Volunteerism — the lifeblood of the CVMA

As I start to write this editorial it is National Volunteer Week in Canada. One of the great things about an organization such as ours is the dedication and commitment of its volunteers. It would simply be impossible to name all who have contributed time and expertise to this organization. Whether you represent your constituency on council, stand on executive, provide input via our various committees, advisory groups and task forces, provide representations for the CVMA on national organizations and the myriad of other volunteer positions, on behalf of the CVMA, I thank you for all your input and time commitment to the tasks given you. Backing up our volunteers is executive director Jost Am Rhyn and a great staff that provide their strategic organizational skills to keep us on track and progressing to our ultimate goals. This is no small feat and you must be commended as well.

Past-president Dr. Lloyd Keddie provided us with a great overview of the many things in which the CVMA is involved and just what would be missing if the CVMA was not available to represent veterinarians nationally (1). This involvement still holds true this year and I invite you to go back and reread PP Lloyd’s editorial. We can carry the sentiment even further and state that without volunteers none of these very worthwhile programs could ever hope to see any outcomes. I have had the opportunity to see the calls for volunteers for various committees this year and the number of applicants, with credentials and enthusiasm, from members has been fantastic. The ultimate concern is how we can keep engaging all of those who want to contribute. We are truly blessed with a huge pool of highly qualified people who want to volunteer and contribute to this organization. In my books that is certainly a sign of a healthy organization. Deepest thanks to all.

We lead very busy lives as professionals — no matter what facet of veterinary medicine that we occupy. So what is it that has us wanting to volunteer, be it locally in our community, provincially or nationally? I look back on my career and how I became involved. Not long after I started practice in Mount Forest, a local businessman invited me to a community service club. I was impressed by the commitment and hard work that this group gave to the community to “serve its greatest need” (2). I was hooked and have continued to become involved as a volunteer in various organizations since then. Still, what motivates us to get involved like this? I spent the last week agonizing about this and trying to come up with some thoughts on just why we, as very busy people want to keep contributing. Veterinary medicine can be a very stressful career and why add more stress to that by extending our time commitment to volunteering?

In researching the answer to this question, Volunteer Canada (2) provides a wealth of information on volunteering and background information on providing support to volunteers. Some of the statistics are staggering: 13.3 million Canadians contribute 2.1 billion hours, the equivalent of 1.1 million full-time jobs (3). Volunteer Canada provides an auditing tool — “The Canadian Code for Volunteer involvement” (4). The Code has 3 important elements that articulate overarching values, guiding principles and organizational standards applicable to volunteer programs in non-profit and voluntary sector organizations. If we have a look at the overarching values, I believe we get a sense of why people do get involved and perhaps why the CVMA as an organization needs a more formal way such as this tool to assess how it is engaging and interacting with its volunteers. It seems incredibly important to me that the Association nurtures you, the volunteer, so that both you and CVMA get maximum value from your time commitment and effort (4).

1. “Volunteer involvement is vital to a just and democratic society. It fosters civic responsibility, participation and interaction.”

   This certainly resonates with all of us on why we get involved. I do believe that this definitely is a way to provide that balance as we maintain our sense of “wellness.”

2. “Volunteer involvement strengthens communities. It promotes change and development by identifying and responding to community needs”

   Once again, this resonates with us as we strive to strengthen our community — veterinary medicine.

3. “Volunteer involvement mutually benefits both the volunteer and the organization. It increases the capacity of organizations to accomplish their goals, and provides volunteers with opportunities to develop and contribute.”

   This is so true. Both veterinarians and the CVMA benefit from volunteerism.

4. “Volunteer involvement is based on relationships. It creates opportunities for voluntary organizations to accomplish goals by engaging and involving volunteers, and it allows volunteers an opportunity to grow and give back to the community in meaningful ways through voluntary organizations.”

This sums it up. It’s all about relationships and our sense of well being. I simply look at all of the relationships developed through my volunteering with the CVMA. It has definitely enriched my personal growth and I hope that I have provided some of my knowledge for the enrichment of the CVMA. The Association has been involved in many issues this year some of which will continue into the future. To all involved, please continue to give your input and support to all of the issues that we are currently facing in veterinary medicine. These are the major ones that I have discussed previously in editorials:

1. Communication — how do we engage our members so that we can maximize “getting the message out” about our member services and positions on issues especially in today’s environment of social media? We are about to find out as we engage a communications company to look at this very issue.

2. Member wellness — how do we continue to address the burnout and other mental health issues associated with our profession. We have many options and the CVMA task force on member wellness will have a report for the July meeting.

3. Collaboration — how do we engage all veterinarians in Canada — to solicit their opinions on issues and represent all veterinarians? As mentioned in my last editorial — there is a proposal that will be discussed at the CVMA meeting in July to address this question.

4. The business of veterinary medicine — stagnation, veterinary supply, competitive pressures, self-regulation — all will continue to be priority discussions at the CVMA.

5. Antimicrobial stewardship, dispensing and prescribing — incredibly important topics that will be at the forefront of policy discussion for a long time to come.

We live in interesting times and I am indeed fortunate to be part of this great organization and the policy discussions that will continue to evolve. Some thank yous are definitely in order; to CVMA Council and committees for your insight and collaboration; to CVMA staff for providing the glue to move our discussions and policies forward; to my employer, the University of Guelph and the Animal Health Laboratory for the latitude to be able to have the privilege of being president of this organization, and finally to my wife Mary Lou and family who have been very flexible in allowing me to represent this organization. I hope that I have contributed a small bit to the future policies of CVMA. I do know that I have grown considerably as a person as I have moved through this journey. Thank you to all.

Yours sincerely,