Just in time for Pride Month 2023, we’re excited to bring you a special two-part episode featuring Kate Toyer, BVSc, MANZCVS (Surgery), veterinary surgeon, feminist, and president of Australian Rainbow Veterinarians and Allies (ARVA). Knowing Kate’s story doesn’t make listening to her tell it any less powerful – and if you don’t know her yet, this is a conversation you need to hear.   Follow Kate, ARVA and The Veterinary Kaleidoscope Summit, Australia’s first face-to-face veterinary conference dedicated to diversity and inclusion, on LinkedIn!  Allyship means more than four weeks of rainbow logos on social media. For our colleagues in the LGBTQIA+ community right now, love alone isn’t enough. Visit https://pridevmc.org/allyship-resources/ to learn about essential ways you can encourage, empower, and take action on behalf of fellow veterinary professionals and their families. AAHA is proud to be a signatory and supporter of the Gender Identity Bill of Rights.  Central Line is generously supported by CareCredit.   Wish you could watch these conversations? Catch Central Line on YouTube.   Got something to say? We’re always up for constructive comments and conversation. Send us feedback or questions anytime at podcast@aaha.org.  This episode was produced by Clear Contender LLC with generous support from CareCredit. This information is shared solely for your convenience. You are urged to consult with your individual advisors with respect to any information presented. Synchrony and its affiliates, including CareCredit, (collectively, “Synchrony”) makes no representations or warranties regarding this content and accept no liability for any loss or harm arising from the use of the information provided. All statements and opinions are the sole opinions of the speaker.

It’s one of the biggest questions on most managers’ minds these days: In the vet med of 2023, where EVERYONE is hiring, how can we keep team members from jumping ship? Stacy Pursell, BA, CPC, CERS, founder and CEO of The Vet Recruiter, shares some of what she’s picked up from the trenches of this hypercompetitive job market—including how to run an effective exit interview, what signs to look for that your team is engaged and happy, and why offering sign-on bonuses might hurt the team you already have.   Central Line is generously supported by CareCredit.   Find all of AAHA’s most up-to-date Guidelines, including resources for your clients and team, at aaha.org/guidelines.  Wish you could watch these conversations? Catch Central Line on YouTube.   Got something to say? We’re always up for constructive comments and conversation. Send us feedback or questions anytime at podcast@aaha.org.  This episode was produced by Clear Contender LLC with generous support from CareCredit. This information is shared solely for your convenience. You are urged to consult with your individual advisors with respect to any information presented. Synchrony and its affiliates, including CareCredit, (collectively, “Synchrony”) makes no representations or warranties regarding this content and accept no liability for any loss or harm arising from the use of the information provided. All statements and opinions are the sole opinions of the speaker.

If you have a bleeding cut, you use first aid to try to stop the bleeding; if you have a stress reaction in a bone, you stop running on it before it becomes a stress fracture. This May, in honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, we sat down with Melyssa Allen, MA, CHWC, DipACLM, to talk about Stress First Aid in veterinary medicine.   Melyssa, a former marine mammal trainer (!) and boarded lifestyle medicine professional, saw her friends and colleagues in the veterinary world suffering during the height of COVID and wanted to help. Find out what she means by “Stress First Aid” and how we can use it to help each other—and ourselves—stem the bleeding before we’re in in crisis.   Find Melyssa on her website, on Instagram @veterinary_wellbeing, on the Veterinary Teams Living Well Facebook group, and on Insight Timer (which you can use for FREE!).   The Stress First Aid information, including a booklet for health professionals, is found here.   Watch the TED talk Melyssa mentions, by Kelly McGonigal.  We hope to see you in San Diego this September 20-23 for AAHA Con! This redesigned conference experience will have content for the entire veterinary team. Registration is OPEN NOW for AAHA Con 2023! Snag your spot here!   Find all of AAHA’s most up-to-date Guidelines, including resources for your clients and team, at aaha.org/guidelines - including the brand new 2023 Selected Endocrinopathies of Dogs and Cats Guidelines, available now at aaha.org/endocrine-disease!  Wish you could watch these conversations? Catch Central Line on YouTube.   Got something to say? We’re always up for constructive comments and conversation. Send us feedback or questions anytime at podcast@aaha.org.  This podcast was produced by Clear Contender. LLC.

