Category: Newsletter

May 2023 Lunch and Learn

Canine Oral Melanoma – Not the Killer We Once Knew

Canine oral melanoma can be a terrifying disease with short survival times being quite common. However, newer treatment options and a low-grade subtype have made this disease very rewarding to treat. In this presentation I will talk about why I’m not as afraid of this disease as I used to be and how I can help you manage canine oral melanoma for those clients who can’t pursue referral.

Speaker: Vanessa Rizzo, DVM, ACVIM (O)
Sponsored by Hope Veterinary Specialty Services
Friday, May 19, 2023 12-1pm (Hawaii)

Open to veterinarians and all veterinary staff. 1 hour CE credit available. Register here.

Letter from the President – May 2023

Jenee Odani, DVM, DACVP
HVMA President

Happy Spring everyone!

We are thrilled to be able to bring the HVMA’s Hawaii Pet Expo back this year, May 6-7th at the Blaisdell Center. Thank you to everyone who showed up and volunteered your time.  This public event is a valuable opportunity for us (as Hawaii veterinarians) to provide quality animal care & health information and promote the good work that all of us do.

With the Covid-19 pandemic receding, and we adjust to the “new normal” we must remain vigilant as there are continual threats from other emerging diseases, such as African Swine Fever and Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza. Hawaii remains free from the H5N1 avian influenza virus, but we must remain vigilant in reporting cases of unusual mortalities in wild or domestic birds. Spillover of the virus into mammalian species is concerning and something to continue to monitor.

As always, please reach out to contact@hawaiivetmed.org with any feedback, questions, or suggestions.

With much aloha,
Jenee Odani, DVM, DACVP
HVMA President

AVMA Update – January 2023

Your AVMA continues to advocate for the profession and animal welfare issues. As always, the House of Delegates met during the 2023 Veterinary Leadership Conference in balmy Chicago. We had a busy agenda and lively discussion. Keep reading to discover important resources available to you, our members, and find out what we made progress on this January!

If you aren’t already a member, consider joining over 100,000 veterinarians and gain access to valuable benefits. Some recent highlights of what AVMA has been doing for YOU:

  • Be an industry leader in diversity, equity, and inclusion. Practices are encouraged to join Journey for Teams, an interactive program to educate and engage your workplace to make it a safer space for all. Get involved at journeyforteams.org

In the next newsletter we’ll take a deeper dive into what your AVMA has to offer. In the meantime, here are the updates from the winter meeting. 

Veterinary Information Forum topics:

Every meeting, members of the AVMA House of Delegates meet to discuss some of the most pressing issues facing our profession. AVMA members shared their thoughts on the following topics:

Utilization of credentialed veterinary technicians and the creation of a “mid-level practitioner” role: It is no secret that we are facing serious workforce shortages. What is the best way to reduce burnout and better meet increased demand for our services? This topic generated over 160 pages worth of responses from constituents! While some favor the creation of a “Veterinary Professional Assistant” who could diagnose, prognose, prescribe, recommend treatment plans, and perform minor surgery, most members feel we are still underutilizing the skills of credentialed veterinary technicians and the focus should be there first. Creating a new position within the profession presents some significant challenges including:

  • The need to develop educational programs to train these individuals. Accredited institutions are already having trouble filling teaching positions for veterinary and veterinary technician programs
  • The need for changes to be made in federal laws and regulations as well as those in all 50 states

In short, implementing such a solution will be costly and could not be deployed in time to address the immediate workforce shortage. 

We also had a lively discussion regarding workplace culture and how to improve quality of life for veterinary team members. A recurring theme was the need for leaders to set an example and demonstrate that it’s OK to ask for help. Practical suggestions included the use of Employee Assistance Programs (larger employers and some state VMAs already offer these as a member benefit) or providing access to free counseling to struggling veterinary professionals. There are many relevant AVMA resources available, including the Workplace Wellbeing Certificate program, the Brave Space Certificate program, the Train the Trainer program and Journey for Teams (diversity, equity, and inclusion training for your workplace). These resources are available to members at avma.org. Watch for more details about these programs in the next newsletter. 

AVMA business and policy actions:

Several resolutions came before the House for a vote, touching on a variety of topics ranging from policy on dog bite prevention, service animals, horse racing, responsible breeding, dehorning and castration of cattle. Most were housekeeping and minor updates to existing AVMA policies. 

