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President's Message: Around the world in 80 days — Part 2
October 28, 2024
Boozhoo, aanii, kwey anidush, greeting and hello. Let’s continue our trip and explore what CVMA has learned from our contacts with organized veterinary medicine in other parts of the world.
Before we do that, please have a closer look at the 4, probably unfamiliar, words that started this message. The Indigenous peoples of Canada spoke a multitude of languages and these words are all different ways of saying hello. One of the things that CVMA has learned from our Australian and New Zealand colleagues is how easily and naturally they incorporate their first languages into any organizational communications.
CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA
The Pan American Association of Veterinary Sciences (PANVET) is an organization that represents veterinarians of North, Central, and South America. It is a Spanish speaking organization and because of my lack of language skills, I have never sat at their board table. A very important contributor to PANVET was a Canadian veterinarian, Dr. Theresa Bernardo. For those of you who do not know, Theresa passed away earlier this year, but one look at her obituary will quickly tell you how special a veterinarian she was. It was a very proud moment for me as a Canadian to listen to a past president of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) speak of her vast contributions to PANVET.
The COVID-19 pandemic was very hard on organized veterinary medicine in Central and South America. A major source of funding is the PANVET annual conference, and it was only last year that they were able to return to an in-person meeting held in Montevideo, Uruguay. Most South American veterinary medical associations do not have a funding reserve to draw on, and the PANVET conference is a major source of continuing education for the Spanish speaking part of our profession and needed to be maintained. The good news is that the AVMA rose to the challenge when asked and PANVET is now back on much more solid financial footing.
WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?
The pandemic had an impact on organizations globally and many took hard hits to their efforts and finances. It is worthwhile for organizations in more affluent countries to invest their time, effort, and resources in these organizations. This is especially true in the veterinary field where concerns in One Health, foreign animal disease surveillance, and animal welfare are global issues.
NEXT STOP IS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD, AUSTRALIA
I have been lucky enough to meet the President of the Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) at CVMA Conferences and to meet with their organization while I was in Australia. Their Council organization is similar to the structure of Mexico, where veterinary species groups are represented but there is no representation from industry groups.
Australia is the country that most resembles Canada in both size and population distribution. We share many similar issues including a work force shortage, wild fires and reconciliation with our Indigenous peoples. Most Australians live close to the coast, mimicking our population being concentrated in the south of the country. They have 7 veterinary Colleges, 4 of which are AVMA-COE accredited and they train a sizable number of foreign students, mostly from the United States.
In spite of training more veterinarians per year for a smaller population, they still share our issues with lack of workforce, most acutely in the rural areas as well as in food animal medicine. Like us, their universities are looking at methods of attracting rural students interested in mixed animal medicine.
Contrary to Canada, the Australian system does not recognize a certified RVT position and economically the profession’s income lags behind other countries.
The mental wellness of Australia’s veterinarians is foremost on the AVA’s mind. Burnout, retention of staff, and suicide ideation all resemble what we are seeing in Canada. What we are missing is Australia’s workplace safety regulations that require employers to provide a safe workplace including mental health protections. The AVA has designed a veterinary wellness initiative called THRIVE that includes a 1-day Cultivating Safe Teams in-clinic program that helps to mitigate common stressors in veterinary workplaces and promotes a culture of psychological safety. They also have a very active mentorship program for new graduates.
Australian bush fires mimic our wildfires, putting people, livestock, and wildlife at risk. The Australian government has adopted a military-like approach to the issue and has a well-designed and thought-out plan to allow the veterinary profession to assist and be compensated for their time, travel, and accommodations while doing so.
WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?
The similarities in our 2 countries are examples how organizations can approach veterinary issues in both comparable and differing ways with similar resources. Both organizations share their approach regarding the need to attract students interested in mixed animal medicine, whereas management of wildfires by the 2 organizations are vastly different. The Canadian Government has never called on the Canadian Veterinary Reserve to assist with natural disasters. We need to bring the Australian plan to our government’s attention.
The Australian THRIVE program is being funded through a foundation based in the USA. We need to knock on that door and to make sure that CVMA’s new mentorship program combines the best of both the AVA and AVMA programs.
The CVMA continues to look around the world for solutions to the challenges our profession faces. In the next message, we will visit New Zealand and then finish with a short discussion about China and Europe.
Tim Arthur