When everyone is shorthanded and overwhelmed, thinking outside the traditional small animal practice model can help – but that’s a lot easier said than done. In this triple-Katherine episode, Katie Cutter, DVM, DACVO, and CEO of BoosterPet, and Katherine Medina, LVT, BoosterPet’s LVT/VA team manager, talk about leadership, feedback, and using technology and team empowerment to transform the way we practice.   We hope to see you in San Diego this September 20-23 for AAHA Con! This redesigned conference experience will have content for the entire veterinary team. Registration is OPEN NOW for AAHA Con 2023! Snag your spot here!   Find all of AAHA’s most up-to-date Guidelines, including resources for your clients and team, at aaha.org/guidelines - including the brand new 2023 Selected Endocrinopathies of Dogs and Cats Guidelines, available now at aaha.org/endocrine-disease!  Wish you could watch these conversations? Catch Central Line on YouTube.   Got something to say? We’re always up for constructive comments and conversation. Send us feedback or questions anytime at podcast@aaha.org.  This episode was produced by Clear Contender, LLC.

If you spend any time in a veterinary practice, you’ve spent some quality time with endocrine diseases – but staying on top of changing diagnostic and treatment recommendations can be rough. On May 1, 2023, we celebrated the launch of the first-ever AAHA Selected Endocrinopathies of Dogs and Cats Guidelines, designed to help veterinary teams take on these tricky diseases armed with the latest and best information available.   For this week’s podcast, we were lucky enough to sit down with Liza Rudolph, BAS, RVT, VTS (CP-CF, SAIM), a member of the guidelines task force and program director for the Veterinary Technology Program at Rowan College of South Jersey, to chat about what a truly team-based approach to managing endocrine disease looks like.  Find all of AAHA’s most up-to-date Guidelines, including resources for your clients and team, at aaha.org/guidelines - including the brand new 2023 AAHA Selected Endocrinopathies of Dogs and Cats Guidelines, available now at aaha.org/endocrine-disease!  We hope to see you in San Diego this September 20-23 for AAHA Con! This redesigned conference experience will have content for the entire veterinary team. Registration is OPEN NOW for AAHA Con 2023! Snag your spot here!  Wish you could watch these conversations? Catch Central Line on YouTube.   Got something to say? We’re always up for constructive comments and conversation. Send us feedback or questions anytime at podcast@aaha.org.  The episode was produced by Clear Contender, LLC.

What do vet school, Scratch ‘n Sniff, and the “no thank you bite” have in common? Well... they all come up in this conversation with Tina Tran, DVM, associate professor and clinical relations lead veterinarian at the University of Arizona. We also discuss pros and cons of the distributive clinical education model, and Tran, former president of the Multicultural Veterinary Medical Association (MCVMA), explains how intertwined diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging are with her work in helping veterinary students enter the field.  We hope to see you in San Diego this September 20-23 for AAHA Con! This redesigned conference experience will have content for the entire veterinary team. Registration is OPEN NOW for AAHA Con 2023! Snag your spot here!   Find all of AAHA’s most up-to-date Guidelines, including resources for your clients and team, at aaha.org/guidelines - including the brand new 2023 Selected Endocrinopathies of Dogs and Cats Guidelines, available now at aaha.org/endocrine-disease!  Wish you could watch these conversations? Catch Central Line on YouTube.   Got something to say? We’re always up for constructive comments and conversation. Send us feedback or questions anytime at podcast@aaha.org.  This episode was produced by Clear Contender, LLC.

As a veterinary receptionist, veterinary chaplain (yep, that’s a thing!), and volunteer with Not One More Vet (NOMV), Kelly Drescher Johnson, M.Div, makes her first of two appearances on Central Line in honor of Veterinary Receptionist Week, 2023. With a Master of Divinity degree, Kelly’s road to vet med has been winding – but now that she’s here, she doesn’t seem like she’s planning on leaving anytime soon, and that’s a good thing for all of us!   While many of us have grown used to “client services representative” or similar titles, Kelly chooses to identify as a veterinary receptionist because, as she points out, every “front of the house” position is a little different, and the title you use should depend on the duties yours involves. Get to know Kelly in this episode – including why she feels that providing monogrammed scrubs and continuing education might mean more to many CSRs than a promotion to management – and stay tuned for her second appearance later this year, where she talks about how she found her way into veterinary chaplaincy.   Find Kelly at www.veterinarychaplaincy.com and on LinkedIn.   Find all of AAHA’s most up-to-date Guidelines, including resources for your clients and team, at aaha.org/guidelines.  Wish you could watch these conversations? Catch Central Line on YouTube.   Got something to say? We’re always up for constructive comments and conversation. Send us feedback or questions anytime at podcast@aaha.org.  This podcast episode was produced by Clear Contender, LLC.

