A lot has changed since I first joined EASAV and was, by myself, the CE Committee. While I am proud to be part of a board that is continuing to provide veterinarians in Edmonton and surrounding areas excellent continuing education and collegiality opportunities, I am most impressed with the positive changes we have seen.
1. We have a pet body donation program that we use for wetlabs and helping other veterinarians prepare.
2. We have wet-labs where we can learn important dental, ultrasound or surgical skills for a reasonable price without leaving Edmonton!
3. We are reducing our carbon footprint, and providing notes electronically instead of on paper (thus saving hundreds of trees!)
4. We have the Dr. Ness Memorial Teddy Bear Hospital, an important part of DreamNight at the Edmonton Valley Zoo. This allows children with chronic illnesses and disabilities (and their siblings) to adopt a stuffed animal and pretend to be veterinarians. This year was our 6th year, and if you haven’t volunteered for it you should… it is magical!
5. We now share tidbits from our seminars on our Private Member Group Page! If you want to view or contribute, here is the link to our Private EASAV Member Group.
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| EASAV Member Group |
| Private group · 50 members |
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| CE/collegiality and discussion forum for members only | |
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6. We are working to make video recordings of our talks that will be available for purchase on our website so that those who are unable to attend can still take advantage of these educational opportunities.
7. We created our first petition to help tell the Office of the Chief of Police that Edmonton wants the Edmonton Police Services (EPS) to look into dedicated training and funding for an animal cruelty task force within the EPS! Our goal is to cover all points of contact for better animal welfare protection in our city. This ultimately includes: Vet Clinics, Alberta Health Services, City of Edmonton, Crown prosecutors, Animal Care and Control Centre, ABSPCA and all other Animal Rescue Organizations and Associations, working together to help with the enforcement of the APA and with criminal charges when warranted. The petition received over 10,000 signatures.
8. We have a peer support group!
9. We have an automatic renewal option for membership available on our website.
10. Most impressive, we are working on an EASAV Conference to be held here in Edmonton in 2021! Keep your eyes peeled for upcoming information!
Dr. Cheryl Lewis, EASAV Vice President