Of interest was a new policy on so-called “bush track racing,” or unregulated horse racing, which presents grave animal welfare and public safety threats. Bush tracks operate with no veterinary oversight. Practices include the use of stimulants, electric shock and other abuses. Bush track operations have been linked to outbreaks of piroplasmosis (via use of contaminated needles to inject performance enhancing drugs) and equine infectious anemia. The HOD passed a resolution condemning unregulated horse racing. This is hopefully a first step in creating pressure to make unlicensed horse racing illegal. You can learn more about this issue at https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/05/bush-track-horse-racing-georgia/

With aloha,
Carolyn Naun, Hawaii Delegate
Jenee Odani, Hawaii Alternate Delegate

One Health Month

Governor Green has declared January 2023 as Hawai’i One Health Month! #OneHealth represents the intersection of human health, animal health, and environmental health, and helps us address complex health problems in Hawaii and beyond. See the proclamation here.

Awareness of the One Health approach helps to inform our decision-making, particularly for policy makers and leaders seeking to comprehensively address current issues such as climate change and emerging infectious diseases like COVID-19 or avian influenza. Thinking about how human health is inextricably related to animal health and environmental health also informs our individual everyday decisions: our food choices, the products we buy, appropriate use of antibiotics or other medications, how we care for the native species and habitats we live near, etc.

SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is a recent example of a zoonotic disease that can pass from humans to animals and vice versa, causing illness and death in multiple species. The more humans encroach on wild habitats and interact with non-domesticated animal species, the more opportunities there are for viruses or other infectious organisms to spread and mutate into forms that can cause global pandemics. But zoonotic disease spread is just one example of the interplay between human, animal, and environmental health. Other important examples include how the use of pesticides has decimated bee populations, which in turn decreased pollination, crop yields, and human food supply; or how medication prescribed in human and veterinary medicine can pass through their patients to enter the environment and cause developmental deformities in wildlife and drug-resistant infections; or how lead shot used in hunting has resulted in lead toxicity in scavenging animals such as birds of prey and humans alike.

One Health concepts have been a part of many veterinary curricula and may seem obvious to veterinarians, but many of our colleagues in other health and science disciplines were not trained to think outside of their specific fields. Keep the One Health perspective in mind, and encourage others to do the same!

Read more from the AVMA on One Health

American Heartworm Society Survey

APEX, NC —The American Heartworm Society (AHS) is urging veterinarians to participate in the 2022 AHS Heartworm Incidence Survey.

The AHS maps, dating back to 2001, are generated every three years and are widely used by veterinarians, animal shelters, animal rescue organizations and media to educate the pet-owning public about the threat of heartworm disease. The maps, which are built using data submitted by thousands of veterinary practices and animal shelters, also provide vital insights for veterinary professionals about trends in heartworm incidence and the spread of heartworms into new areas of the country.

“Each veterinary practice that submits data enables the AHS to create a more comprehensive and useful map,” states AHS President Jenni Rizzo, DVM. “We urge every practice—large or small—to take a few short minutes to submit their information.”

The deadline to submit survey data on heartwormsociety.org/2022survey is March 15, 2023. The new 2022 AHS map will be made available in April as part of Heartworm Awareness Month.

HVMA Mentorship Program

The HVMA MENTORSHIP PROGRAM is still looking for mentees and mentors who are interested in connecting with the Hawaii veterinary community! The program is aimed to provide guidance for mentees who are recent graduate veterinarians who graduated from 2018 to 2023 while building strong, long-lasting relationships among the veterinarians in Hawaii. Mentors have the opportunity to provide knowledge, skills, and experience to recent graduate veterinarians on various topics! Interested in being a part of the HVMA Mentorship program? We’d love for you to join us! 

Sign up here: 

Mentee Application

Mentor Application 

In addition, the HVMA Mentorship program has collaborated with “MentorVet”, which is a five-month, 5-10 CE RACE virtual mentorship and professional development program that promotes wellbeing in the transition to practice with a combination of training in professional skills, financial and mental health coaching, and mentorship. HVMA members who are part of the HVMA mentorship are eligible for a DISCOUNTED registration for the MentorVet program. Want to learn more about “MentorVet”? Reach out to Addie Reinhard at addie@mentorvet.net or visit https://www.mentorvet.net/.

Conservation Corner: Hawaiian green sea turtles

While there are several species of marine turtles that can be found in Hawai’i , the most common is the honu, or the Hawaiian green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas). Basking, or resting on the beach or at the water surface, is a behavior unique to this species in Hawai’i that is thought to have a thermoregulatory function. The green sea turtles that are found in Hawai’i are currently listed as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. The good news is that this population is showing some signs of improvement, and nesting is increasing at 3-5% per year. There is a lot that the species still has to contend with in order to be recovered, especially with sea level rise and storms affecting their low-lying nesting grounds: 96% of the population nests at one location, Lalo (French Frigate Shoals) which is located in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and part of Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. Other threats to our honu include fisheries interactions, disease, and boat strikes. When turtles and fisheries interact, it is often the line, not the hook, that is most dangerous for the turtle: the line can cause strangulating injuries to the flippers and line ingestion can lead to GI obstruction. Prevention is always best, so if you enjoy fishing, please dispose of your line properly to keep it out of the marine environment and pick up discarded line anytime you see it. NOAA Fisheries’ FAST (Fishing Around Seals and Turtles) guidelines also say that if you accidentally hook a sea turtle, it is okay to reel it in, cut the line as close to the hook as possible, and release the turtle – IF you feel safe doing so. 

