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Introductory Message
From the Small Animal Hospital Director
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The new year always brings a sense of new beginnings, new goals, and new hopes for the future. Now that 2023 is in full swing, I am excited to share new developments that are on the horizon in the Small Animal Hospital. Many of our specialty services will open new facilities in the coming year, and our Emergency and Critical Care Service will see a marked improvement with the hospital’s first major upgrade in the facilities since its opening more than 50 years ago.
As many of you know, the caseload in the ER/ICU over the past few years has been at all-time highs – far beyond what the suite was originally built to see. We have been in dire need of expanded facilities to continue meeting these demands with the same level of compassionate and timely care that our community has come to expect from UC Davis.
I’m so thrilled to report that our new small animal ER/ICU is very near completion, with an anticipated opening in late winter or early spring. This new space is something that the hospital has looked forward to for many years, and with its completion finally on the horizon, we will be better equipped to meet the ever-growing demands for urgent and critical care.
Highlights of the new space include a conference room, laboratory space, a noise-reduction room for a vocal patient needing intensive care, and most importantly, an ICU that is 2.5 times the size of its predecessor and an ER that doubles the previous space with four beds and monitors to track patient vitals and incoming patient traffic, as well as a washtub for heat stroke patients and work stations for faculty and staff.
Additionally, there are many other changes happening throughout small animal over the next year. One of the most exciting is the opening of a new Dentistry and Oral Surgery Service suite that we anticipate in 2024. More details of that can be found in the next issue of the school’s Synergy magazine that will be out in April.
You may have also noticed construction in the old Scrubs cafeteria facility just north of the VMTH. That area is being repurposed into our new Center for Advanced Veterinary Surgery, increasing the capacity for surgical procedures at the hospital in order to combat the months-long waiting list for non-life-threatening surgical procedures that are in such high demand throughout our profession.
New and/or remodeled spaces for the Nutrition, Behavior, and Dermatology Services will also happen in the coming year. We have much to look forward to in 2023.
Finally, I want to extend my sincere gratitude to our staff for overcoming obstacles at every corner, it seems, throughout this construction process – especially in emergency care. The team has worked in a makeshift ER and ICU for months, heroically cared for unforeseen caseloads, and facilitated clients and patients who endured longer wait times than the VMTH has ever seen. These past few years have been trying, to say the least, but I am so proud of how this team has triumphed in the face of adversity and cared for a record number of patients.
All the best for the new year.
--Kate Hopper
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PET Continues to Revolutionize Equine Imaging
Equine PET scanning, pioneered at the VMTH by Dr. Mathieu Spriet, is now in its third year of application at Santa Anita Park and has benefited more than 500 horses at the renowned racing facility. This novel imaging modality, pioneered at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, was initially focused on the racehorse fetlock, but has matured in the last year. The early equine PET studies performed on racehorses at Santa Anita have now been published and have confirmed the value of this new technique. PET was found superior to bone scan in assessing the racehorse fetlock, particularly for identifying injuries of the sesamoid bones, the most common cause for catastrophic breakdowns at the racetrack. PET also demonstrated its ability to monitor injuries over time and predict the amount of time needed to heal. The popular racing industry publication Paulick Report recently highlighted its success.
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COVID-19 Update:
- UC Davis will adopt the UC updated policy on Vaccine Program With Interim Amendments, effective January 31. The policy requires all employees and students to get the primary COVID-19 vaccine series and be up to date on boosters, except for those people who have approved exceptions. For those who prefer to opt out of COVID-19 boosters, there is an option to do so by submitting a declination statement. To comply with policy, employees and students will need to upload their COVID-19 vaccine information or submit the declination form via Health-e-Messaging, or HEM, no later than February 28, 2023. The declination form is still in development and will be available in HEM in early February. For more information on the vaccine policy, please visit Campus Ready.
