The SAWA | VMAE Collaboration Summit was convened on March 19-20, 2018 in Tempe, AZ. With 31 individuals in attendance -- including board members from both organizations, key staff from both organizations, an expert facilitator, and Dr. Roger Haston and Dr. David Haworth of PetSMart Charities, the primary funder of the Summit -- we enjoyed rich dialog and sharing of expertise, experiences, and insights. The agenda was structured to move from  getting acquainted and setting ground rules (namely, focusing on the opportunities possible through collaborative effort) to presentations (by Drs....

The Access to Veterinary Care Coalition (AVCC) and the University of Tennessee Center for Applied Research and Evaluation have extended the deadline for survey responses as part of a national study about access to veterinary care affecting more than 25 million pets. The VMAE Board of Directors encourages your VMA to help publicize the opportunity for veterinarians to provide input on this critical topic and lend understanding about how to best address this crisis. The survey can be found here. The AVCC is a diverse group, including: veterinarians, animal welfare and...

Two VMAE members have been quoted recently about developments in two domains of association management: In a thought piece authored by Bob Harris, CAE, of the NonprofitCenter.com, about key performance indicators in successful organizations, Bob included comments from Kim Brown Pokorny, executive director of the Wisconsin VMA. Kim stated “I don't just want to improve it - I want to measure it long-term so we are able to identify areas of concern or question through the dashboards and then determine the ‘why’ there is a change.” Bob recently asked an...

VMAE is excited to announce that the 2018 VMAE | Fall Conference will be held in Nashville, Tennessee at the beautiful Hotel Indigo in the heart of Downtown Nashville. The conference will take place November 8-10, 2018; program details and registration information will be released in April. We have negotiated a great rate of $209/night at Hotel Indigo. You can make your reservations by calling 877-834-3613 or online by visiting this link. Please ensure you are either referencing the group block name: VMAE Fall 2018 Conference or the group block...

It’s, well, downright adorable. And the also-released “Comrade” video is compelling in featuring a service dog with a veteran who suffers from PTSD. The Pet Effect is an educational campaign to raise awareness of the health benefits of pets. The website features humorous and serious videos, social media posts and other assets that veterinarians can share with their clients to engage in a positive dialog about the human-animal bond. As Steve Feldman, executive director of HABRI (the Human Animal Bond Research Initiative), noted “Research shows that when pet owners understand...

AVMA | LIFE, a Platinum-level Strategic Initiative Partner with VMAE, is deeply engaged in the veterinary wellbeing initiative. They’ve teamed up with the Pet Poison Helpline to co-sponsor a free webinar titled “Healthcare Provider Mental Health: Preventing Suicide and Building Resilience.” Scheduled for April 19 from noon-1 PM Central time, the speaker is Christine Moutier, MD, Chief Medical Officer at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Click here to register and deepen your understanding of the issue and of successful strategies emerging in the wellbeing of healthcare professionals. Webinar Description: Awareness of high...

Did you know that the AVMA website contains a searchable calendar of veterinary meetings and CE offerings?  Check it out here! VMAE global headquarters (just checking who’s reading!) was contacted by one of our Strategic Initiative Partners who wondered if such a calendar exists – so that the partner could identify VMA meetings where the company might wish to exhibit. I spent a bit of time using the searchable calendar and determined that only a few VMAs seem to be listing their education opportunities in the database. From personal experience,...

The VMAE Board of Directors would like to make you aware of Biomedical Research Awareness Day (BRAD), to be held on April 19.  Sponsored by Americans for Medical Progress (AMP), BRAD is a day to honor, raise awareness of, and pledge support for animals needed for biomedical research. AMP states the “why” of BRAD as follows: “To educate people about the vital role animals play in the development of new treatments and cures for people and animals, highlight careers in laboratory animal medicine and biomedical research, and promote support for...

Have you ever wished you could offer your members tips and advice on how to improve the management of their practices, but lacked the time, funding or expertise to create those resources? Now you have those resources to use at no cost to your VMA – courtesy of VMAE! With the assistance of the Ontario VMA, a North American leader in the provision of practice management advice to veterinarians, VMAE is making a bank of practice management articles available to members for use on your websites, and in your newsletters...

You’re invited to a members-only online event, powered by The Bridge Club (TBC), at Noon Central Daylight Time on Friday, March 30 to discuss the Veterinary Nurse Initiative.  To register for the event click here. Typically, TBC invites special hosts to engage participants in a 25-minute conversation on a topic like telemedicine, pet insurance or career development. But for VMAE, they have offered to host a complimentary, hour-long dialog session. TBC will use their unique approach and video-event platform to bring Ken Yagi and Heather Prendergast together with VMAE members for discussion...