As veterinarians, you can also help sea turtles by being knowledgeable about what to do if you are contacted or come across wild turtles that are in trouble. First, pause before taking any immediate veterinary action. Dead turtles or those that are entangled, hooked, injured, or appear sick, should be immediately reported to the Hawaiʻi statewide NOAA Marine Wildlife Hotline at (888) 256-9840. Call this number and wait for a return call for further guidance. If you observe illegal activity, such as harassment or illegal fishing/gear, send photos or video (including contact information of the suspected perpetrators) to RespectWildlife@noaa.gov and the Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources (the DLNRTip app is a rapid and effective way of filing such reports, or you can contact DLNR at (808) 643-DLNR).

Letter from the President – January 2023

Jenee Odani, DVM, DACVP
HVMA President

Aloha Everyone! Hau‵oli Makahiki Hou!

Firstly, let me start by saying how excited and honored I am to be serving as your HVMA president. Together with the amazing individuals comprising our hard-working board, I hope to help guide our organization through the next two years as we adapt to the “new normal” after nearly three years.

Our 69th annual conference was held in-person this year, and it was a wonderful time for our veterinary community to come together in the spirit of learning and growing.

As a veterinary medical organization, HVMA strives to continue to grow and adapt to the needs of our members. Over the next few months, we will monitor the state legislative session, review applications for the HVMA scholarship, and grow our mentorship program for recent graduates. If you are interested in participating, please let us know! New volunteers are always welcomed!

Jenee Odani, DVM, DACVP
HVMA President

AVMA House of Delegates Report

AVMA House of Delegates (HOD) Summer Session: July 28-29, 2022 Philadelphia

Aloha mai kakou! (Greetings to all of you!) I share with you the topics of discussion during the meeting of the AVMA House of Delegates:

RESOLUTIONS
Resolution 6 – New policy on use of prescription drugs in veterinary medicine.
Resolution 7 – New policy on adverse event reporting
Resolution 8 – Revised policy on genetic modification of animals in agriculture
Resolution 9 – Revised policy on approval and availability of antimicrobials for use in food-producing animals
Resolution 10 – Revised policy on raw milk
All resolutions were passed by the AVMA House of Delegates.

VETERINARY INFORMATION FORUM
HOD’s Veterinary Information Forum was devoted to the topics of:
1) Updates to the AVMA Model Veterinary Practice Act— including updates related to license portability, veterinary technicians, and telehealth.

Ahead of the HOD meeting, most of the comments from AVMA members about updating the AVMA Model Veterinary Practice Act were to support the idea of providing license portability from state to state. Regarding veterinary technicians, Veterinarians are pushing to define the duties of certified veterinary technicians versus noncertified veterinarians in the practice act. Pertaining to telehealth, an emphasis in the model practice act for the requirement of an in-person examination to establish a veterinarian-client-patient relationship before initiating telehealth.

2) The responsibility to provide emergency care

The reference committee that discussed the responsibility to provide emergency care suggested the following points for the Council on Veterinary Service to consider while reviewing the Principles of Veterinary Medical Ethics.
• Define “emergencies.” Is this meant to refer to immediate life-threatening situations and situations in which the animal is in intractable pain and suffering?
• Address payment.
• Add wording regarding whether providing the emergency care is prudent, with considerations to include the following:
◦ The number and skill level of available staff members. 
◦ Available equipment.
◦ Working conditions that are safe for veterinary team personnel.
◦ Sufficient knowledge of the species.
◦ Geography or location of the emergency, particularly for large animal or mobile practices.
◦ Whether a veterinarian-client-patient relationship has been established. In other words, is it an established client and patient?
• Clarify that euthanasia is acceptable to prevent intractable pain and suffering even if a client is not identified, for example, an animal brought in by animal control or other government agency.

OFFICER ELECTION RESULTS
Dr. Lori Teller assumed the presidency of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) with a pledge to strengthen the profession through collaboration and a focus on wellbeing.

