Online registration is open for this year’s Pacific NW Conference taking place Sept. 30-Oct. 2, 2022 at the Greater Tacoma Convention Center. Register today to learn from stellar scientific speakers, business experts, and special guests that will be presenting a variety of cutting-edge topics. Veterinary technicians will hold their Annual Conference concurrently. In case you’ve been busy, we are in person this year!
To follow through with the Board of Directors’ commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, we’ll again offer CE sessions on this topic area.
From Rules to Relationships: How to Create an Inclusive Work Culture with Equitable Management Practices – In today’s veterinary job market, strong recruitment, hiring, and retention practices are critical to maintaining effective veterinary practices and preventing staff burnout. Though salary and benefits remain critical factors to employee decisions, recent data indicate that more than half of workers evaluate employers based on social issues and roughly 80% expect their employers to act on matters such as racism and social justice. Having an equitable and inclusive culture and the policies and practices to sustain it are important tools in these efforts. In this interactive workshop, participants will analyze and practice applying principles of equity and inclusion, with a focus on race and ethnicity, to the practical functions of practice management and to their leadership for work culture development.
Mastering Cross-cultural Communication in Veterinary Medicine – In an increasingly multicultural environment, learning cross-cultural communication is key to conducting business in the veterinary field. Both veterinarian-client and employee relationships are strengthened when staff is trained to communicate across cultural lines. During this presentation, we will discuss how to improve cultural intelligence in order to meet the needs of our diversifying clientele and workforce.
Our speakers are Marie Sato Quicksall, DVM, CVA, and Melody Martinez, CVT. Dr. Quicksall comes from a multiracial Japanese and American family. Born in Japan, she moved to the US with her family as a toddler. She grew up in Columbus, Ohio, and graduated from the Ohio State University in 2011. As a first-year veterinary student, she founded the Ohio State chapter of VOICE (now Veterinarians as One Inclusive Community for Empowerment), and in 2017, she became a founding board member of the Multicultural Veterinary Medical Association (MCVMA). Dr. Quicksall currently serves as the Immediate-Past President of the MCVMA.
Melody Martínez is a Certified Veterinary Technician and the first-generation daughter of Afro-Caribbean, working-class immigrants from the Dominican Republic. She began her veterinary career in 2007 and has worked in small animal general practice, ER and critical care, and as a Senior Animal Caregiver at Farm Sanctuary in New York. Melody currently works as a racial equity and organizational change management consultant at Acorde Consulting. She provides organizations with training, assessments, and executive coaching to advance their diversity, racial equity, and inclusion efforts. She currently serves as President-Elect of the Multicultural Veterinary Medical Association (MCVMA).
Exhibit Hall – We anticipate a full exhibit hall with up to 100 exhibitors and sponsors so you can learn about the latest goods and services they offer to help us in our work. Thanks to our platinum sponsor, Omni Practice Group, and our many exhibitors and sponsors, attendees will have ample opportunities to meet with vendor representatives, learn about their products, and place orders.
Fun! This year’s conference will provide robust opportunities for you to reunite and reconnect with your colleagues and old friends and meet new ones. We’ll have a social with a DJ on Friday night, awards, contests, and raffles with prizes to win – all to make your conference experience fun and memorable. Closer to the conference, we’ll launch the PNWVC App where you can set your schedule, review each session, and download proceedings.
Want a discount on the registration? We need volunteers to help us out during the conference. Training is provided and we promise it will be fun. The higher number of hours you volunteer, the greater the discount on conference registration.
Access conference information on the WSVMA website. The weekend promises to be fun and educational and we look forward to seeing you at the premier Pacific Northwest CE weekend for veterinarians, veterinary technicians, and the entire veterinary team!
Veterinarians, veterinary students, and hospital staff (except technicians and assistants) register here.
Veterinary technicians and assistants, register here.
Posted August 12, 2022