This year marks a start of a lot of new things and a lot of firsts, exemplified most recently by one of the proudest moments of my life. It took place in an airport as I was returning home from lecturing at the North American Veterinary Conference. Many of us have been through the "hurry up and wait" airport drill, the endless wait once you hit your departure gate, the endless boredom as the minutes tick away. I felt all that and more - the relief of having completed a successful series of lectures, more relief at having them well-received, and the excitement of being asked, right as I checked out of the meeting hotel, to come back to lecture to even more veterinarians in 2010. But the airport wait was still long and boring, until all the TV monitors in the terminal turned to an event that many of us never thought we would see, in our lifetime - the inauguration of our new President, Mr. Barack Obama. I've never seen so many people cheer and cry in an airport before, and I was right there in line for the Kleenex myself.
That moment made me realize - as did our new President's speech - that while we have a long way to go towards economic recovery in our country, it is a task that can and will succeed so long as we work together. That's something that's easy for all of us to forget until we receive such an eloquent reminder as we all received that day. For us at Knollwood and I'm sure for you, it's easy to look at things as they are right now and to get depressed sometimes. Hospital income is down and costs of goods are dramatically up. As Knollwood's Practice Manager, I'm faced daily with having to make hard decisions - do we to cut hours? Or tighten our already tight belts? Do we lay off staff? Do I tell my Doctors and staff that we have no money for their continuing education? Do we delay, again, on repainting the clinic and upgrading that dental table that Dr. Papacek has been wanting for so long? For our clients, it's as hard or harder. I hear stories daily from clients who have lost hours at work or have simply lost their jobs, who have had to downsize their homes or who have lost their homes, who are afraid that they'll have to give up their pets. All of us are worried and all of us are trying to do our best.
But there are bright and comfortable spaces between the gloom for us, and many of these have or will benefit your pets here at Knollwood. It's hard to believe that I've had such a superb associate as Dr. Mary Papacek for over two years now! Since "Dr. P" joined our staff in October of 2006, our surgical and dental capabilities have rocketed skyward. Her superb skills in these areas have made our practice a real winner! Dr. Papacek has introduced newer, safer, and quicker anesthetic protocols and has improved our Nurse's surgical and dental monitoring skills. Her special interest in senior pets and endocrine disease has benefited countless patients. Her total skills package very much complements my own. We're a great team and I very much appreciate and enjoy working with her.
Our Knollwood staff represents the best team with which any veterinarian could wish to work. From Michelle who manages our front office, assisted by Chani at the front desk, to Nikki, Tina, and Jenn who provide Nursing care for our patients, to both Ashleys who keep our hospital in the clean and sanitary condition that many of you compliment us about, to our seasonal veterinarian-in-training Katie, now completing her second semester at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine, to our Volunteer Tami, who helps us out so much on her Tuesdays here - they are a veterinary team to be proud of. Just a few anecdotes to bring a smile to some of your faces: Tina is currently working her way through the THREE vet school interviews she received this year! She's interviewing at the veterinary colleges of the universities of Illinois and Minnesota as well as at the Western California veterinary college, and we all think that any of them would be fools to not accept her into their entering class this fall. And Michelle recently wowed a colleague of mine who told me that she didn't know what to do about her employees who constantly use their cell phones all day. Swallowing my own advice, I simply handed the phone to Michelle, who succinctly explained to this Doctor what she'd tell any employee who worked under her, who dared to accept personal calls at work. The Doctor listened meekly and then asked if Michelle was able to come to Texas to train her employees. Michelle shot off a one-liner - "I'm too busy working here, but you are welcome to send your employees to Schaumburg and I'll train them right!" Like I said.....a great team!
We're working hard to make your visits with us as cost effective as possible for you. From offering extended-duration vaccines that are proven and safe, to focusing on wellness-based medicine, to offering special pricing whenever possible, we're doing our best to keep your costs down during these trying times. We'll talk about vaccines first. Veterinary medicine has finally faced up to the fact that the old "give-'em-every-vaccine-known-to-man-every-year" protocol is not in the best interests of many pets. It's worth knowing that EVERY major veterinary group has rejected this practice and has recommended that vaccine protocols be tailored to each pet's needs and disease risks. Not all pets need every available vaccine every year! At Knollwood, we've been touting the alternatives to this harmful practice for years, and are very pleased to now be able to offer new extended duration rabies, canine distemper-parvo, and feline distemper vaccines. Each of these vaccines now needs to be given only every THREE years and there is also a blood test alternative to some of these vaccines, called a titer test. The titer test measures how much vaccine protection is left in your pet's system, and can tell whether the repeat vaccine at three years is even necessary. In some pets, vaccine protection lasts for many, many years. My Lizzie, for example, has not needed a distemper-parvo vaccine for over 8 years, and the titer test has proved this. We've worked hard with area kennels to accept titers and to realize that an annual booster is NOT needed, and many have accepted this. Sadly, our state will not accept titers for rabies vaccine (although this is recognized in most of Europe) and most kennels will still require vaccination for kennel cough, even though the vaccine is known to be only partially effective. We've been moderately effective in getting kennels to realize that a coronavirus vaccine is not needed, either, but this is still a case of you, the pet owner, needing to check into a kennel's requirements BEFORE you board. I hope you are aware that the common practice of vaccinating a pet when it arrives at a kennel is completely ineffective in preventing disease, and can harm many pets!
