Learn how IDEXX is enhancing the lives of animals, people, and the planet.

IDEXX: Contributing to something bigger

 (VBF) will kick off its free virtual weekly yoga series available to all company-wide employees on Wednesday, September 29, 2021. The yoga classes will be broadcasted on the company's Facebook and will be led by Desiree Roussin, a Massachusetts-based veterinary technician at VBF, who was also the mastermind behind the initiative. 

“Our mission ‘to take care of the people who take care of our pets’ means everything to us and now more than ever with the aftermath of the pandemic, we’re working with our teams to help combat burnout and exhaustion,” said Jeff Wilson, CEO of VBF, in a company release. “So working with Desiree to bring her passion to life while supporting our teams was a no-brainer.”

Roussin has worked with animals since age 15 and soon recognized the importance of engaging in hobbies outside of the practice. She discovered yoga years ago as a way for her to destress after a demanding day at the clinic. 

According to the release, her passion for the hobby inspired her to complete a 200-HR Registered Yoga Teacher Training and now she instructs weekly classes at a local yoga studio. After witnessing the benefits yoga had on her life, she believes her coworkers could greatly benefit from it as well.

The company classes will consist of slow flow vinyasa style yoga available to all ages and levels. They will be live-streamed on the VBF’s Facebook page (@VetsBestFriendOfficial) on Wednesday evenings starting at 7:30 pm. This provides participants the opportunity to partake from the comfort of their own homes while also allowing them to replay the class if they cannot make it at the given time or miss a class entirely.

“By being able to take time for myself for things like yoga, I am able to show up to work as my best self for my patients and teammates,” Desiree said.

"I’m so grateful to work for a company like VBF that puts such an emphasis behind wellness and work-life balance. Everyone at the home-office was so supportive of this idea and I’m really looking forward to the opportunity to introduce my peers to this amazing form of stress relief," she added. 

Learn more about Vet’s Best Friend and its mission 

Vet’s Best Friend prioritizes mental health with company wide yoga series. News release. Vet’s Best Friend. September 9, 2021. Accessed September 23, 2021. [email].

Articles

This free virtual weekly program launching next week will offer employees a chance to decompress and prioritize their mental health.  

Vet’s Best Friend emphasizes mental well-being with company-wide yoga series 

Before a plane takes off, flight attendants outline emergency exit plans. They explain to passengers that if oxygen masks drop, to first focus on putting on your own before helping others. According to Mia Cary, DVM, this 'oxygen mask rule' also applies to prioritizing your personal well-being to help reduce stress which, in turn, will enable you to offer the best care to animals. 

"I think the number 1 way [to help with stress] is to own and know that the oxygen rule is legit. We hear that all the time at nauseam so we start to not even listen to it," Cary explained.

"[But] if we truly take care of ourselves first, as the flight attendants tell us on a flight that is turbulent, then we are better able to take care of those around us," she continued.

Along with the oxygen mask rule, Cary expresses another way veterinary professionals can alleviate stress is to abide by the saying, "We have to be self-aware before we can self-care."

"So even if we believe the oxygen mask rule is legit, if we don't really know what matters most to us in terms of our mechanisms for self-care, then when we have time to do it, we won't even know what is important to us," she explained.  

To learn more tips on combatting stress for success inside and outside of the clinic, watch the full interview below.

Videos

In a recent interview with dvm360®, Mia Cary, DVM, explains how prioritizing your mental health can ultimately help you provide better care to your patients.

How the 'oxygen mask rule' can help combat stress

With the crisp fall weather making its debut, we continue to deliver the latest (and greatest) industry news and hot topics right to your fingertips. 

On this episode of The Vet Blast Podcast, Megan Bendtzen, founder and CEO of LifeBacon, shares advice on 

incorporating joy and laughter into the workday

 to help promote your professional and personal life.

 and call to action encouraging additional research be completed on animal food hemp products to ensure safety and efficacy.

In this video interview, Quincy Hawley, DVM, describes the essential steps to 

 so you can thrive in the clinic and beyond.

lions and tigers tested presumptive positive for COVID-19

 at the Smithsonian National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute in Washington, DC.

How would Walt Disney run a veterinary practice

? From embracing the power of storytelling to thinking like an imaginer, learn more here.

Stay tuned on social media and dvm360.com for more veterinary news.

