PRESIDENT’S Statement  —  September 2024

Looking forward to seeing everyone next month for our September meeting. Our CE will be presented by Aggie Dental! Dr. Lommer has been a pillar in the bay area veterinary world for a long time and I am looking forward to her presentation. We will also have Epicure Pharma as a cosponsor. So, we can learn more about Compounded GS-441524 for FIP. This should be a great meeting. Don’t miss it!

Another meeting you should be attending is the San Francisco Commission of Animal Control and Welfare on the second Thursday of every month. These are easy to check out. You could come all the way to city hall and attend in person and make your views known. Or, you can sit at home and listen online while you cook dinner or pet your cat. You can call in and make a statement if you are motivated to do so. Lastly, you can just review past meetings and keep up to date on the politics of local animal issues. I have held the mandated DVM seat for nearly a decade now. It is time for one of my colleagues to step up and take over. I know most of you have never attended a meeting, So, in the remainder of my president’s letter I’d like to review some of the issues discussed at commission meetings in the last year. I’ll skip the coyote stuff since I covered it last time but given recent events you all know I predicted things will get worse before they get worse. …

PRESIDENT’S Statement  —  March 2024

Hello all our members,

I am hoping that everyone is enjoying a prosperous 2024 so far. With our frequent wind and rain this year, I am told that Giardia associated diarrhea is keeping the Flagyl and Fenbendazole flying off the shelves. Seems like a good time to be in the soft stool treatment business. Please feel free to let me know what types of disease your practices are seeing increases in so that we can keep each other informed. Changes in the ways that reference laboratories share information with public health agencies make it more important for our local community to communicate what we are seeing on the frontlines.

On the topic of public health, I have been asked to invite our members to take part in a short survey. Dr. Kim Conway is the One Health lead veterinarian at the California Department of Public Health, Center for Environmental Health. They are conducting a statewide survey of California companion animal veterinarians on the topic of antimicrobial prescription practices. The data collected is aimed at combating antimicrobial resistance through the development of materials that may benefit California veterinarians and their patients. It is anonymous and only took me 10 to 15 minutes to complete. A link to the survey is here: https://ncv.microsoft.com/Z02ISthvbd. Please note this survey will only be open through the end of March. …

PRESIDENT’S NOTE  —  NOVEMBER 2023

This is my last President’s letter of 2023. It represents the end of my first year serving in the position. While there has been a learning curve for me, I hope everyone is enjoying our meetings and I am excited about doing even better in 2024. We have some great presenters lined up! I also have to extend tremendous appreciation to my fellow officers who really did the hard work. Together we are focused on continuing to make your SFVMA a valuable resource for networking, engaging CE, as well as a conduit to veterinary projects in the community. Remember that this is your VMA. We welcome feedback on how we can make it the best it can be.

If you are like me, the year seems to have flown by and it feels strange gearing up for holidays already. I know Halloween has only just past, but the holiday spirit will be in the air in the blink of an eye. Also, I won’t have another chance to say Happy Thanksgiving or Seasons Greetings to everyone. So there it was, and I’ll throw in a Happy New Year, too.

That said, there is a lot to cover in this letter, so I’ll keep it short and sweet. If you are scrolling with one hand and power eating a lunch with the other during your “working lunch break” like so many of our members, you are not alone, and I will avoid wasting your time. First, I want to acknowledge the changing veterinary landscape in the post-COVID lockdown era. I am impressed by the way that our local practices have adapted to the economic, demographic, and industry changes we have been faced with. Congratulations to everyone that has faced adversity in the Bay Area and stayed around to keep practicing here. We are adjusting to new colleagues joining our community and the loss of others to re-location, retirement, and passing on. While it is sometimes difficult to face change, we seem to be on course to continue improving the quality of care for our clients and patients in the Bay Area. I am confident that we will adapt to future challenges, like adjusting to the use of telemedicine in the profession. …

New President’s Statement — March 2023

It is an honor to take on the position of SFVMA President for 2023. After being briefed on what challenges Dr. Lightstone has endured during the era of COVID, I am a bit intimidated by her performance in the position. That said, I will do my best to fill her shoes. For those that do not know me, I have been practicing in San Francisco for 15 years. In my off hours I ride anything on 2 wheels, spend as much time fishing as possible, and work out my stress by playing pinball. There is a Border Terrier and two cats that share their home with me as well.

