3 Ways Your Can Celebrate Your Veterinarian
As someone who worked in the veterinary profession for a few years and had an opportunity to see first-hand how hard veterinarians work, I am so excited that World Veterinary Day is recognized each year!!
World Veterinary Day is celebrated on the last Saturday of April to "recognize the critical role veterinarians play in protecting animal and human health” (WDRB). This year, the World Veterinary Association (WVA), which created World Veterinary Day, is promoting the recognition of veterinarians with an emphasis on the One Health Concept.
What is the One Health Concept?
According to the WVA, "The One Health Concept is a widely discussed worldwide strategy for expanding interdisciplinary collaborations and communications to improve all aspects of the health and welfare of humans, animals, and the environment.”
The One Health Concept supports the idea that the work veterinarians do day in and day out is not in isolation. Each step that is taken to improve the health and well-being of the animals in our lives is a step toward improving the health and well-being of humans in addition to improving the future of our planet.
That being said, veterinarians are performing complex and high-level work every day, and much of their handwork goes unrecognized by the public as a world health effort. So today is the day that we recognize their hard work and the key role their daily tasks and research play in improving all health.
Because I know that most veterinarians feel underappreciated, I am going to share with you 3 ways that you can make your veterinarian feel appreciated on World Veterinary Day.
3 ways you can recognize your veterinarian in honor of World Veterinary Day
1) Send a Thank you Note: You have no idea how far a simple thank-you note can go toward making veterinary professionals feel appreciated. Often, veterinarians spend some of their days with people who don’t appreciate them or their work. Knowing that some of your clients appreciate the work that you do can really help them get through the day.
2) Donate to a Good Samaritan Account: Much of the frustration people show at the veterinary office is due to financial constraints they have and an emergency situation they didn’t see coming. Having a Good Samaritan account at a veterinary hospital is a rare, but incredible, asset. This type of financial support allows veterinarians to provide people with severe financial constraints flexibility so that they can provide their patients with the best possible care.
3) Bring them coffee: At a veterinary hospital, coffee is always a good idea. Many professionals in this community work six days a week, or double and overnight shifts. As a matter of fact, I have a friend who is a veterinarian and she used to work back-to-back shifts at different veterinary hospitals (one general and one emergency). I promise you, coffee in a veterinary hospital will not be wasted.
So I ask you, what will you do to show veterinarians that you recognize the importance of their work?