News-wrap up: This week's veterinary news, plus how Walt Disney would run a veterinary clinic 

The veterinary workplace is different from many other workplaces. Although pet patients have not been at risk for COVID-19 during the pandemic, their owners have been. Veterinary staff could mask up and maintain excellent hygiene but were not able to socially distance ourselves.

Additionally, a majority of the veterinary workforce is female, a trend reflected at The Creek Veterinary Center, where the staff of 43 workers consists of 5 males and 38 females. The clinic administration prides itself on the excellent level of staff professionalism. Mutual respect for pet owners, animals, and colleagues is a primary directive.

Recently, the center encountered a gender-sensitive issue that challenged the administrative staff but ultimately led to a more equitable work environment.

One of the male doctors asked to speak privately with the medical director. He told her that, on multiple occasions, technicians would comment on his wardrobe and how his shirt looked good with his tan. Additionally, they would often mention certain female clients who expressed interest in his looks and his clothes. He went on to say that occasional comments of this nature were not bothersome, but their frequency had started to make him feel uncomfortable. The medical director asked him if he thought this was just a matter of certain subordinate staff members trying to impress a supervisor. Although the doctor felt that it was a possibility, he considered the behavior to be unprofessional. Additionally, he felt that if the genders were reversed and a male staff member was making these comments to a female staff member, the discussion would have a different sense of urgency.

The medical director took a moment to contemplate his comments and agreed with her male staff member. Professional demeanor in the veterinary workplace should be gender neutral. Feeling comfortable and secure when working with clients and coworkers is a top priority and ultimately leads to increased efficiency and employee retention. On the other hand, problems can arise when there is an effort to make the veterinary work setting too sterile. Does this mean you shouldn’t hug a coworker on their birthday or tease someone in a good-natured fashion? The medical director was both challenged and somewhat enlightened.

She felt it was appropriate to advise all staff members that professionalism in the workplace required sensitivity and forethought before making gender-related comments. A comment that is well intentioned and complimentary could make a coworker uncomfortable. She went on to say in her memo that the best approach would be to avoid such comments completely or ask in advance if a coworker would mind you mentioning a gender-related observation. In conclusion, she noted that it is always important to remember that the home and social setting demeanor is not necessarily acceptable in the workplace.

The male staff member was very happy with the medical director’s response and the substance of the staff memo. Some staff members felt that the memo was petty and took a lot of fun out of their workplace banter. Do you think the medical director overreacted to a staff member’s concerns? We would like to know.

I am not sure everyone understands that feeling comfortable and secure in the workplace is the single biggest consideration on the workplace satisfaction scale. Neither money, work schedule, nor even admirable bosses rank higher than workplace satisfaction. Feeling comfortable and secure without fear of harassment or gender-related innuendo leads to a productive, efficient workplace.

It is true that the veterinary workforce is unique in that the majority of staff members are female. You might think this would reduce the level of traditional workplace harassment problems but that is not the case. The answer really involves respecting a coworker’s personal space while simultaneously working shoulder to shoulder to care for ailing patients. This doesn’t mean you cannot be congenial, or comical, or even assertive and direct. Just consider that personal comments involving any gender-related subjects may be interpreted differently than intended. This way everyone can enjoy their workplace experience.

An environment that is respectful of employees and free of harassment may lead to increased job satisfaction.

The Dilemma: Promoting a secure, comfortable workplace

According to Megan Bendtzen, founder and CEO of LifeBacon, motivational trainer, speaker, and life and business coach, the job shortage in the veterinary industry plus new protocols due to COVID-19 have inflicted mental and physical fatigue as well as burnout on the staff.

On this episode of The Vet Blast Podcast, Bendtzen shared her advice on implementing joy and laughter into the workday to help curtail these issues.

“Joy and laughter [are] so important because a lot of times people feel that [they] need to be earned like [they’re] something that we can do at the end of the day once we’ve gotten through all this madness, once we’ve handled all our challenges,” Bendtzen said.

“It might feel really counterintuitive and sometimes even considered unprofessional or irresponsible to just stop what you’re doing and go find something to laugh about or bring in some moment of joy or fun or relaxation, [but] that’s going to give you the boost and the energy you need to be able to handle the stresses and challenges that you’re facing,” she continued.

