WA Division President's Report April

A huge thank you to all our colleagues who staffed emergency and on call clinics over the March long weekend and Easter holiday. Not only did you help animals and their owners in need, you also helped the profession and your colleagues who hopefully used the break to dive into their outside of work priorities be it family, time for themselves, hobbies or simply rest (what’s rest?).

March also brought our Southern Branch together in Albany with a fantastic turnout, great social gathering, new and old faces and an opportunity to plan the branch’s future. Organized by the branch’s leader Rob Graham the group met at the DPIRD building in Albany for a presentation from 4 members about “Finding their why”. It was an insightful afternoon that highlighted the breadth of lived experience; from practice owners to new grads, clinical work to government legislation and biosecurity, Australia and overseas.  It was followed by dinner and drinks at Albany’s Due South where several other members of the profession joined in for a bit of networking and socialising. We established social gatherings would be preferable every 4 or so months, and organised CPD would best be targeted as solely small animal or solely large animal to make an event marketable. It certainly invites collaboration with AVA SIGs in future. I strongly encourage the rest of WA to establish their own branches, as the opportunity to connect with other professional members is the glue that keeps us together.

I want to thank all that participated in our rural workforce survey which has now closed. I can attest that the feedback is so so so important. I expect to send the results of the rural workforce survey out to membership next month after we have time to comb through the information. In the meantime, and especially given my brief look at the comments regarding remuneration – PLEASE fill out the AVA survey about “What vets don’t get paid for”. I had plenty to say and the survey only took 20 minutes. I would love our members to set a personal goal of contributing to our professional body by filling out the survey or contacting me on what else they see is a priority.

An acknowledgement for the members who have taken the time to utilise the AVA for their concerns and issues. All issues will be tabled for discussion at our committee meeting mid-April.

Please feel free to utilise my email katiekreutz@ava.vet to reach out about how we can help our members.

Dr Katie Kreutz
WA Division President