Hello dear clients!

I hope this newsletter finds you and your loved ones healthy.  Writing newsletters to me has been about connections, relationships and education over the years.  During this time of quarantine, it’s that and so much more.

In March, the phrase “an abundance of caution” was used frequently as the now COVID 19 pandemic began to occupy every facet of our lives.   I haven’t heard that phrase now in weeks as we have been practicing with staff only inside the building for over 5 weeks now and have been in home quarantine.  Never say never but heck, I never ever would have thought that this could ever be.

Yet it is and we are surviving.  And we will prevail and we will all learn from this. 

Our pets are enjoying the extra time with their humans.  Well, most of them at least!  The comfort they give us as well as all the memes that have been created do give us a respite of laughter.   We have never had so many new puppies welcomed to the practice as we do now.  Yes, that comes with challenges of socialization and worry about separation anxiety in the future but  thanks to great resources like Dr Terri Bright an Angell Animal Medical Center, we have been able to educate and work with new puppy owners to help mitigate “post-quarantine” issues.  There are remote training opportunities and great on-line resources.

The sign on one of the exam room walls says “every day is a gift”.  To me that is the single biggest lesson I have been taught by the animals that I have cared for now over 28 years.

There have been some big “gifts” over the years as well as thousands of little packages of gratitude and kindness that add to each day. 

There have been big milestones over those 28 years that have launched me to places that I wasn’t always so sure about. Getting an internship at the prestigious Angell Memorial back in 1992. Deciding to open up my own business in 1998.  Meeting Bill Cummings when BANHC moved to the Cummings Center in 2017. He was one of the first visitors that we had and he even spent time with Stuart. Bill Cummings has taught me about “opportunities” in his autobiography, Starting Small and Making it Big”.   Last summer, I decided to seize an opportunity that coincidentally broke ground March 16th, 2020.   Expansion of BANHC to be able to serve my clients and my staff with more opportunities for care.

It’s all going to work out. It has. That’s the solid foundation from which I grow.  Trying a  new approach during a difficult patient case when things just don’t seem to be going by the textbook.  Finding out about a new treatment for a previous fatal condition and seeing it work! Reaching out to get a different perspective. Remembering to step back and breath when things seem completely overwhelming. No, we may not be able to celebrate with an open house in the new “norm” post pandemic, but we will have more resources to help care for you and your pet as well as more opportunities for staff and a new veterinarian some day!

As a mom to a high school senior and sophomore, wife to a fire fighter and full time veterinarian and business owner, these are definitely trying times.  They are also wonderful times to have family dinners, hours of walks in the woods, puzzle time, yoga and family zoom meetings.

As time passes, I hope you all stay well.  I hope that we as humans come to the post pandemic side with renewed care and kindness for each other, our pets and our world.  Yes, there will still be so many hardships, adversities, death and disasters but if we can make the most out of every “gift” day we have, it will be a life well lived.