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SEPTEMBER 25, 2011
"Never doubt that a small, group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." -- Margaret Mead
Dear Clients,
Your proactive support with regard to our last newsletter was overwhelming and has helped force the hospital owner to finally address the issue with his staff. Unfortunately, he still refuses to report the abuser and to my knowledge refuses to give this abuser a negative referral.
It's hard to have employees with no control over their actions BUT as an employer you must take responsibility for all of your staff and act immediately. The hospital owner and its management could have fired this person and reported him to authorities to ensure the abuser would never be allowed to work with pets again (they still can).
Although I've known some of the staff for over 9 years and believe they would never mistreat animals, they did very little or nothing to prevent this abuser from working alongside them. There is no way Matt or I could look our clients in the face if we chose to ignore this.
Please do your best to educate yourselves. Go to www.op.nysed.gov to find out the laws, rules and regulations. Please continue to ask questions and support each other, as its the only way to prevent these things from happening in the future and to make informed decisions about the care of your pets. In my personal opinion, these things occured at this vet hospital because the owner himself has proved to be unreliable and has created a tense working environment for his staff that harbors secrecy.
Please click hereĀ to view 2 letters from past employees describing incidents that happend with the abuser and patients at the hospital, one that resulted in the death of a patient as per the (past) employee. When I received this I was under the impression he had been fired. The second (past) employee wanted to remain anonymous as he was nervous that the abuser may retaliate in some way. Also, according to these letters, this abuser was allowed to perform the duties of a Licensed Veterinary Technician.
The importance of these letters is to bring awareness to the situation. There were incidents dating back to 2006.
This is about prevention. Making pet owners,veterinary professionals and the related pet care industry aware, will hopefully encourage everyone to speak up because the animals can not.
How can we help with prevention: encourage a certified veterinary assistant program so an individual can have some formal training and at the very least some guidelines they would have to adhere to. Humane Education. Introducing Humane Education into schools. Because teaching empathy at a young age is so important. We welcome any ideas you may have.
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