Our focus on wellness-based medicine has been important to me from the day I opened this practice in 1993 and it has become more important over the years as my professional focus has shifted to explore more aspects of complementary medicine. The lack of such a focus in the northwest suburban area is one of the major reasons I decided to open my own hospital rather than continuing to work for others who didn't support such a view of what pets and their owners deserved, needed, and wanted. My clients and patients are the proof that preventative medicine DOES work! By starting with a careful emphasis on nutrition, immune support, appropriate neutering and spaying for young pets, preventative lifetime dental care, and regular blood test monitoring to pick up small problems before they become BIG EXPENSIVE problems, we are able to keep your lifetime pet care costs low.
There is one bit of sad news, too. Knollwood recently lost a great friend and I lost a personal mentor - my client, retired physician Dr. Laura DeLapp. She had been battling multiple sclerosis for many years, and throughout the years she was a Knollwood client, she never failed to be cheerful and upbeat during the ups and downs of her disease progression. Today, when it is easy to click a TV monitor and see women physicians and lawyers and executives, and when little girls know that they can grow up to be anything that they wish to be and that is OK to want to achieve their dreams, it's hard to believe that it wasn't too long ago that a young woman had exactly two career choices: she could be a teacher, or she could be a nurse. Anything else was pretty much out of the question. Dr. DeLapp received her Nursing degree in the 1950's, and quickly realized that she was brighter and more adept than most of the Doctors she worked under. But medical schools weren't accepting women any more readily than veterinary schools were accepting them two decades later, and she tried in vain to gain acceptance. She interviewed repeatedly, enduring the same questions I was asked during veterinary school interviews in the 70's: Did she have a boyfriend? What did he think about this highly unusual career choice - would he allow it? Why should they accept a woman, since we were all destined to first be incompetent and then to get pregnant and drop out anyway? How would she possibly be able to handle male patients?
Finally, Loyola called, one month into the 1957 school year - they had a drop-out, and Laura could take his place, if she could complete the first month's course work in a week. She did it, and graduated with distinction, the only woman in Loyola's graduating class of 1961. Dr. DeLapp went on to complete an internship and a residency program in family practice, all the while tolerating colleagues every day who asked her to make them coffee and told her that she didn't belong there. She put up with this nonsense and maintained her Diplomate status throughout her career, gradually winning grudging acceptance from colleague after colleague with her smile, her brilliance, and her grace. She never married, despite three engagements - all of her beaus insisted that she abandon her career upon marriage, and she refused to do so. After a distinguished medical and teaching career, she finally retired but continued to serve on many medical committees. She also tutored in literacy programs, and devoted herself to the care of her two cats and to her extended family. Dr. DeLapp was a strong supporter of our KPR program from the moment that she heard of it, and many patients and clients have benefited from the financial support she provided to this program over the years. But beyond that, she was a wise mentor who provided me with much support and encouragement, and for this she will be deeply missed.
I'll finish with a strong positive: Dr. Papacek's commitment to good preventative dental health for all of our patients has lead us to extend our reduced-cost dental program through 2009. We now offer not one, but TWO reduced-cost dental programs each year. This year, our first dental "special" will run from now until mid-March; you should have received our reminder card for this special in the mail already. If not, please call the office to pick a date with our front desk staff. If you and a Doctor have concurred that you can wait until the next special, that one will be in November and will be advertised on the website only.
Next month, I'll tell you about some of the extremely cool and new things I learned at TNAVC. One of the benefits of lecturing at the world's largest veterinary conference is a free conference pass and the opportunity to attend many wonderful lectures. This year, I focused on veterinary economics and practice management, respiratory disease, management of cancer patients, and Chinese herbal medicine treatment of neuromuscular disease.
Dr. Mitchell
P.S. In case you were wondering.....after meeting with Dr. Papacek, who keeps track of hospital finances, we've agreed to do a little more belt-tightening and negotiation with our suppliers. That allowed me to figure out how to get the money to buy Dr. Papacek the new dental table that she felt would make our dental procedures faster and safer for the patients, and we haven't cut hospital hours or had to let any contributing staff members go!
