Have you ever just had one of those weeks? You know, where you get through Monday and you figure you should just go to bed and sleep the rest of it off. Well, this was the case with our clinic family last week. I would like to commend our clinic family on how well they handled themselves through the rough patch. This was very trying, sad, and painful. When we battle these real-life things we are expected to continue to handle ourselves in a professional manner and stay on top of our game. We have to block out these stressors so we can continue to offer the best care for our patients and their families. This is what we expect of our clinic culture, and what our clients have come to expect. We don’t have time to faulter. We cannot call in sick. We don’t have “mental health” days. We are expected to soldier through at the same performance level, and if we don’t we could jeopardize the health of our patients. I know that a lot of others can relate to this feeling.

Spread around our staff and doctors we have dealt with…a mother in the ER and admitted to the hospital, the unexpected and tragic death of a young family member, a daughter needing emergency surgery, an extremely elderly grandfather with a broken hip needing surgery with concurrent heart disease and diabetes (even though he denies the latter), uncle with rapid onset of a severe arrhythmia requiring a care flight trip and pacemaker placement, the death of life long pet, and a father with cancer needing dialysis that now has Covid.

Even with all these extremely tragic and stressful situations we proceeded to work without complaint. Yes in private our heads may have hung a little lower. Yes, our eyes were red and wet, including my own, throughout. Yes, there was a heightened stress level, after all we are human. We grieve in secret. We try to hold it in and keep a good front in an attempt to remain professional. We do this so we can continue to provide good health care for our client’s pets. We do this so we can offer good customer service without misunderstanding that our sober mood is because our minds are elsewhere, if only temporarily.

We give our clients the benefit of doubt when we have less than stellar interaction. After all, we don’t know what they are dealing with on a given day. In the rare instance we get an apology from a client after being yelled at, cursed at, and/or complained to (etc, etc) typically a very stressful situation that is the primary root of the frustration. We get that people are human, and deserve some grace and forgiveness.

I do ask for a similar grace and forgiveness from our clients. We are only here because we love pets and providing healthcare. This field is not “all about the money”. Yes, we do this for a living and need to support our clinic and its associated families, but if we really wanted to make more money we would have done something different. Keep in mind there are 155 human medical schools in the U.S. compared to 32 veterinary schools. Based on the numbers we could have been “real” doctors and made twice as much. Instead, our starting salaries are closer to a plumber or an electrition. The point is, “we” are one of “you”. We all have better things to do than negotiate the cost of a nail trim or listen to cursing because a client entered the wrong primary contact information on their first visit (all things that have occurred recently). Just like we have no clue what is going on in “your” life “you” don’t know what is going on in ours. Please think twice before complaining! We will always be nice and professional, but if needed, we will ask a client nicely and professionally to find a new clinic. If you want to see a sad stat look up “suicide rate in veterinarians”.

Thanks to all my staff! You have done a great job through the trials and tribulations. We look forward to easier weeks ahead. If we keep taking “hits” though, there is not a better group of people I would rather be with. Thanks to all the clients who allow us to do what we love every day. If you have having a bad day just tells us, and we will try to make it better for you and your pets!