AVMA President-elect 2022-2023: Dr. Rena Carlson
AVMA Board Chair 2022-2023: Ronald E. Gill
AVMA Vice President 2022-2024: Jennifer Quammen
House Advisory Committee: Libby Todd (Alabama), Diana Thome
(Washington) and Stuart Brown (AAEP)

Elections for 2023-2024
Three individuals have announced their candidacy for 2023-24 AVMA
president-elect; they will campaign for one year, with the election in Summer 2023:
Sandra Faeh Butler (past AVMA Vice-President)
Arnie Goldman (current AVMA Treasurer)
Bob Murtaugh

JOURNEY FOR TEAMS
The AVMA is co-launching a multiyear educational initiative to help veterinary workplaces become more diverse, equitable, and inclusive. The upcoming Journey for Teams program is under development by the AVMA and the Veterinary Medical Association Executives. Details were provided in an announcement event July 30 at AVMA Convention 2022 in Philadelphia, and program content will be released in stages beginning this fall. There will be webinars and booklets that will help your team with improving diversity in your workplace.  All resources can be found at https://www.journeyforteams.org/ .

FDA COMPOUNDING GUIDANCE
FDA finalized and published Guidance for Industry (GFI)  #256 which describes the agency’s approach to situations where veterinarians need access to unapproved drugs compounded from bulk drug substances (BDS) to provide appropriate care for the medical needs of the diverse species they treat when no  FDA-approved  (including  conditionally approved ) or  indexed drug  can be used to treat the animal. This means FDA is granting use of drugs compounding from FDA-approved animal and human bulk drug substances list. The good news is it places few restrictions on patient-specific prescriptions for nonfood-producing species. There is a call for nominations to attempt to get bulk drug substances (BDS) on the FDA list for use. Consult the Appendix of GFI #256 for needed information and submit our request for AVMA assistance to compounding@avma.org .

AVMA GOVERNMENT RELATIONS DIVISION
Although the political world appears to be polarized, the AVMA remains non-partisan.  The AVMA builds relationship with those individuals in congress that want to work with AVMA on veterinary issues such as: Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program (VMLRP), Improve Loan Options for Veterinarians, Prevent All Soring Tactics (PAST) Act (H.R. 5441/S. 2295), and the Healthy Dog Importation Act.

Just announced:
The National Institute of Food and Agriculture within the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Aug. 31 that it had awarded $3.2 million in grants to support rural veterinary services though the Veterinary Services Grant Program. The AVMA was instrumental in pushing Congress to create and fund the program, which was authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill. The first grants were announced in 2016.

AVMA PAC
The AVMA Political Action Committee (AVMA PAC) helps veterinarians build relationships with lawmakers, amplifying the AVMA’s voice in policy discussions on Capitol Hill. The AVMA Political Action Committee has grown 30% over this time last year and a new goal is $400k by the end of 2022.  Membership support is so important. PAC funds are distributed on a non-partisan basis focused on veterinary issues and therefore allows AVMA access to both sides of the political aisle.

FINANCIAL UPDATE 2022:
• Receipts to-date: $85,865 (33% higher than 2021!)
• Portion of AVMA Members contributing in 2021-22: 2%
• 2022 Election Disbursements made: $86,500
• Funds available for new disbursements: $213,375

AVMF
The American Veterinary Medical Foundation (AVMF) is the charitable arm of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), mission of the AVMF is to raise funds to improve animal health. The AVMF has raised over half a million dollars for Ukraine relief including supplies, care, food, etc. You can visit the website AVMF.org where you can find stories and heartbreaking images of what our colleagues are going through in this part of the world. New this year to the AVMF mission is education. There is an educational debt problem and workforce shortage, so AVMF plans to award $300,000 in scholarships for veterinary technicians.

AVMA TRUST
Insurance and risk solutions for every stage of your career – providing new/better ways to help members at every step of the journey.

AVMA ONLINE EDUCATOR COMMUNITY
The AVMA Online Educator community has continued to grow. Individuals involved in academia and the education of the next generation of our colleagues are invited to join this online educator community. This is a place to exchange ideas, learn about AVMA resources that may make jobs easier, and discuss challenges and opportunities unique to the world of academia.

FUTURE DATES TO REMEMBER:
Veterinary Leadership Conference: Leadership in a New Era
January 5-7, 2023 Chicago, IL

AVMA Summer Convention
July 14-18, 2023 Denver, CO

…..and that’s a wrap!

Mahalo from your Hawaii AVMA Delegate – Leianne Lee Loy
and Hawaii AVMA Alt Delegate – Carolyn Naun

Please feel free to contact us on any of these topics or about the AVMA. It
has been an honor to represent Hawaii. Aloha!