NZVA veterinary team

The week that was…

Your NZVA veterinary team share how the world looked to them in the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic.

LORELLE BARRETT

LORELLE BARRETT –VETERINARY MANAGER ( COMPANION ANIMALS ) You know it’s not going to be good news when your boss calls you at 4pm on a Sunday afternoon. At the time of writing that was just a week ago, but it feels a whole lot longer!

We’d definitely felt an increased anxiety and uncertainty among members in the preceding week, as the Government announced progressively harsher isolation requirements and travel restrictions. Calls started coming in at a much faster rate than usual – members worried for themselves, their teams, their businesses, and wanting to know if veterinarians would be on the list of essential service providers if it came to it. Frustratingly, we didn’t have solid answers for some of you.

Then came Sunday 22 March – Helen Beattie (our Chief Veterinary Officer) heard that alert levels were likely to move up and it has pretty much been game-on ever since. That Sunday afternoon brought a flurry of phone calls to the Member Advisory Group and special interest branch presidents for contributions to our Government submission. Monday was spent anxiously awaiting confirmation that the profession was on the essential service providers list – and finally the official word came as we all sat watching the Prime Minister outline the move to Level 3, and then Level 4. I remember feeling a brief moment of relief, because we now had a definite direction: get the profession ready for Level 4.

And so it began… The rest of the week was packed with Zoom calls, phone calls, emails, endless writing and reviewing of documents and member updates, long hours, challenging conversations, stress, frustration and a few tears. Offsetting all that was the amazing support from our national office colleagues, who gave everything we asked of them and more – thank you team, we couldn’t have done it without you! We also had incredible support from you, the members, both publicly and privately, so thank you for that. Knowing that our best efforts are appreciated really does help sustain us for whatever the next weeks are going to bring.

ASH KEOWN –VETERINARY MANAGER ( LARGE ANIMAL ) It was with a strange sense of calm that I watched the escalation from ‘watching brief’ to the creation of alert levels and a rapid rise to Alert Level 4.

Despite feeling at times that I was watching our own existence play out as a film script, a global shutdown did feel like an inevitability in my lifetime.

On 23 March the NZVA leadership team made the decision that all national office staff would work from home – it would be our small contribution to the nation’s effort to ‘flatten the curve’. Little did we know we’d be joined by the majority of New Zealanders, housebound only three days later.

The week since has been a blur in which I understand my own experience but have been cushioned from the raw emotions of others, other than for brief glimpses during hurried phone calls, video chats and messages.

While the pace has been hectic at national office (the amount of material coming at me at all hours confirms this), I really feel for those of you who are facing much more uncertainty and asking questions like “How can I keep my staff safe?” and “How will my business survive?”.

ASH KEOWN

DESPITE FEELING AT TIMES THAT I WAS WATCHING OUR OWN EXISTENCE PLAY OUT AS A FILM SCRIPT, A

GLOBAL SHUTDOWN DID FEEL LIKE AN INEVITABILITY IN MY LIFETIME.

For all the guidance and advice that we at the NZVA create to help you, I cannot ease the burden of the decisions you have to make to protect your families, your staff and your businesses. The anxiety and uncertainty many of you are feeling has been palpable for us here, despite the physical distance. We are doing our best to support all of you with the best guidance we can muster.

Thanks to those of you who have taken the time to share messages of support and make available your own information for sharing with other members. It’s been fantastic to see so much willingness to work together. Perhaps these unusual times will help to provide the answer to a question I’ve pondered for a long time: how can we help the veterinary profession to become more collaborative?

HELEN BEATTIE – CHIEF VETERINARY OFFICER What a crazy week! I find it so difficult to reconcile what I see and hear, and how I’m living, with the fact that it’s actually reality.

I couldn’t be prouder of my team and how they, and the whole NZVA team, rallied to do what needed doing. Websites were updated, emails were sent (often quite late) and communications were developed well after closing – and I didn’t hear a single complaint.

We had amazing responses from the Member Advisory Group and special interest branch presidents, who were on the job only hours after we called on a Sunday to meet the Monday deadline we’d given for submission to the Government. It was an outstanding effort, and knowing we’d consulted key persons made positioning the NZVA’s advice so much easier.

The first week was completely bonkers, with every decision and action aimed at making the COVID-19 lockdown a little easier for veterinarians in New Zealand. Here I’d like to thank all those in other parts of the profession who contributed an enormous amount of time and energy, including industry, the Ministry for Primary Industries, VCNZ and Massey University to name a few. While our resources aren’t necessarily directed at you, we hope you feel proud of how your association has represented you.

In developing advice we do our best to balance a wide range of members’ views with those of external stakeholders – it’s not an easy gig. Please remember that if you don’t agree with our advice you have discretion, and that much of our advice is qualified with statements that enable that.

As a team, we've shared a lot of Zoom time - my deep thanks to Liz (NZVA Veterinary Coordinator), Ash and Lorelle for listening, shouting, laughing, swearing and supporting.

Please re-read Lorelle’s and Ash’s last sentences– I have no better words than those they offer there; such is the quality of my team!

I’m pretty sure that your first weeks of navigating the increasing alert levels were no easier. Hang in there!

Kia kaha – be strong and be kind.

HELEN BEATTIE