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VETERINARY TEAM ASSOCIATION OF TEXAS NEWSLETTER

Winter 2023 Edition

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IN THIS EDITION

Message From the President
VTAT News: Election Results
Trivia Corner
Member Spotlight
For A "Greener" You
Executive Board Meeting Minutes
A Look Back
Recently in Veterinary Medicine
Upcoming CE Opportunities
In Case You Missed It

A Message from the President

Hello VTAT Members,
I want to start out by saying I hope you had blissful holiday season and a Happy New Year! We are off and running into the New year with a new legislative session starting and some major topics being discussed within veterinary medicine and what the future of the industry looks like.
This is the time to get involved! Keep up your membership with VTAT, join TVMA, start attending meetings, and have a voice in matters that are important and impactful to you. VTAT will continue to work to be the voice for veterinary teams in Texas, but your personal participate is the center piece of change.

I leave you with one of my favorite quotes. "We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." -Walt Disney

Stay warm!

Heather James (Formally Gleason), BS, LVT, RLAT

VTAT NEWS: 2023 Election Results

The results are in!
Your new 2023 Executive Board Members are:

President: Heather James (Gleason)
President Elect: Christine Hoskinson
Vice President: Vacant
Secretary: Brittany English
Treasurer: Sarah Perry

Terms begin January 1st, 2023 and continue through December 31st, 2023.

TRIVIA CORNER

Fascinating Animals

Can you guess which animal is being described?
This animal:
- Is one of the few non-primate species to use tools
- Eats venomous snakes! Up to 25% of their diet.
- Cannot jump
- Loves to raid beehives for the larva

Pharmacological Facts

Can you identify which drug is being described?
Which sedative:
- causes vomiting in cats
- must be used with caution in ruminants as they are extremely sensitive to it
- has recently become a drug of abuse

Find the answers at the end of the newsletter.

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

Meet Sarah Perry!

An LVT and your new VTAT Treasurer.

Current place of employment? Texas A&M University Small Animal Hospital Critical Care Unit

Favorite Recent Show/Movie? 1899 on Netflix. Trippy!

What do you love most about your job? Teaching senior veterinary students. Every two weeks I get a new group of students who are passionate about emergency and critical care and they get the opportunity to really pull their knowledge together and think like DVMs and I get to share my knowledge with them! It's really fun getting to learn with them and celebrate in the wins and lean on each other during the losses.

Go-to Comfort Food? My dad's homemade chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese.

What has been your biggest professional achievement? In one of my previous positions, I was running up to 6 clinical trials for some amazing surgeons. It gave me the opportunity to really connect with clients through repeat follow-up and exposed me to some of the newest surgical procedures and technology.

Where are you from? Where did you go to school? Waller, TX and went to school in Cypress, Colorado (CSU) then moved to College Station.

How have you benefited from being a member of VTAT? VTAT has offered opportunities to understand the legislative process in the goal of promoting title protection for LVTs. VTAT has also offered some unique CE opportunities!

Are you a morning person or a night owl? Morning! I love to get up before everyone else and enjoy my coffee and read my book.

Future goals and aspirations for your career? I am currently working to get a blood banking program started at TAMU and working towards my Veterinary Technician Specialty in ECC.

Fun fact that people probably don’t know about you! I considered going to school for architectural design when I was in college and I enjoy building furniture and designing our dream house!

FOR A "GREENER" YOU
Conserve resources, for you, for animals, for the planet. By: Christine Hoskinson

SMALL CHANGE = LARGE IMPACT

Next time you are offered a straw, say no thanks. Although saying no to straws will not solve the plastic waste problem it is a simple first step. Once you begin realizing how many single-use plastic items you use, but do not necessarily need, in a day it's a bit astounding.

Other simple switches:
- Bring your own reusable coffee cup
- Carry a refillable water bottle
- Say no to plasticware when ordering to-go
- Do not use plastic produce bags....I mean really, what is the point?

Many cities and states have begun banning single-use plastic items such as straws and plastic bags. Some companies have begun reuse programs in which you receive a discount for bringing your own containers or using their returnable containers. There are now thousands of products that can replace single-use items and help combat our global impact.

BIG CHANGE = BIGGER IMPACT

What if you didn't have a dryer in your house? Sure it would be inconvenient but using a drying rack, or clothesline, is easy, safe and cheap. No fabric softener, no repairs, no energy, no cost. Only half of European households have dryers and our great-grandparents sure didn't.
- Reduce your carbon footprint
- Prolong the life of your clothes
- Save money

Click the buttons below for more information. The above are opinions of the author.

