Dief Thoughts: Part 1 of 3

Summary of challenges I see around me that I would love to engage more on. (I’m sorry that is just a long title). These are, in list form:

1. Reducing Animal Suffering

2. Veterinary Relevance

3. Access to care

I’ll start in reverse order on why I think this is important to me and the industry:

#3: Access to Care

This is a hot topic, so I’ll start here. I know there is a lot of algorithm work going on where I see the type of posts I engage in most often, but I see A LOT of us talking about this. I think we have two areas, one that is talked a lot about and one that isn’t.

Affordable and Accessible Care for the Underserved:

In 2020 I completed a certificate in Veterinary Human Support from the University of Tennessee. This program was designed for Veterinarians and Social Workers to work together to help deal with issues of burnout, compassion fatigue, and other areas of concern in the industry. It helped me better recognize that the issues are complex but many are working to try to understand them. I was fortunate enough to make friends and connections with some rockstars there, albeit virtually (Dr. Ginger Templeton; Dr. Addie Reinhard) and was lucky enough to work on the AlignCare program under the leadership of Dr. Michael Blackwell.

While I know that insurance is a part of the equation, Access to Care will need to be always mindful of how easy care can be to obtain (think about remote ‘care deserts’ where the closest vet clinic may be over an hour away) as well as work hard to be sure costs of care do not mimic the human experience of exponential growth in costs (a friend recently told me a loved one’s medical bill was $1.3M….).

Access to Advanced Care for Smaller Geographies:

Maybe this one is selfish. In 2022 I moved to Morgantown, from Portland, Maine. In Portland, I had easy access to specialists where, here, I have to drive 1.5-2 hours to see a specialist. Both my sister and I have ability to pay, and have cats with heart murmurs, but in my case it just makes less sense to put my anxious cat in a carrier for a 1.5 hour drive for an EKG…how can I get those services here? Why does it seem like all the solutions for advanced care are going to the same high population metropolitan areas? Anyone working on this?