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Faculty Update:
- Congratulations to Drs. Krystle Reagan and Rob Rebhun on being named co-directors of the Veterinary Center for Clinical Trials (VCCT). Focused on support of evidenced-based treatment for diseases and injuries, the VCCT’s groundbreaking translational research is aimed to evaluate novel therapies and approaches in order to improve treatments for veterinary and human patients. Drs. Reagan (Internal Medicine Service) and Rebhun (Medical Oncology Service) bring a wealth of experience in the field and are currently conducting clinical trials that may revolutionize treatments for some of the most challenging diseases. Dr. Reagan will be responsible for oversight of clinical trials in internal medicine, neurology and neuroscience, cardiology, ophthalmology, and other non-cancer-related studies. As co-director, Dr. Rebhun will lead cancer-related trials, which encompass roughly half of the VCCT trials. Learn more about VCCT in this new video produced by the SVM.
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Recognitions
NOMINATE YOUR COLLEAGUES TODAY
Recognize the hard work
your team performs every day.
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Please utilize the PerfectForm icon link available on every VMTH desktop (or through VIPER>VMTH>Forms>VPETT) to nominate your colleagues for recognition of an outstanding example of one of our five Cultural Pillars: Realize Our Vision, Value People, Pursue Excellence, One Team, Trusted Dialogue.
The Cultural Pillars Committee is pleased to announce the recipients of the VPETT Recognition Award for the month of January.
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January Recipients:
Tessa Berg, the Field Services coordinator, was recognized for exemplifying our cultural beliefs of Value People and One Team, which contributed to the key results of Excellence in Client/rDVM Satisfaction and Employee Engagement.
“Tessa went above and beyond during staff shortages in the Large Animal Clinic to help with phones, payments, and client services. She was able to complete her tasks as the Field Service coordinator while stepping in to assist with a shortage in the LAC client service team and the billing team. She also helped answer phones in the Small Animal Clinic when queue was high. Thank you!”
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Sydney Anderson, a scientist in the Clinical Diagnostic Laboratory, was recognized for exemplifying our cultural beliefs of Realize Vision, Value People, Pursue Excellence, and One Team, which contributed to the key results of Excellence in Patient Care and Employee Engagement.
“Sydney is such a rock star. We’ve been very busy lately, but Sydney still manages to find time to work on organizing projects that have saved us time and improved work flow over the long term. She made a low-tech solution for our urine samples that were getting caught on the fridge rack, and it works perfectly. She also updated our UA list in a new program she had never used before. Awesome job!”
Thank you, Tessa and Sydney, for your hard work and dedication to the VMTH.
In addition, Julie Taylor and Maureen McNabb also received awards for recognizing the hard work of their colleagues.
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Key Cultural Pillar
“Realize Our Vision"
Thank you to several clinicians from the Large Animal Clinic for helping to promote the hospital by participating in Goat Day, hosted recently by the Animal Sciences Department. This year’s theme focused on the business and economics of the goat industry. Several clinicians gave presentations at the event:
- Dr. Meera Heller: Veterinary Medical Center campaign update
- Dr. Tara Urbano: “Newly Validated Blood Test for Pregnancy Diagnosis”
- Dr. Grace Van Hoy: “Understanding Goat Parasite Control”
- Drs. Meera Heller and Tara Urbano: “Ultrasound, Healthy Goat, View Rumen Microbes”
- Drs. Grace Van Hoy and Rosie Busch: “Fecal Egg Counts, FAMACHA and Body Condition Scoring, Record Keeping, and Management”
- Drs. Fauna Smith and (Professor Emeritus) Joan Dean Rowe: “Genetic Information for Production, Disease, and Parentage”
In addition, Drs. Busch, Heller, Rowe, and Smith served on the Goat Day Committee, and the hospital hosted a promotional table at the event staffed by DVM students who are interested in pursuing careers in livestock medicine.
|  | DVM students Taylor Lindquist, Shoshana Brody, Kelsie Kennicutt, and Stephanie Hustad hosted a VMTH promotional table at Goat Day. | |
Wellness Tip of the Month
Florence Soares-Dabalos, MS, LMFT, the VMTH’s client support and wellness professional, offers a brief tip each month on managing stress during busy and demanding careers. Please see the full website of services that Florence offers, including a section on House Officer Wellness.
- With a new year upon us, some of you may be setting new goals. One of those goals may be to improve sleep. Many of you have shared with me how sleep can be a struggle, either falling asleep or staying asleep. Besides keeping a regular sleep routine, the SELF method may be helpful. SELF stands for Social, Exercise, Light, and Food. This short video explains how making changes in these areas can improve sleep quality.
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