JVMS NOVEMBER 3RD 2011 BUSINESS MEETING MINUTES
I. Meeting called to order by President Grant MacMillan
II. Acceptance of the September meeting minutes
III. Acceptance of the Treasurer’s Report
IV. Announcements:
a. Welcome to Courtney Whiting DVM-new vet recently moved to the area and is looking for a part-time veterinary associate position.
b. Introduction of Dr. Trina Toshach by Dr. Jennifer Locke, Trina now is the veterinary internist on staff at SEVO.
V. Committee Reports
a. Dr Sutliff gave an FVMA update-there were recent Equine meetings in Amelia Island and Ocala. He spoke of upcoming legislative bills that he would not go into detail right now but asked if anyone was interested in going to the legislative days in Tallahassee please contact him. There is a trip in Jan on 17-18th to meet the legislators.
b. Dr Mark Walker gave the CE update in place of Dr Crystal. Thank you to JVMS for the last event with Dennis Snow. He announced that the upcoming weekend was the Clinical Pathology CE with interactive sessions at both the Orange Park and Southside office locations. Nov 16th will be a Grand Rounds meeting on therapeutic laser therapy. On March 11th there will be another JVMS CE at the Crowne Plaza hotel discussing Feline Soft Tissue Sarcomas. Later in the year will be a 2 hour CE for controlled drug licensing but the date is not set.
c. Dr Hardie was not present to speak about the Holiday Party, however it will be on December 10th and announcements and invitations are to be sent.
d. Dr Cindy Miller announced that she is working on expanding sections of the website and having better details associated with the website.
e. Dr Cindy Miller announced that along with the other members of the Membership Committee (these include the CE chair, treasurer, secretary, and website chair) they have been updating all members, contact info, addresses, etc and hope to increase our member numbers over time. Currently there are over 240 active members and 400 non-active members. We hope to expand JVMS and make it bigger and even better!
f. University of Florida update given by Dr. Nicoletti - thanked us for having him, placed handouts on the table that will mention topics such as class size increasing by 12 students, accepting 100 students now where the additional 12 are non residents. The Dean wants to increase class size even more but is currently on hold to 100. Now the school is taking 30 students from Ross and 10 from St George, also 1-2 from St Matthews. All but 4 schools in US have increased class size, overall increase by 8%in the last year. This is because legislative support has declined as well as grants so the schools are left with no other choice but to increase class size and tuition.
New auditorium was built with money left over from the new small animal hospital building fund. UF is expanding the emergency clinic at the vet school and is aware of how that maybe competing with the other ERs and specialist in town. Dr. Stephen Shores said the owners of AA pet had agreed that they would no longer refer any patients to the vet school after their expansion of their ER.
The average veterinary student debt is >$140k in US….St Kitts is >$200k
4 new schools are being considered…Utah, alliance with WSU for clinic,…Arizona is considering building one but has no funding along with Arkansas, no money….however there is a new Tennessee school called Lincoln Memorial. Ross takes in 140 students 3 times a year. Currently there 2.1 applicants per slot in US schools. Starting salaries up by 1.2%
Nov 1 issue of JAVMA reported accreditation of schools and criticism of COE…read the article, why are they pushing more schools and graduates while debt is high and jobs are low. Dr Nicolletti thinks that the newer schools are getting the idea that they can train vets in basic science and then put them in practice for clinical training vs. other schools of thought think that vets should be trained in academia.
Ms. Wlasuik spoke and asked us to please come to homecoming and bbq, 10-12 for the game. Please come! On Monday there is a Dean’s Circle of Excellence meeting/lunch. Anyone able to represent the JVMS is welcome to attend. Other exciting events include a future simulation lab where they may have animal models to work on - thank you so much for helping us accomplish that. Loan fund is a life saver for our students…we help cover students that need a little extra help in a financial crisis.
g. Awards and peer review by Dr Suttlif….nothing going on which is good news…FVMA awards will be in April opening up nominations for rewards in the future please let him know and can make a nomination.
h. Dr Jacoby…no SBI update….he is no longer employed by SBI as of 2 weeks ago, now looking for a vet to replace the position.
i. ACPS…no one present to update….introduction of a new Vet employee, Dr Leslie Gillette.
VI. Open for new business now
a. Announcement..parliamentarian is DR Cromer as of now
b. Dr Kapusin announcement….at jax zoo they have a marine mammal rescue team. On Nov 19th, there will be a whale festival to learn about Right Whales.
VII. Adjourned Meeting
Dr. Erin Hatcher, Secretary
Dr. Erin Hatcher