Victorian Division President's Report - November 2024

The Victorian Division has spent time this year contemplating our role and priorities. As such we have compiled a list of priorities for the next year.

Key priorities for AVA Victorian Division 2025
1.    Engaging with local branches to engage local vets and connect with local events.
2.    Continue responsive advocacy for legislative and consultative processes to ensure the interests of the profession are represented
3.    Contribute to veterinary workforce solutions.
a.    Rural vet practice 
b.    Promote veterinary work that occurs in different parts of Victoria
c.    Collaboration with VFF to promote the team (vets and producers) and value of vets to assist with demand from producers

We welcome your feedback on these priorities and encourage anyone who is interested in participating in the roll-out of this agenda to get it touch – we do have a vacancy on our committee that you could fill!

To get in touch you can email either myself (drcdeaguevet@gmail.com) or our Senior Advocacy Officer Robyn Whitaker (robyn.whitaker@ava.com.au).

One of my favourite roles as Vic Division President is to attend University of Melbourne student events, and in October I had the pleasure of speaking to the DVM3 students at their Clinical Commencement Ceremony. This is always a joyous occasion with student enthusiasm front and centre before they embark on their final year and clinical placements. The AVA sponsors the scrub tops presented to each student at this event so look out for students in your clinics wearing their scrub tops with pride. Thank-you to all clinics who accept students on placement and play a role in teaching and inspiring them, and in molding the veterinary workforce of the future. 

As well as being inspired by these future young vets, attending events at the Werribee campus is always a nostalgia rush for me. There is such familiarity there, despite the changes after so many years. The amazing learning centre and skills labs are such a great addition to support student learning, but the lecture theatres and Kendall Hall building still give me a blast of melancholy and reminiscence, stirring many happy memories (rose tinted glasses perhaps?). Unfortunately, I am missing my year level annual reunion at Naughton’s this year but I encourage every vet to remember where it all began and reach out to those peers that took that vet school journey with you. Whether you are still close by your alma mater like me, or if you are far afield, those connections are important so make a call, send a text or message, organize a catch-up and don’t lose touch with those who studied with you, supported you and partied with you. I tell the students how important those connections are, and how important it is to check in with their friends and peers while on placement and as new graduates, and I think it’s important that we all remember that no matter how long it’s been.

Lastly, I wanted to mention that I discovered a feature of the AVA website over the last month that I was unaware of, so in case you haven’t found it either I thought I’d mention it. Did you know that you can access a myriad of journal articles for free when you login to the AVA website? Since leaving the tertiary education sector, I have missed having easy access to journal articles through university libraries, but I need not have worried as the AVA provides a database for members for this purpose - a collection of 300+ full-text scholarly journals and magazines devoted to all aspects of animal healthcare. Just click on Library, Journals and Resources at the top of the AVA website home page and you will find everything you need to use this resource.

Happy reading and enjoy your month,

Dr Cathy Deague
Victorian Division President

^{Professor Jo Devlin, Wesley Smythe, Dr Cathy Deague, Associate Professor David Beggs}

^{L-R: Maddie Frey, Kate Birrell, Dr Cathy Deague, Georgia Caputo, Chloe Dennison}

^{The DVM3 cohort 2024}