The MVMA encourages members to engage in mentorship. This can be serving as a mentor for a fellow veterinary professional or reaching out as a mentee for some mentorship.

Why be a Mentor?

Mentors:

• Help build a better veterinary community
• Become a better leader
• Shape the leaders of tomorrow
• Gain new perspectives and fresh ideas
• Exercise emotional intelligence
• Strengthen the lessons you’ve already learned

Why be a Mentee?

• Make connections with Manitoba’s veterinary professionals
• Kickstart your professional development
• Become a better leader
• Raise your confidence and problem-solving abilities

The MVMA is delighted to refer veterinarian members to the CVMA website for more information about their Mentor Roster.

More information about mentorship can also be located on the CVMA website here.

*Please note that you need to be logged into the CVMA website to access this content.

As we enter this flood season, the following is a reminder of the general order of responsibilities when assistance is required:

Step 1

Producers/operators/community representatives/individuals are the first point of responsibility to deal with their own emergency situation.

Step 2

If individuals cannot provide appropriate response to their emergency situation, their local authority is the first point of contact for emergency-related information and assistance.

Step 3

If the local authority cannot handle the situation, the local authority will contact Manitoba Emergency Measures Organization (EMO) for assistance. If EMO requires Agriculture’s assistance, they will assign an issue to the department’s Emergency Planning Leader, who then works with the department’s Executive Management Committee to direct activities to address the emergency.

If animals are in distress, please contact the Animal Care Line at 204-945-8000 (in Winnipeg), 1-888-945-8001 (toll free) or animalcare@gov.mb.ca.

Emergency preparedness and response resources

• Animal Health Emergency Preparedness
• Animal Care Line information and reporting
• Manitoba road closures
• Manitoba Hydro outages map
• Manitoba weather conditions
• Flood maps and reports
• Mental Health – Manitoba Farm, Rural, & Northern Support Services

Financial assistance resources

• AgriStability
• AgriInsurance
• Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation

Contacts

Winnipeg Animal Services is exploring the idea of working with a local veterinary clinic to establish a satellite spay/neuter clinic out of their facility at 1057 Logan Avenue.  Under the program, the clinic would have an experienced veterinarian and RVT to perform surgeries for dogs at the animal shelter a few days a week.  If your clinic is interested, please email Animal Services’ General Manager Leland Gordon at lgordon@winnipeg.ca

Webpage copy: Take a moment and catch up on the latest news from VDS, our provincial veterinary laboratory. A fully accessible version of the newsletter will be posted on the VDS website shortly. Click here to access the newsletter.

AHEM is pleased to partner The Do More Agriculture Foundation in delivering a 1-hour live virtual webinar focused on mental health in agriculture.
When: March 21, 2023 (in english only)
Time: 9 AM PST/10 AM MST/11 AM CST/1 PM AST/1:30 PM NST

The workshop, delivered by Megz Reynolds, is designed to introduce participants to mental health in agriculture, highlight how to support ourselves and others, the importance of refilling our own cups and how to have conversations about mental health. This will be a “hands on” workshop with group exercises to engage participants and practice having conversations.

Visit www.animalhealth.ca/workshops today to register for the date that works best for you. There is no cost to attend!

The MVMA is delighted to pass on information about the 2022 Registered Veterinary Technologist Compensation Review. The MVMA supports the hard work of the MVTA and its partners in creating this report, which is sure to be helpful to veterinary technologists and their employers. The report and additional information can be located here.

Please join Manitoba Agriculture for an evening webinar on Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in Manitoba.

Whether you have a personal interest in feathery friends or treat a few small flocks in your practice, this webinar will be of interest to you! Dr. Deanne Wilkinson, Extension Veterinarian with Manitoba Agriculture, will be discussing many aspects of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, from disease history to outbreak mitigation strategies that practitioners can bring back to clients. The webinar will also provide an overview of the 2022 outbreak in Manitoba and insight into the disease outbreak process.

When: April 12, 2023 at 7:00pm – webinar will be recorded

Humane Canada, the representative of the animal welfare sector in our country, is inviting MVMA members to attend the 10^th edition of the Summit for Animals in Victoria, B.C., May 2 – 4.

This conference brings together animal welfare professionals, advocates and volunteers to learn cutting-edge information from thought leaders in the sector while building long-lasting professional connections that will help advance attendees’ advocacy efforts to benefit animals and their welfare. This year, there will be sessions on shelter medicine, such as “Caring for Kittens: Best Practices for Best Outcomes” by Dr. Elizabeth Berliner, Senior Director, Shelter Medicine Service, ASPCA, “Emergency triage for the whole team: Assessing urgency, patient stability, and prognosis” by Dr. Caitlin McLagan, Veterinarian and Medical Director, South Burnaby Veterinary Hospital, and “Care and Husbandry of Rabbits in the Shelter” by Dr. Markus Luckwaldt, Clinical Practitioner and Practice Owner, Greenwood Park Animal Hospital.

There are exclusive travel and accommodation discounts available to everyone who registers. To learn more, please visit https://humanecanada.swoogo.com/summit/summit or email events@humanecanada.ca

Please see information on the National Symposium on Agricultural Mental Health, hosted by the Guardian Network, in partnership with the Canadian Center for Agricultural Wellbeing being held on Wednesday, March 8, 2023. Registration is now open.

