A Letter From Sunnyside Veterinary Hospital

POSTED ON 2020-04-03

Our team at Sunnyside Veterinary Hospital is made up of a combination of Veterinarian’s Veterinary Technicians and Receptionists. We are a dedicated team of individuals who like what we do, and we work hard to make our hospital one that provides the utmost care for our patients and the people who love them. As a team, we strive to provide quality service where we can educate, support, facilitate patient care and provide the best experience possible for both patients and people. We often evaluate ourselves by self- reflecting how we did at the end of the day. Did we do our best? And if not, why not? This catchphrase reminds us that we chose our profession because we wanted to help animals and we wanted to make a difference! It is not always easy and there are definitely times when things get pretty rough. But the rewards far outweigh those tough times. And, it is in those tough times that we often learn our most valuable lessons.

I get goosebumps when I witness the love an animal gives to his or her human and visa versa. The person confined to any place whether it be a bed, a wheelchair, or an office chair, perhaps the house as most of us are doing currently, only needs to look into the eyes of the animal that depends on us. You know the look, I am sure. It might just be to lay at your feet or to escort you outside for a walk or to bring you your socks. Or, maybe a quick game of tug of war or to have an opportunity to lavishly adorn your face with the sloppiest of kisses or to bare a belly for a tummy rub. And maybe because they do need their basic needs met, you are granted the opportunity to take a break and do something different if even for a minute or two; thereby benefiting from the bond you have with your pets. Our pets give us so much and we want to give back to them and we understand that you do too.

In the midst of COVID-19, our hospital is doing as much as we can to stay open and to provide health care services for our patients. We understand the bond our clients have with their pets and as a team we are here to provide all that we can while following the guidelines put into place by our local, state and federal governing bodies. We have come together as a team to work out how we can continue to offer our services safely with the least amount of exposure. We are making sure that on a daily basis we keep up with what our profession is doing overall in this pandemic so that we can be an integral part in getting through this so that we are not faced with closing our doors. It has been a challenge as things change from one day to the next. It has caused us some confusion, but we come back to how can we function as the strongest team to make sure we are taking care of our clients and the pets they love.

For us, “round tabling” ideas, concerns, frustrations, allowing each staff person to weigh in on how we should change things or how things are going, is what helps us to make the best decisions. Our decisions are based on how to keep our team members safe, how to minimize exposure to our clients and how can we help pets as much as we are able. Pets get sick too and almost always there is a family attached to them. By taking care of your pet we like to think we are also helping you, their humans. We will continue to love what we do and to take care of each other. We love to make great things happen and we love to help people. We are thankful every day that we can continue to go to work even though hours have been cut and even though we may be facing layoffs or looking at potentially closing our doors (we are working hard to not let that happen). We work diligently to maintain a positive-minded workforce and we will continue to do what we need to do for as long as we can. I leave you with some of the words we speak when we take our professional oath, and I will just lay out one paragraph that encompasses so much of what we do and who we are:

"I solemnly dedicate myself to aiding animals and society by providing excellent care and services for animals, by alleviating animal suffering, and by promoting public health”.

This, and more, is what we will continue to do! Stay safe and well. We value you and we thank you for taking good care of your pet partner(s)!