Ingrid Houde - Becoming A Veterinary Assistant

Becoming a VeterinaryAssistant

Ingrid Houde

Smashwords Edition1

Copyright 2013 IngridHoude

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Table OfContents

My Experience As AVeterinary Assistant

It probablycomes as no surprise that I had always wanted to work with animals,and I decided when I was fourteen years old that I wanted to getinto veterinary medicine, aspiring back then to be a veterinarian.The first thing anyone will say when they walk into the veterinaryworld is that they love animals and I am no different. I have hadpets all my life, from hamsters from the age of six, to begging andpleading my parents to let me get my first dog at the age ofthirteen. I would rescue field mice, and if a bird hit our livingroom window and died, I would make my father bury it in thebackyard with full ceremony out of respect of an animals lifelost. I have boundless empathy and compassion for any creatureunable to speak for itself, and always wanted to parlay thatpassion into a career.

After going touniversity for a few years, working toward a Bachelor of Sciencedegree as my first step closer to applying for vet school, lifetook me in a different direction, away from school and my hometown.I'll spare you the details about boyfriends and money struggles,but basically it was at that point that I unfortunately had toabandon my dream of becoming a doctor for animals. I consideredgoing to school to be an Animal Health Technologist, but the newcity I moved to did not have a college I could attend to do so.

I wasunemployed, broke, and with an Associate of Science Degree, livingoff of a very small savings account, I had to come up with a newplan for my life. I knew I didn't want to settle for any old nineto five job, but didn't have any specialized training for anything.I held on tight to my dream of working in a veterinary clinic, buthad no idea how I would achieve it. I had approached clinics in thepast, offering my limited services for a volunteer position, justto get my foot in the door, but any paid opportunities werereserved for those that had an education and previous experience.Then one day, looking through the classified ads in the newspaperone day, still looking for something to pay the bills, I wasencouraged when I found an ad for a Veterinary Assistant course inmy area. I felt this was a way to quickly gain the knowledge Ineeded to enter the field and start a career, even if it was at anentry level position. I just knew I was going to devote my life toanimal care and this was the perfect first step to making my dreama reality.

Armed with myprevious university education and a love and passion for animalsand science, I wholeheartedly threw myself into the course. Idevoured the information, studied hard, and started volunteering atmy local humane society so that I had some hands on experience thatwould look good on a resume. I graduated at the top of my class sixmonths later as a Certified Veterinary Assistant. I was so proud ofmyself, and quickly gained momentum, getting hired for the summeron the second day of my practicum at the first clinic I had everworked at, then getting hired at another clinic a couple of monthslater when my time at the first job ended. I had youth andenthusiasm and was ready to work. My vision was of going to workevery day, loving the animals and helping their owners to take thevery best care of them that they could. I figured the people whowalked through the doors were people who loved their pets and would(and could) do anything that was needed, that they would be open toany and all suggestions, that I would work with like-minded staffand would love every minute of my job.

I quicklyrealized that although my dream was to work directly with theanimals, I was not trained as an Animal Health Technologist, thepeople who are trained in a nursing capacity and spend all theirtime dealing directly with the animals during their treatment.During my schooling we had learned about medical terminology,diseases and treatments, procedures and hands-on animal restraint,but I had wondered why we had to learn so much about customerservice, thinking that reception would only be a small part of myjob. I came to find that the highest demand in the field at thetime was not for the techs, and not even for doctors, but forwell-trained receptionists.

Never did Iaspire to be a receptionist, but that is where I found myself,and I really needed and wanted the job being offered to me. So withthe help of the staff at that clinic, some trial and error, a fewtears, and a lot of hard work, I put my mind to becoming the bestreceptionist/assistant I could be, hoping that my boss would see mypotential and let me work side by side with the technologists - andthe animals - more.

I was twentyyears old, working in a clinic with four doctors and a staff ofabout thirty technicians and receptionists - quite a large groupfor a private practice. The receptionists there took me in andtaught me a lot about dealing with clients, and the manager wasalways making sure I had time working in the back treatment area(the back) so that I could keep up my skills. I polished mydiplomacy skills, as well as my critical thinking and conflictresolution skills, and I became a multitasking queen! There weretimes we were so busy, it would have been easy to turn and bumpinto someone, but those of us who had worked together for a whilejust seemed to know where each other were, and we were a well-oiledmachine. I was able to balance working in reception with helpingthe techs and doctors in the back, by holding for X-rays, andrestraining for blood draws and IV catheters, as well as holdingfor basic procedures like cleaning wounds and nail trims, amongothers. There were many days I went home smelly and hairy, withscratches on my hands and arms, but I was also very happy.

After a fewyears at that clinic, one of the receptionists moved away, and thenI quit a short time later after a bad car accident left me unableto work. I decided to move back to my hometown and, I realized thatmy former co-worker had married a veterinarian and they hadpurchased a practice there. I kept in contact with her, and everytime we spoke, she asked me when I was going to come work for her.Back in our days working together we often fantasized about what itwould be like if we could run our own clinic, and what we would dodifferently, so the idea of working with her and making that dreamcome true was very appealing to me. When I was ready to work again,it just took one phone call, and she welcomed me onto her staff. Iwas very fortunate that she valued my skills from when we workedtogether and was willing to hire me on the spot.

I continued tohone my receptionist skills, working long hours and taking on everytask given to me: reception, assistant, surgery assistant, kennelworker, inventory, and later bookkeeper and payroll administrator.I was young, and just willing to do anything that was needed, so itwasnt until the vet thought that everyone should have their ownbusiness cards that he finally gave me the title of AssistantManager. The title was great but the pay was not. I was making anaverage wage for someone new to the field, but at that point I'dalready had five years of well-earned experience, and should havebeen making more. It was probably another six months before I gotup the courage to ask for a raise, which I received. I was givenanother raise about a year later, and that would be the last one Iwould receive in my five and a half years working there.