Josh Vaisman, MAPCPP (PgD), makes a return appearance on Central Line, this time on his own (catch his ensemble episode at Connexity with three other rock stars here) to celebrate the launch of his first book, Lead to Thrive: The Science of Crafting a Positive Veterinary Culture.   Josh is a light-bringer, a do-gooder, and a mood-lifter for sure, but he’s also a former practice owner and co-founder of his current company, Flourish Veterinary Consulting, and he knows what it means to run a business. Even if books about positive psychology aren’t your usual fare, his evidence-based approach to positive leadership makes good business sense. No matter what your role, in the veterinary team or beyond, Josh will convince you that you can be part of creating a workplace you love. Pre-order Lead to Thrive NOW at aaha.org/leadtothrive, and catch Josh in the AAHA Community (this event will be open to members and nonmembers!) for a presentation and live Q&A.    Find all of AAHA’s most up-to-date Guidelines, including resources for your clients and team, at aaha.org/guidelines.  Wish you could watch these conversations? Catch Central Line on YouTube. Got something to say? We’re always up for constructive comments and conversation. Send us feedback or questions anytime at podcast@aaha.org.  This episode was produced by Clear Contender, LLC.

This week we’re featuring a short but very sweet drop-in by Kathryn Primm, DVM, friend of AAHA and fellow podcaster, who is not only a fun tablemate at a conference gala but is also a powerful force for the positive in the world as a whole. Tune in for a quick bite of perspective as Dr. Kat talks to us about how much she’s learned about how outlooks affect how we go through our days.   We’re still working through all the great conversations we had at Connexity back in September 2022 – and it’s already time to register for AAHA Con, our reimagined, redesigned conference experience for the entire vet team. Stay tuned for more details, and join us in San Diego in September!   Check out Dr. Kat’s pet-owner focused podcasts:   Nine Lives with Dr. Kat Dr. Kat Gone to the Dogs  Find all of AAHA’s most up-to-date Guidelines, including resources for your clients and team, at aaha.org/guidelines.  Wish you could watch these conversations? Catch Central Line on YouTube.   Got something to say? We’re always up for constructive comments and conversation. Send us feedback or questions anytime at podcast@aaha.org.  This episode was produced by Clear Contender, LLC.

It would be hard to find someone who knows the veterinary world better than David Liss, MBA, RVT, CVPM – he's never had a job outside vet med, having gone from kennel assistant to a VTS in both emergency/critical care and small animal internal medicine, a CVPM, and most recently regional operations director (“managing managers”) for the Veterinary Emergency Group.   We could have talked to David about a thousand different things, but when we asked what he’d like to discuss, he picked one of our favorites: communication. David talks about this “soft skill” in scientific terms, explaining how to override our lizard brains by asking questions (another of our favorite things) and how to make people feel emotionally safe while you’re engaging them in a tough conversation.   Catch lots more from David on the Pawsitive Leadership Podcast!  Find all of AAHA’s most up-to-date Guidelines, including resources for your clients and team, at aaha.org/guidelines.  Wish you could watch these conversations? Catch Central Line on YouTube.   Got something to say? We’re always up for constructive comments and conversation. Send us feedback or questions anytime at podcast@aaha.org.  This episode was produced by Clear Contender, LLC.

Last September in Nashville, Omar Farías, VMD, senior manager of scientific and academic affairs at Hill’s Pet Nutrition, made time for a chat about his role as president-elect of PrideVMC and the changes he’s excited to see in the industry. In case you haven’t signed yet, here’s a link to the Gender Identity Bill of Rights (GIBOR).   We hope to see you in San Diego this September 20-23 for AAHA Con! This redesigned conference experience will have content for the entire veterinary team. Registration is OPEN NOW for AAHA Con 2023! Snag your spot here!   Find all of AAHA’s most up-to-date Guidelines, including resources for your clients and team, at aaha.org/guidelines.  Wish you could watch these conversations? Catch Central Line on YouTube.   Got something to say? We’re always up for constructive comments and conversation. Send us feedback or questions anytime at podcast@aaha.org.  This podcast was produced by Clear Contender, LLC.