Along with thanks to outgoing President Lightstone, I would like to recognize the rest of the board that worked together to continue online meetings with CE during the Pandemic. Our CVMA representative
recently informed me that the SFVMA was our only regional VMA to accomplish this. …

Continue reading this article and more in the
Spring 2023 SFVMA Newsletter (PDF)

President’s statement — September 2022

Dear Colleagues,

We are so grateful that so many members were able to attend the June meeting at our new venue, McCormick and Kuleto’s in Ghirardelli Square. It was great to see so many familiar faces and welcome some new ones as well. We are also very grateful to Dr. Gen Luca for stepping up last minute and giving a great talk despite some technical difficulties, and to SAGE for sponsoring.

We hope to see even more of you at our next meeting on Thursday September 15th. I would like to say a huge thank you to Keely Commins, our outgoing treasurer, for all of her work over the last 5 years on the board, and congratulations to her on her new role on the CVMA Diversity and Inclusion Committee. We know she will continue to work hard to support and improve the veterinary community. I also want to say a giant thank you to Tiffany Hahn, our outgoing secretary who helped us out tremendously over the last couple years. …

Continue reading this article and more in the
Fall 2022 SFVMA Newsletter (PDF)

A MESSAGE TO SFVMA MEMBERS

Dear Colleagues,

I hope that everyone was able to enjoy the holidays and ring in the new year. Hopefully 2022, will continue to be an improvement over the last couple of years. We are excited to announce that we are moving towards returning to in-person meetings this year. After a long search, we are working with McCormick and Kuleto’s to return to seeing your wonderful faces for our June meeting. Prior to this, we will have an online meeting March 24th at 7 pm sponsored by Virbac to learn about Stelfonta treatment for mast cell tumors. All attendees who RSVP in advance will be emailed GrubHub gift vouchers for dinner delivery during the meeting.

There are many new veterinarians and new practices springing up in San Francisco, and we look forward to welcoming both new and old faces together. The SFVMA meetings are a wonderful way to meet other veterinarians in the area and network. If you know other area veterinarians who might be interested in joining the SFVMA, please encourage them to do so. We could all use some extra camaraderie and support these days, and a good meal while getting some CE never hurts either. …

Continue reading this article and more in the
Spring 2022 SFVMA Newsletter (PDF)

A MESSAGE TO SFVMA MEMBERS

Dear Colleagues,

I have to admit that over the last year and half, like many others, I have not always been at my best. Between the stress of work, Covid, issues with family, friends, health, pets, it has been challenging for everyone. Something that I have been always grateful for is the camaraderie found in all of the different veterinary clinics that I work at. Veterinarians, veterinary technicians, assistants, CSRs, managers, and kennel techs are some of the kindest, most dedicated and hard-working people that I have had the good fortune to come across. It takes a special kind of person to continue to care for animals, their people, and coworkers during such stressful times with kindness and composure.

No veterinarian could do this job without the support of their hardworking teams. Seriously, to every single person who has continued to engage in animal restraint Twister, pin the needle in the bladder, don’t get bit by the angry chihuahua, dodge the anal gland expression, and other intrahospital games, thank you. To every veterinarian who has taken the time to help review labs, radiographs, cytology, weird cases, and helped with call backs and surgeries, thank you. To every staff member who has continue to help clients and pets despite being yelled at or treated with disrespect, thank you. …

Continue reading this article and more in the
Winter 2021 SFVMA Newsletter (PDF)

A MESSAGE TO SFVMA MEMBERS

Dear Colleagues,

During my internship a hurricane made landfall in Virginia and knocked out power to the majority of Richmond for nearly 1 week. The emergency and specialty hospital I worked at was the only veterinary clinic that continued to operate in the city thanks to 3 generators on the roof. We saw pretty much every dog and cat that needed veterinary care in the entire city for a week. It may not sound like a long time, but when every cage, run, and stacked donated kennel lining 2 entire floors is full, it felt like an eternity. We had every available staff member come in as much as possible, we napped in the clinic or briefly at home in between working horribly long shifts. We ran out of supplies, improvised and borrowed. This was my introduction to disaster veterinary medicine. …

Continue reading this article and more in the
Fall 2021 SFVMA Newsletter (PDF)

A MESSAGE TO SFVMA MEMBERS

Dear Colleagues,

Please join us for our first online continuing education opportunity of 2021. We are grateful to Boehringer-Ingelheim for sponsoring a 2 hour RACE approved online learning program on Feline Vaccinations by Dr. Alice Wolf on March 18, 2021. Meals will be delivered to your work or home. We hope you will join us!

We anticipate hosting our quarterly meetings online for now. We recently learned that we are one of only a few local VMAs in California who have continued to offer continuing education during the pandemic. We thank our wonderful sponsors for their support as we pivoted to online events. Hopefully we can gather together again soon. …

Continue reading this article and more in the
Spring 2021 SFVMA Newsletter (PDF)