HVMA Updates

Letter from the President – Oct 2019

Dear Friends,

I hope to see each of you soon at our annual conference at the Hilton Waikiki Beach on November 7-10, 2019. We are fortunate to host AVMA President John Howe and District 10 representative George Bishop at the conference this year. Dr. Howe’s areas of focus for his tenure as president are member needs, veterinary technicians and One Health. Please give them a warm welcome if you see them. Even if you are not attending the conference for CE be sure to join us for our annual meeting at noon on Saturday.

Mental health and wellbeing concerns for veterinary professionals have been in the national news recently. Awareness of the increased risk for burnout, substance abuse, depression and suicide ideation in our profession is hopefully a first step toward finding solutions for this crisis. The AVMA has many resources for veterinarians on personal and workplace wellness, and the HVMA has a wellness committee to assist members in need.

In 1976, Dr. Bill Hettler, co-founder of the National Wellness Institute in the US, developed a model of wellness that included six dimensions of health: physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, occupational, and social. Since then others have added three more to create the nine dimensions of wellbeing: financial, creative and environmental. Each dimension is interconnected and collectively contributes to our overall wellbeing, and when one area is lacking, the others and overall wellbeing are affected. I encourage you to follow the links to read and learn more about these areas and take a self-assessment to identify areas where you might focus your self-care.

For this message I want to focus on the social dimension. One stated purpose of the HVMA is to promote the spirit of community among members of the veterinary profession. Our annual conference is a time to get together and catch up on what is happening with one another: the success and challenges of our friends and colleagues we may not see as often as we would like to. It is also a chance to make new friends and welcome new colleagues into our community. Brené Brown, best-selling author and published researcher writes the following in the introduction to her book Daring Greatly: “the surest thing I took away from my BSW, MSW, and Ph.D. in social work is this: Connection is why we’re here. We are hardwired to connect with others, it’s what gives purpose and meaning to our lives, and without it there is suffering.” This includes connection with colleagues in the workplace. In Dare to Lead she says this about her research: “Daring Leaders must care for and be connected to the people they lead. The data made clear that care and connection are irreducible requirements for wholehearted, productive relationships between leaders and team members.” She defines a leader as “anyone who takes responsibility for finding the potential in people and processes, and who has the courage to develop that potential.” As veterinarians, we are all leaders and we must strive to build connection in our work and social lives to build resiliency.

I hope you can all take a moment during the next month to talk story and build those connections with one another. By doing this we will be taking a step in the right direction to improve our well-being. Please reach out to a colleague, friend, or professional if you are suffering. We are here to help one another. And if you are interested in learning more so that you can help those at risk, visit the AVMA’s website on Question-Persuade-Refer (QPR) training. There is currently a pilot program that will provide training to learn how to identify and refer colleagues who are at risk.

Aloha,

Aleisha Swartz, DVM
President, Hawaii Veterinary Medical Association

Meet Your Board – Jenee Odani, Secretary

Dr. Jenee Odani (kneeling). Also pictured: Blaine Ishizu and Dr. Kim Kozuma (HDOA)

Dr. Jenee Odani graduated from the University of California at Davis School of Veterinary Medicine in 1999. She can’t believe that she’s already 20 years out of school since she vividly remembers her first day of orientation in Surge IV! She completed a diagnostic pathology residency at the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory System and is a board-certified veterinary anatomic pathologist. She grew up on Maui and graduated from H.P. Baldwin High School where she was the captain of the debate team, then attended UH Mānoa for two years before graduating with a B.A. in Zoology from the University of Washington.

She has had a lifelong love of cats, starting with a silver-tipped Persian named Lady Ming of Tara to her newest, Joey, a bottle-raised buff bicolor with a bobbed tail. She was also obsessed at various times of her life with horses, snails, and ants. She has served as the UH Mānoa Extension Veterinarian since 2016 and currently has projects with shrimp disease diagnostics, small ruminant infectious diseases including parasites, bovine
semen certification, food animal continuing education, and poultry diseases. Prior to joining the UH Mānoa Cooperative Extension Services, she was with the Hawaii Department of Agriculture’s Veterinary Laboratory.

Her professional interests include infectious diseases, especially foreign animal and zoonotic diseases, fish/shrimp diseases, diagnostic methods, and quality management systems. She was the previous Chair of the Hawaii Veterinary Licensing Board and is currently the advisor for the UH Mānoa Pre-Veterinary Club where she mentors bright, eager, pre-veterinary students.

She lives in Pearl City with her husband (Norman) and son (Nicholas) and is active with the Shotokan Karate International Federation-Hawaii (has the rank of Shodan) and Boy Scout Troop 147. Please contact her if you are interested in learning how to make Kadomatsu this December!

AVMA Update Spring 2019

Aloha HVMA members! These are some highlights from the AVMA.

AVMA Convention 2019

A monumental experience awaits you in Washington, D.C. and we can’t wait to see you there! This year’s event will take place August 2-6 and the CE and events schedule is now available for you to search. Start planning an itinerary that will earn you more than 40 hours of CE and still leave plenty of time for networking, fun events, and sightseeing . Choose from nearly 900 education sessions over the course of the five-day conference. There are hands-on labs, interactive workshops, panels, lectures, and poster presentations. Register at AVMA.org.

Axon: Next-generation digital education

AVMA Axon™ is an online learning tool that you can incorporate into your daily life. Veterinarians, veterinary technicians, practice managers, or other team members, can find CE with information you need – about the newest studies, techniques, and trends – along with actionable ways to apply it to your daily life and work. Examples of topics:
Agile Pioneers
Career Development
Financial Health
Leadership
One Health
Policy and Practice
Wellbeing, Diversity, Inclusion
Advocacy

AVMA Axon™ is a resource for the entire veterinary community. As an AVMA member, all of the current offerings are free. Start exploring today at axon.avma.org.

AVMA establishes veterinary technician task force

Veterinary technicians are important members of the veterinary health care team. Their skills and expertise help both the patient and the practice. Improving veterinary technician utilization would only enhance that level of service and increase job satisfaction. At the AVMA Board of Directors spring meeting April 12-13, the Board voted to approve a task force which will develop a plan to improve vet tech use while recognizing the importance of financial and career sustainability, effective task delegation, and the wellbeing of both the veterinary technician and the practice.

The task force comes after the AVMA House of Delegates discussed technician utilization and ways to enhance it during its January meeting. It was clear during the discussion that the value of veterinary technicians is important and that efforts need to be made across the profession to increase technician use. The consensus among House members led them to recommend that the AVMA Board convene a task force to design a plan to improve veterinary technician utilization and that a progress report be
shared with the House Of Delegates within a year.

Guiding the profession: Policy actions

AVMA councils and committees reviewed more than 40 AVMA policies prior to the Board meeting that were subsequently submitted for reaffirmation, revision and approval. Highlights include the Board voting to:
– Reaffirm the AVMA Policy on Transport, Sale Yard Practices and Humane Slaughter of Hoofstock and Poultry
– Approve the revised Policy on Animal Abuse and Neglect
– Approve the revised Policy on Veterinary End-of-Life Care
– Refer the revised Policy on Judicious Therapeutic Use of Antimicrobials to the AVMA House of Delegates with a recommendation to approve
– Refer the revised Joint American Association of Bovine Practitioners-AVMA Judicious Therapeutic Use of Antimicrobials in Cattle Policy to the House of Delegates with a recommendation to approve
– Refer the revised Model Veterinary Practice Act to the House of Delegates with a recommendation to approve

Carolyn Naun and I are your AVMA House of Delegates. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions, comments or topics of discussion.

Aloha,
Leianne K. Lee Loy, DVM