Our guests this week are Danielle K. Lambert and Jessica Vogelsang, DVM. Why, in a field that’s overwhelmingly female in 2023, is there still a gender pay gap? Danielle K. Lambert, CEO and cofounder of The Snout Group, joins AAHA’s chief medical officer, Jessica Vogelsang, DVM, to discuss how, as a profession, we can move toward a time when all women feel free to ask for what they’re worth. And in the meantime, we can speak up for each other.   People of any gender: take a listen, get inspired, and check out these resources:  Feminist Fight Club by Jessica Bennett  The Myth of the Nice Girl by Fran Hauser  Women’s Veterinary Leadership Initiative (WVLDI)  March 2023 article on the gender pay gap in AAHA’s Trends magazine  Find all of AAHA’s most up-to-date Guidelines, including resources for your clients and team, at aaha.org/guidelines.  Wish you could watch these conversations? Catch Central Line on YouTube.   Produced by Clear Contender LLC. Send us feedback or questions anytime at podcast@aaha.org.

Our guest this week is Marcy A. Bliss. It’s pretty easy to take compounded drugs for granted... until things change. And change is in the air starting April 1, 2023, when the Food and Drug Administration’s Guidance for Industry #256 takes effect. GFI 256 will determine what medications veterinary teams are able to keep in their office stock for dispensing to individual patients – such as the bulk order of gabapentin marshmallow-flavored suspension many of us keep on the shelf to send home with those cats and small dogs who just aren’t up for a relaxed experience that day.    Marcy A Bliss, CEO of Wedgewood Pharmacy, joins us to talk about how GFI 256 will change how we use compounded meds, the long list of drugs Wedgewood and others have submitted for review by the FDA in the hopes of getting them approved for office stock, and how veterinarians can influence the FDA to move more drugs onto the “OK” list.   If you’re worried about losing immediate access to the drugs you need, take a few minutes to let the FDA know what drugs are important to you. This page has links to the approved list and the drugs still under review, and makes it easy to submit comments on GFI 256: https://info.wedgewoodpharmacy.com/gfi-comments   Find all of AAHA’s most up-to-date Guidelines, including resources for your clients and team, at aaha.org/guidelines.  Wish you could watch these conversations? Catch Central Line on YouTube.   Got something to say? We’re always up for constructive comments and conversation. Send us feedback or questions anytime at podcast@aaha.org.  This episode was produced by Clear Contender, LLC.

In this episode, Ewan D. S. Wolff, PhD, DVM, DACVIM, one of Pride VMC’s 2022 Leadership Award Winners, joins us for one of Central Line’s most important conversations to date. We cover a lot of ground and a lot of emotions, from how studying dinosaur diseases prepared them for a career in internal medicine to why they picked up their life and family and moved across the country in 2022 in the space of a few weeks.  We are living at a pivotal moment in our society’s story. Stop what you’re doing and learn what each of us can do to move the needle in the only direction that improves the safety, wellbeing, and diversity of our space – our profession – our people.   Pride VMC has an enormous library of resources for the entire veterinary community.   If you or someone you love need support, visit this list of hotlines and other resources: https://pridevmc.org/support/   Visit this page to learn more about and sign the Gender Identity Bill of Rights (GIBOR). You can see the Gender Identity Guide (published along with the GIBOR) here: https://pridevmc.org/gender-diversity-guide/ We also discussed and recommended two programs available through the AVMA:  Journey for Teams (free)Brave Space Certificate program (free for members) Find all of AAHA’s most up-to-date Guidelines, including resources for your clients and team, at aaha.org/guidelines.  Wish you could watch these conversations? Catch Central Line on YouTube.   Got something to say? We’re always up for constructive comments and conversation. Send us feedback or questions anytime at podcast@aaha.org.  This episode was produced by Clear Contender, LLC.

“You can’t deliver great medicine if your team is not functioning properly,” says Margot Vahrenwald, DVM, current president of AAHA’s Board of Directors. Dr. Margot stopped in to chat during Connexity in fall 2022 as she stepped into her presidency, and she told us about all the things she’s excited to see come to life at AAHA and in the veterinary profession as a whole. She’s got a journalism degree and a master’s in communications, and her focus on words, relationships, and all the things that make up the framework of veterinary medicine is already serving us well in 2023.    Want to be on AAHA’s Board of Directors? Apply before March 27, 2023. We’d love to have a credentialed vet tech on the Board! More information and application instructions here.   Find all of AAHA’s most up-to-date Guidelines, including resources for your clients and team, at aaha.org/guidelines.  Wish you could watch these conversations? Catch Central Line on YouTube.   Got something to say? We’re always up for constructive comments and conversation. Send us feedback or questions anytime at podcast@aaha.org.  This episode was produced by Clear Contender, LLC.