The Symposium will offer networking opportunities, concurrent sessions, keynote and panel presentations, exhibitors and more, all focused on knowledge exchange to continue to enhance the quality of wellbeing for Canadian farmers. The one-day virtual symposium is being offered to you for FREE, paid for in part by the governments of Canada and Ontario through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership (the Partnership), a five-year, federal-provincial-territorial initiative.

The National Symposium on Agricultural Mental Health has been established to connect farmer mental health groups, researchers, government officials and policy makers, members of Canada’s agricultural community, individual advocates, and most importantly farmers to address the challenges and opportunities of the farmer mental health movement across the country. The Symposium will give all participants an opportunity to discuss relevant topics, to hear from experts in our field and to learn from one another.

The Symposium will explore different aspects of this important movement including:

• sessions from Farmer wellness programs actively working across the country;
• current research involving Farmer mental health from several researchers; and
• various regional projects and trainings focused on agricultural well-being.

The Keynote Speaker is Dr. Andria Jones-Bitton, DVM, PhD. Dr. Jones-Bitton is trained as a veterinarian and is an epidemiologist, Professor in the Department of Population Medicine, and Director of Well-Being Programming at the Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph. She conducts mixed-methods research on the epidemiology of mental health and resilience in the veterinary and agricultural sectors.

For your interest and information, please access the Symposium website for further details and to register at www.nsamh.ca .

Closed captioning will be available in English and French. All conference presentations will be in English with one being in French. Our conference platform will also be available to all registered attendees for three months following the conference so you may view all the workshops at your own leisure.

Good Customer Service Benefits All Customers, Two & Four Legged

Pets, fur babies, or four-legged family members positively affect the lives of people with disabilities in many ways. Pets provide companionship, help to establish routine, improve mental health, and encourage us to stay physically active.

Animals are also helpful for people with disabilities in official ways. When thinking of people with disabilities and animals, service animals often come to mind. Service animals are trained to assist a person with a disability in a way that relates to the person’s disability.

In the world of veterinary medicine, we witness the strong relationships between our patients and their humans (our customers) everyday. Improving accessibility for your customers, through the removal of barriers, at your practice is good for business. Accessibility barriers are obstacles that make it harder for people with disabilities to participate fully in every day life and can prevent them from accessing much needed services.

Ensuring your business is barrier-free means that all people have the same opportunity to access goods and services. If your practice is barrier-free you will not only attract and retain customers with disabilities, you will also attract their friends and family to your practice.

Manitoba has regulated the Accessible Customer Service Standard under The Accessibility for Manitobans Act (AMA). The Accessibility Standard for Customer Service requires your practice to introduce policies, practices, and measures to:

1. Meet the communication needs of customers experiencing barriers.
2. Accommodate the use of assistive devices, such as wheelchairs and oxygen tanks.
3. Welcome support persons.
4. Allow service animals in areas where the public is generally permitted.
5. Maintain existing accessibility features, such as ramps and power doors.
6. Let the public know when and why an accessibility feature will be unavailable.
7. Welcome and respond promptly to feedback related to accessibility.
8. Provide the required training to employees, volunteers, and management.
9. If your practice has 50 or more employees, keep a written record of your accessibility and training policies and make them available upon request.

The Accessibility Standard for Customer Service does not require changes to the built environment. In Manitoba, The Building Code enforces accessibility requirements on new builds or ones undergoing significant renovations.  Although this is the case, the accessibility standard for customer service does require that any existing accessibility features, such as ramps or power doors, be maintained to be used as intended. If a feature is temporarily unavailable, the standard requires you to let the public know when and why it will be unavailable and include information on when the feature will be back in service. It also requires you to let the public know if there are alternative ways to access your goods and services, while the feature is unavailable.

The Manitoba government has resources in place to assist businesses, including veterinary practices, to meet regulated accessibility standards. Resources available to your practice include:

• Manitoba Accessibility Office (MAO)
• The MAO website contains many different tools to support accessibility and resources to help your practice meet accessibility standards. Visit ca to learn more.
• The MAO has an online training portal to help Manitoba employers and organizations meet the training requirements outlined by the accessibility standards.
• Accessibility News is an electronic newsletter published by the MAO to help keep Manitobans informed about accessibility across the province. Subscribe to Accessibility News to stay current with information you need to know about accessibility laws in Manitoba and why accessibility is important for everyone.
• Manitoba Accessibility Fund (MAF)
• This is a new grant program designed to distribute funding to businesses, municipalities, professional associations, and non-profit organizations in Manitoba to help remove barriers encountered by people with disabilities and to promote accessibility.
• Over 100 organizations across Manitoba applied to MAF during the first intake held in spring 2022.
• The 2023/24 MAF Application Guidelines describe the scope, eligibility, assessment criteria, and selection process. The next intake opens on January 30, 2023. Visit ca to learn more about MAF and to apply.
• Accessibility Compliance Secretariat (ACS)
• The Secretariat can answer questions and address concerns related to compliance with The Accessibility for Manitobans Act and the accessibility standards.
• If your practice is required or decides to write a policy that meets accessibility standards, the Secretariat can review your policy and offer feedback.
• Staff at the Secretariat can share helpful tools and resources to assist your organization to increase service accessibility and comply with accessibility standards. To contact the Accessibility Compliance Secretariat, email accessibilitycompliance@gov.mb.ca.

Most solutions to remove barriers will be simple and your customers will appreciate the consideration. If you notice that someone is having difficulty accessing your services, a good starting point is to ask: How can I help you?