
●  Resolutions:
–  New policy on use of prescription drugs in Veterinary Medicine
– New policy on Adverse Event Reporting
– Revised policy on genetic modification of animals in agriculture
– Revised policy on the approval and availability of antimicrobials for use in food-producing animals
– Revised policy on raw milk

●  Elections:
–  President Elect Candidates: Drs Grace Bransford and Rena Carlson-Lammers
–  Vice-President Candidate: Dr. Jennifer Quammen
–  Other: Councils, House Advisory Committee

●  Veterinary Information Forum: at each semi-annual meeting, HOD members seek your input on current issues in the profession and bring your thoughts to the House Floor for discussion. The debate is sometimes quite lively with diverse perspectives brought to the table. Often the VIF is the birthplace of new AVMA policies, programs, and initiatives. Thank you to our colleagues who have contributed to the discussion. Topics on the docket for the summer 2022 meeting are: (we have included a comment from our colleagues and look forward to hearing from you too.)
○  Needed Updates to the Model Veterinary Practice Act (MVPA). We are seeking feedback on whether the MVPA language might be revised to better support license portability; whether the MVPA should provide more detail around the roles and supervision of veterinary technicians and veterinary assistants; and provide more guidance around the practice of veterinary telehealth, including telemedicine.

○  Comment: License portability would be the biggest help in my area, which has a serious lack of veterinarians. It is expensive to live in Hawaii so it is difficult to get vets to commit to owning a practice here. Telemedicine would be helpful as well, especially for some emergency services, since we have no emergency clinics on our island and the existing practices are functioning at beyond capacity already. We need help here!

○  Responsibility to Provide Emergency Care. What is the ethical responsibility to provide essential services for animals when necessary to save life or relieve suffering? When not available, what should our responsibility be to provide readily accessible information to assist clients in obtaining emergency services? How do these obligations fit with maintaining a sustainable work-life balance and protecting the safety of our workforce?

○  Comment (partial): I think providing emergency care for your patients is important. Providing emergency care for all animals regardless of whether they have ever been to a veterinarian or not or whether they have an ability to pay or not seems to be an unfair burden for the veterinarian. The vast majority of emergency cases are the result of owners not taking proper care of their pets. Where I live veterinarians don’t answer their phones after hours to avoid taking care of emergencies when with a cell phone and call forwarding it is easy to answer the phone. We are on an island so there is no driving to an emergency clinic elsewhere. There are none. People want pets but don’t want to take good care of them in a manner that would avoid emergencies. Most emergencies are avoidable or could be handled in regular hours. We have enough trouble taking care of those who have been willing to try to care for their animals.

Please feel free to share your thoughts by contacting Leianne Lee Loy and Carolyn Naun.

Highlights of recent AVMA activities

● AVMA Annual report
●  AVMF has funneled over $500,000 to relief efforts in Ukraine. Funds are being directed to groups working on the ground to help people and animals affected by the crisis. Read more.

●  The annual AVMA Legislative Fly-In brings veterinary professionals from across the country together with their members of congress to discuss matters important to our profession. It also provides us with the opportunity to position ourselves as nonpartisan experts on animal related matters within their constituencies. This year’s fly-in was, once again, virtual and involved 200 of our colleagues across 49 states. Dr. Jenee Odani and Dr. Carolyn Naun met with the offices of Senators Hirono and Schatz and Representative Kahele, and directly with Representative Case and asked them to cosponsor or support the following pieces of legislation:
○  The Healthy Dog Importation Act would require all dogs entering the US to be accompanied by a health certificate signed by a licensed veterinarian and to create a database of this information to enable disease tracking and increase biosecurity.

○  The Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program Enhancement Act would make the awards non-taxable, thus freeing up additional funds and allowing more positions in USDA designated shortage areas to be filled.

○ Veterinarians press lawmakers on rural veterinary shortages, dog importation

●  AVMA has created free printable resources for members to quickly reference antibiotic prescription recommendations. Two are handouts that can be given to cat and dog owners or printed as posters, and two are white sheets for practitioners, one for cats and one for dogs, both broken down by location of infection and/or disease. Read more and access the downloads (AVMA members only) here: When do cats and dogs need antibiotics?

Thank you for your engagement and we look forward to continue to represent your voices!

Leianne Lee Loy (Delegate – Hawaii)
Carolyn Naun (Alternate Delegate – Hawaii)

2022 Legislative Update – SB2798

SB2798 was signed into law by the governor in June. This bill amends the veterinary practice law in Hawaii to better define the practice and parameters of veterinary medicine and veterinary telemedicine to protect consumers and their pets from inadequate, improper, or unlicensed veterinary care.  This bill also helps to address the shortage of licensed veterinarians in Hawaii by allowing the temporary permitting of out-of-state veterinarians, providing for international veterinary school graduates to qualify for licensure examination in Hawaii, and extending the amount of time that out-of-state veterinarians may practice in Hawaii while awaiting their licensing exam date. The HVMA is grateful for support from the American Veterinary Medical Association and across the state from multiple organizations, legislators, and individual citizens to help push this bill across the finish line.