Listen to the full podcast below for more of Bendtzen's insight on including lightheartedness at work for personal and professional success. 

Podcasts

In this episode of The Vet Blast Podcast, CEO and founder of the company LifeBacon, shared the importance of incorporating fun into the workplace, plus how this can help combat burnout.

Episode 64: How laughter can rekindle your love for veterinary medicine

I was 5 years old when I first experienced the magic of Disneyland. I was always intrigued by Mickey Mouse and his costars. I loved Pinocchio, Peter Pan, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin, among countless other Disney characters. Although I can’t fully recall my first visit, I know that it made me unbelievably excited to return to this enchanted place. My family and I went to Disneyland every year for vacation, and there was always a crescendo of emotions throughout the entire trip. Walking through the gates, seeing Mickey, adventuring down Splash Mountain, rooting for Indiana Jones to make it under the giant rolling rock of terror, whipping through the stars on Space Mountain, and being with the people I loved most the entire time—it was truly magical.

It was no accident that I felt that way. Walt Disney was a savant at creating memorable experiences. He knew how to delight guests, return adults to their childhood, and imbue the entire experience with a sense of importance and meaning. He could do this because he understood our basic desires and needs as humans. In this article, I share my thoughts on how Walt Disney would run a veterinary practice, one that would elevate the client experience and build the strongest and most meaningful relationships imaginable.

When you walk into Disneyland, you are instantly submerged into a sprawling, captivating story with heroes and villains, love and loss, and magic and mystery. The story we tell ourselves about our own life is what gives events and experiences meaning and thus creates our sense of self, confidence, and values. In fact, the most successful businesspeople are avid storytellers.

So what kind of story should your veterinary practice tell? More importantly, how do you want to tell it? Remember, your practice should be in the love story business. The connection that humans and animals share is sacred, and it’s your duty to protect this special bond. I believe that Walt Disney would turn the design of your animal hospital into a shrine for this love story, one that constantly reminds people what this love means, the vital role it plays in our lives, and how it affects our well-being and happiness. He would do it through carefully curated artwork in every practice room, designed to evoke the right emotion; vinyl quotes throughout the facility; and parking lot placards. In a thousand different ways, he would remind pet owners how precious their love story with their pet is and that this is the place that will protect it.

The 3 basic needs that Walt Disney riffs on are the same ones he would want you to emphasize at your veterinary practice.

We are constantly, and unconsciously, evaluating the safety of our environment. If it feels unsafe, we feel uneasy and look for ways to leave it or make it feel safe again. The quickest way to lose a client is by making them feel uncomfortable and unsafe. You should rigorously train your team to promote emotional safety during every kind of interaction with clients and their pets.

We all want to be appreciated and feel as if we matter. That’s why you must make clients feel like they are important to you. From the way your front desk greets them to the way your technicians empathize with them to the way you speak with them, will display how much you value them and their animal companions.

 We long to connect with our environment and the people in it. Many veterinary teams are already great at connecting with their clients—those are usually the most successful practices—but if you want to take it up a notch, strategize how to form stronger connections with clientele at your practice. A simple way to do this is by creating a “discovery” document for each of your clients, in which you meticulously map out what matters to them, their fears, their concerns, notable life events, and more. Before every visit, you can quickly scan the document to reacquaint yourself with their life.

Imagineers design the experience that guests have at Disney parks. If Walt Disney were running a veterinary practice, he would think of himself as an experience designer more than anything. Think about the human needs that you want to address and the story that you want to tell, then imagine the best possible experience that you want your clients to have, for all types of visits. How should it start? How should they wait? What should they see on their way to the exam room? What should they feel once they get to their room? How should they feel when they are talking with you, your technicians, and your support staff ? What should they see and feel when they are leaving?

Be meticulous about creating an unforgettable experience in your veterinary practice, then design everything about your practice in a way that promotes this mission. It is a backward methodology, but when applied correctly, it is incredibly powerful.

Robert Sanchez is the founder and chief executive officer of Digital Empathy, an award-winning web design and marketing firm for veterinary practices. He lectures at national conferences, leads a team of wonderful employees, sits on the board of VetPartners, and shares his home with 2 very spoiled dogs—Cole and Lula.

“First, think. Second, dream. Third, believe. And finally, dare.” —Walt Disney