“We don’t need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly.” Anne Marie Bonneau, Zero Waste Chef

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Swap the Single Use Items

Ditch Your Dryer

BOARD MEETING MINUTES

VTAT Board Meeting Agenda Dec. 2022 & Jan. 02, 2023 at 6:00pm

Call to order: 6:09pm
Roll Call: Cortney Evins-Haire, LVT, Heather Gleason, LVT, Christine Hoskinson, Brittany English, LVT, Sarah Kronberger-Perry, LVT

Introduction of new board members and positions

Treasurer: Sarah Perry, LVT
Vice President à President Elect: Christine Hoskinson, LVT

Previous meeting minutes

HG motion to approve, C.Hosk second, all in favor, motion passed

Treasurer report
Total in bank: $1,740.14

Membership: one new since Nov

Chase bank fee: -$12.00
Taxes upcoming; due 1^st week Feb

OLD BUSINESS:
Newsletter
January edition
Updating formatting

HG found new format we may be able to use
Utilize past presidents; spotlights; prev meeting mins; treasurer reports; etc
- Just more helpful info
Mail chimp ok, but very ‘cookie-cutter’; look into switching?

Move from Monthly to Quarterly Newsletter

C.Hosk motioned, BE second, all in favor, motion passed
BE to still send out meeting minutes monthly to Board

NEW BUSINESS:
TVMA Relationship
They’re starting to have multiple membership areas now, like we do; no kennel staff level
Look into alignment (or not) of organization goals, determine future relationship
TVMA Conference booth
Fri-Sun, March 3-5; Marriott Hotel and conference center – The Woodlands
Can TVMA comp booth?
Treasurer to sign VTAT up for this event
Goals for VTAT 2023
CE Events
Membership Participation & Retention

send ideas in to HG

NAVTA Nurse Practitioner
Sending out survey about NP initiative?

Good idea to send; current conversation/relevant topic
Would need to send survey if we are to release a statement
May build membership bc seeing relevant discussions
Use social medias and send on mail chimp to active membership

Or looking for statement to stand for the state

Don’t think our membership is large enough to speak for state?

VTAT Meetings
Moving from monthly to quarterly?
Tabled to next meeting
Veterinary Legislative Day (Jan 31-Feb 1)
Attending: HG and CH – maybe, SKP yes
Whoever is able to go from board represents VTAT

BE motioned, HG second, all in favor, motion passed

Meeting adjourned: 6:59 PM

A LOOK BACK

Do You Know the History of the VTAT Name?

During the end of 2012, early part of 2013, legislative action began concerning the conversion of RVT to LVT. At that time VTAT was called TARVT, Texas Association of Registered Veterinary Technicians. There were many questions regarding the dissolution of the association, renaming the association, and/or the association going under TVMA.

Technician membership in TVMA was discussed but the issue was tabled as some technical issues within TVMA were worked out. During that time TARVT was hard at work defining policies and procedures and updating bylaws to clearly reflect the mission statement, goals of the association, and duties of the executive board with the ultimate goal of continuing to be under the umbrella of TVMA. With the completion of this task, a name change to better reflect the membership that the association was composed of was sought after.

In early 2014 the TARVT membership suggested the new name of Texas Veterinary Medical Team Association (TVMTA). It was thought that this name more accurately portrayed the inclusiveness of the association, that all members of a veterinary practice (technicians, assistants, practice managers, etc.) were welcome and would benefit from being members
.
The name change was announced at the SWVS in 2014 with plans to go into effect in 2015. The process of a name change has many parts including a new domain name for online presence and official changing of the name for tax purposes, articles of incorporation, etc. It was during this process that TVMA was asked to consent to the new name as it was considered similar or in close proximity to their name, Texas Veterinary Medical Association. With reasons such as the name being too close to TVMA’s name and that it had the potential to cause confusion TVMA did not approve the use of TVMTA.

To Be Continued.....

RECENTLY IN VET MED

Click on the headlines below to read about recent happenings and updates in veterinary medicine.

New Guidelines from AAHA on the Care of Senior Dogs and Cats

An Updated Demographic Survey of Veterinary Technicians from NAVTA

AVMA House of Delegates Discuss Mid-Level Practitioner Idea

UPCOMING OPPORTUNITIES

American Association of Feline Practitioners Webinar
February 7th FREE

VHMA Annual Conference- Indianapolis
February 9-11th

NAVTA Leadership Summit- February 11th

WVC Annual Conference- Las Vegas
February 19-22nd

AVMA Excellence Award Nominations
Due February 22nd

TVMA Annual Conference- Woodlands
March 2-5th
VTAT will have a booth and a General Membership meeting so stop by and see us!