WA Division President's Report - December 2024

A November wrap up and a wish for a happy, healthy holiday season.

Last month  we aimed to deliver a different kind of educational gathering in the form of workshops. While we were unable to reach the necessary registration numbers to proceed with our pathology and exotics workshops, the ultrasound workshop was a sellout.

^{Ultrasound Workshop} 

Sponsored by Mediquip and led by Dr Jane Day and Dr Kerri Renshaw the workshop gave participants an opportunity to fine tune their ultrasonography skills. I personally learned quite a bit just hovering in the background between setting up and packing down and I hope those attending have gone back into their places of work and utilised their new knowledge on kidney assessments, tracing intestinal paths, and the finer knobology on a machine that makes the image work for you. I also wanted to thank all the Murdoch student volunteers Cindle, Joelene, Erin and Jayden for their assistance in allowing the workshop to run on time and smoothly and with all the correct pieces!

^{Ultrasound Workshop} 

I definitely heard the feedback from participants that were looking forward to an opportunity to socialise with other vets and missed having the annual conference this year. I miss it too. Going forward we will need to make sure that we get confirmed numbers and registrations in early so that we can ascertain the viability of big AVA events in WA. I hear what the membership wants, but when the registrations open, the numbers don’t always reflect what the original interest seems to be. I know the social networking component is what fills of lot of our cups and I believe this is what keeps our profession strong and united. I strongly encourage those with an interest in these kind of events to reach out and be part of their local branch team that can make these things happen. If you don’t know where to start send me an email!

^{Ultrasound Workshop} 

The month of December can be one of both joy and stress and those things do not need to be mutually exclusive. Whether you are celebrating with colleagues, family, friends, pets or just with some needed quiet time, please be safe and ensure you are doing something for yourself to keep your cup filled. That is a firm request. I know many vets will be staffing emergency shifts to ensure the continued care of their community’s animals. On behalf of those you are helping – patients, owners and colleagues – thank you for continuing to work as hard as you do. I doubt many of you take the time to realise how incredibly important you are, but know that we know.

Remember the future depends on what you do today. See you in 2025 !

Dr Katie Kreutz

AVA WA Division President