This week, Central Line is teaming up with the hosts of the AVMA’s podcast, My Veterinary Life, to talk about something we all have in common and that we get questions about all the time: nonclinical veterinary jobs. Our guests, Marci Kirk, DVM, Associate Director, Office of the Executive Vice President, Annie Chavent, DVM, Assistant Director, Student Initiatives, and I chat about how we ended up in the positions we’re in, what our days look like, and how we’ve all discovered in our own way that love for vet med doesn’t always have to look the same.   Give My Veterinary Life a listen, and let us know if you’d like to hear more collaborative episodes with the hosts of MVL or other veterinary podcasts! Wish you could watch these conversations? Catch Central Line on YouTube.   Got something to say? We’re always up for constructive comments and conversation. Send us feedback or questions anytime at podcast@aaha.org.  This episode was produced by Clear Contender, LLC.

You may have heard us talking at AAHA about 2023 being “The Year of the Team” - a year to celebrate, elevate, and collaborate with each other, no matter what roles we play in the veterinary space. Joining us for the first time is Jessica Vogelsang, DVM, AAHA’s chief medical officer, author, gingerbread house maker, and beanhead (hear her out on this), who is behind this year’s team focus and hopes we can help shine a light on some of the many different ways veterinary teams can thrive.     Today, February 14, 2023, is also launch day for this spring’s Veterinary Visionaries storytelling solving event! Tune in to learn more, stop by the AAHA booth at WVC, or visit VeterinaryVisionaries.org to tell us your story and help change our world.     Find all of AAHA’s most up-to-date Guidelines, including resources for your clients and team, at aaha.org/guidelines.  Wish you could watch these conversations? Catch Central Line on YouTube.     Produced by Clear Contender LLC. Send us feedback or questions anytime at podcast@aaha.org.

In a relatively short time in veterinary medicine, Addie Reinhard, DVM, MS, has not only made an impact – she's galvanized the entire profession. As founder and CEO of MentorVet, she turned what she saw as a gap in the ecosystem into a full-on movement to improve, fortify, and redefine what mentorship looks like in vet med. We caught up with her at Connexity last fall and can say one thing for certain: we’ll be hearing lots more from this movement-maker, and the profession will continue to be a better place because of her efforts.   Find all of AAHA’s most up-to-date Guidelines, including resources for your clients and team, at aaha.org/guidelines.  Wish you could watch these conversations? Catch Central Line on YouTube.   Got something to say? We’re always up for constructive comments and conversation. Send us feedback or questions anytime at podcast@aaha.org.  This podcast was produced by Clear Contender, LLC.

It takes about 10 seconds of listening to Kathleen Cooney, DVM, MS, CHPV, CCFP, to figure out why she’s so good at what she does. Dr. Cooney, founder and director of education for the Companion Animal Euthanasia Training Academy (CAETA), made time during a busy workshop schedule at Connexity in fall 2022 to sit down with us and talk about making euthanasia one of the most beautiful parts of a day in vet med.    Dr. Cooney was instrumental in creating AAHA's End-of-Life Care Accreditation and was on the task force that created the 2016 AAHA/IAAHPC End-of-Life Care Guidelines. We’ll be talking more with her later in 2023 – if you have a question about euthanasia or end-of-life care, drop us a line at podcast@aaha.org or ping us on social media.    Mentioned in this episode: Euthabag; April 2022 Trends article on aquamation    Find all of AAHA’s most up-to-date Guidelines, including resources for your clients and team, at aaha.org/guidelines.   Wish you could watch these conversations? Catch Central Line on YouTube.    Got something to say? We’re always up for constructive comments and conversation. Send us feedback or questions anytime at podcast@aaha.org.  This podcast was produced by Clear Contender, LLC.

It’s easy to see why Nicole Jameson Fritz, RVT, VTS (ECC) is the inaugural winner of the AAHA Veterinary Technician of the Year award. Nicole is dedicated, curious, kind, and humble, and she’s been quietly growing, flourishing, and encouraging her team in the same hospital, Canada West Veterinary Specialists in Vancouver, for nearly three decades. Nicole’s passion for her work and common-sense views on attracting, rewarding, and empowering her team make us excited to see what the future holds for her – although we’ll have to follow along closely as she’s definitely not in it for the spotlight.  Nominations for AAHA’s 2023 Veterinary Technician of the Year will open later this year – stay tuned and be thinking about those rock star credentialed technicians in your life.   Find all of AAHA’s most up-to-date Guidelines, including resources for your clients and team, at aaha.org/guidelines.  Wish you could watch these conversations? Catch Central Line on YouTube.   Send us feedback or questions anytime at podcast@aaha.org.  This podcast was produced by Clear Contender, LLC.