Local Veterinary Clinics Band Together During New Years Eve Emergency

Sherbrooke Heights Animal Hospital and Norwood Veterinary Clinic stepped in to take the pressure off Kawartha Veterinary Emergency Clinic, who had reached capacity and were forced to close their doors to pets that needed care, on New Year’s Eve.

Dr. Kristy Hiltz. Photo courtesy of Sherbrooke Heights Animal Clinic.

When Stacey MacPherson, a registered veterinary technician (RVT) at Sherbrooke Heights Animal Hospital, saw KVEC’s post on Facebook stating they were at capacity she knew she had to do something.

She sent a message in the SHAH group chat, and her co-workers felt the same.

Dr. Kristy Hiltz, SHAH, got in contact with KVAC and they quickly worked out a plan.

“Stacey said ‘What do we do? How can we help?’,” said Hiltz. “I said ‘If they ask us to take any patients, do we have anyone that would be willing to do that?’ and immediately I had another veterinarian and two technicians volunteer and say ‘we’re in.’.”

Within an hour of MacPherson bringing the problem to her co-workers attention, SHAH was open and ready to take on patients at 5:30 p.m.

“I was super proud of my staff. First of all that Stacey called it to our attention and for Dr. Sarah and Jill and Stacey for stepping up and coming in to work - even after working a full week. This was supposed to be their day off.”

Norwood Veterinary Clinic also stepped in to provide relief for KVAC. Dr. Hiltz notes that this is not the first time veterinarians in Norwood have offered help to other clinics.

“Kudos to Dr. Scott in Norwood. I will say this is not the first time she’s stepped up to offer help, just out of the goodness of her heart,” said Dr. Hiltz. “There’s definitely veterinarians out there who will see the greater need and respond to that need, and that’s what they did.”

Dr. Hiltz says that this emergency on New Year’s Eve highlighted the crisis going on in the veterinary world right now.

“This is a part of a really big crisis we’re seeing Canada-wide. We don’t have enough veterinarians or veterinary staff. The need, especially during COVID, increased dramatically and that just put so much pressure on people who are already over worked.”

She notes that mental health in those working in the industry in declining.

“We have veterinarians and support staff who are burning out, there’s an association now for suicide prevention in veterinarians and techs and that’s not a good thing.”

Dr. Hiltz does not have an immediate solution for the issues the veterinary world is facing right now. She says that the emergency on New Years Eve was resolved because of caring staff that were physically and mentally able to work, but that may not always be the case.

“People need to balance their physical and emotional health with the work that required. I think it’s mirroring what’s going on in human medicine. As much as we talk about a crisis in veterinary medicine and being over-worked, I think about the crisis they’re experiencing and my heart goes out to them. It’s hard to say no when someone needs help - whether it’s a person or a little furry creature.”

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