Meet the team at Cahill Animal Hospital – a family general practitioner kind of clinic

Vetting for THE LOVE OF IT

Mirjam Guesgen meets Genevieve Rogerson, owner of Cahill Animal Hospital in Palmerston North.

They’re out there in the provinces and the cities, veterinarians doing the everyday work in neighbourhood and country clinics. In this series, VetScript visits a different clinic every month.

Tell me a little bit about the history of the practice John and Jenny Cahill started the practice and established it. They must have had it for a good 20 years before I came here. I came as a new graduate from Massey University in 1994 and bought the practice in 2004. I was asked if I wanted to buy in. My initial thought was, “No I can’t do it”, then I sort of had a think about it and thought, “Actually, I can”.

What helped you change your mind about ownership? I was very lucky to have family support to help me with the business side of things.

When Genevieve

Rogerson took over as practice owner, she kept the Cahill name as recognition of the hard work John and Jenny Cahill put into building the practice.

My father and brother had their own business; they used to own CityFitness. It was quite good to have mentorship outside the industry because we can be very insular. One of the problems for me is that I’ve mainly worked in this practice; it’s very easy to keep doing things as you’ve always done them.

Have you only ever worked at Cahill Animal Hospital? I worked here for two years [after graduating] then went overseas and did locum work in the UK for a year.

Did you notice any big differences between the UK and here? This was a long time ago, so things have probably changed dramatically. In those days they were very short of veterinarians so you could ring up [a locum agency] at 10 in the morning and have a job by 11.

I didn’t necessarily work in clinics that were of the same standard as those I was used to here. I worked in some very poor areas. But pet insurance was super common, so the animals were well looked after even if the people weren’t. I was getting clients who hadn’t just been out of work for a year; five generations of their families had been unemployed.

You also had a lot more veterinary nurse support in the UK. There was a higher veterinary nurse to veterinarian ratio and a much better structure where veterinary nurses had quite defined roles going all the way up to senior roles. Clinics that I worked in would do five- to 10-minute consultations and the veterinary nurses in the background were doing a lot of the blood sampling and other work. They could also do some minor surgical procedures.

IT WAS QUITE GOOD TO HAVE MENTORSHIP OUTSIDE THE INDUSTRY BECAUSE WE CAN BE VERY

INSULAR. ONE OF THE PROBLEMS FOR ME IS THAT I’VE MAINLY WORKED IN THIS PRACTICE; IT’S VERY EASY TO KEEP DOING THINGS AS YOU’VE ALWAYS DONE THEM.

Clinic cat Bling (facing page) is often seen near reception, ready to greet clients and patients alike.

When you came back, did you adopt any of those practices? I think [the time overseas] made me more confident. John Cahill had a strong surgical background, and so often if there were complicated surgeries he would do them. When he had the time I could scrub in with him and have him coach me but I never had to do anything solo.

One of the really good things that came out of locumming was that, in some of the practices, I was the only one there so I had to give things a go. It made me stand on my own two feet a little bit. Travelling and working in different areas helps you grow as a person.

What is the structure of the practice? I’m the only owner of the practice. We have four veterinarians – three full-time and one three-quarter-time.

We’re lucky that we’re big enough to have a practice manager and she does all the jobs that I’d be absolutely terrible at, like paying taxes. She’s very good at keeping everything ticking over. We look at things quite differently and it’s good having different points of view.

We have three full-time nurses and one part-time nurse who shares reception and nursing duties. We also have a receptionist.

We have two dog groomers as well. They’re hugely popular. It’s harder to get an appointment with them than it is with us sometimes!

How do you operate after-hours? Massey University does all after-hours. I’m not sure I’d still be in practice if I had to do after-hours. Having Massey is

the single best thing to having a better quality of life. It takes a lot of pressure off as far as care. I can send animals up there at night and know that they’re getting that constant care.

So we’re 8am–6pm Monday to Friday, 8am–4pm Saturday and 10am–4pm Sunday. We have two veterinarians on pretty much all the way through, and the schedule is seven days a week. It suits some of the staff to do weekend work because they can share childcare with their partners. Businesses in many industries are seven days a week. Saturdays and Sundays are just becoming normal working days.

Is there any interest from the staff in taking over ownership of the practice? I haven’t had that conversation yet because I’m not at that stage. The way my travel bug goes I’m going to be working past retirement to fund my hobbies!

What is the vibe of the practice? I think we’re a little bit like an oldfashioned family general practitioner (GP) kind of clinic. We offer a high level of service.

Most of the staff have been here for a long time. One of our nurses started with John and Jenny. She’s been working here some 30 years! From the clients’ point of view, having that consistency is important.

I’m looking after the third generation of clients now. For me that’s what makes the job fun. It’s that looking after a pet for their whole lifetime – and not just the pet, but the person who comes in with them as well.

The staff know each other pretty well and we get on really well together. We can be supportive and look out for each other. We get on and do our jobs but we can also take time out and have fun and laugh together.

I guess that ties in with your slogan: “we care as much as you do”? The slogan really emphasises that there’s not one fit for every person or animal. Everyone has unique ethics, values and financial abilities. The logo and the slogan get the idea of caring across but also that we can tailor things to suit different people. I like to think that’s a point of difference [from bigger corporate veterinary practices], that we can be much more flexible with some of the choices we give people.

What do you see as the future of the profession? I think there’s always going to be a place for independently owned practices. Like anything, there are challenges and good things about them.

One of the things that’s changing is that practices are becoming less inclined to do things that are outside ‘standard care’. Nowadays you’re duty bound to offer referrals. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but what it means is that you’re tending to do less and less of those things that extend you and give you that personal satisfaction. I think the profession as a whole will become more like human medicine, where GPs are the first port of call and patients get sent off to specialists.

What’s the best thing about your job? I love my job. I come to work and I do something different every day. I don’t know what’s going to happen. Some people find that really stressful but I love it.

(update on 30 March) I want to say how fortunate I am to be working with the team during the COVID-19 lockdown. Every single staff member has stepped up to help keep our clinic going and provide the best service that we can to our clients – whether that’s by being in the clinic doing emergency work, or working remotely doing phone consultations or essential practice management, including keeping up with the constant updates on COVID-19 advice. Staff members have been checking in with each other and helping to keep their morale up. I have an awesome team. Also our partner businesses have kept up an amazing level of service and are invaluable in enabling us to continue looking after our clients.