My reasons for choosing a career in veterinarian medicine comes from my own personal experiences with my fur-babies. I have had many family pets growing up, but it was definitely my rescue dogs throughout my adult years that had the biggest impact on my life.
Throughout our journey together we learned how important yearly checkups (including vaccines and blood work), early detection, and developing great relationships with our veterinarian and staff really was. Throughout many good and difficult times, health-wise for my dogs, I have seen firsthand the hard work of the PetFocus team. Their dedication to not only my dogs’ care but to ensuring that I, as a client understood what was happening; they always took the time to explain the plan going forward and that I would be supported every step of the way.
With my Pop’s I’ve faced cancer twice, pancreatitis, cushions disease and many other illnesses and demonstrated behaviours. Without the very empathetic and dedicated team at PetFocus, I’m not sure how I would have got through some of the many difficult choices and decisions I have had to make, specifically with some being on such short notice. So many ask me why with my own trying times as a pet owner, why I would want to work in a place where this is an everyday occurrence for so many other pet owners? My answer to this is simple: because I want to be a part of that same team that navigated me through all the easy and difficult times in my pet’s lives. To be able to apply my knowledge as a client to a career that I am so very passionate about doing well.
As a Client Care Specialist, I get to come to work every day and see all the cute puppies and kittens (which we try to sneak in a few cuddles and nose snuggles with where we can), when checking-in patients we hear some pretty amazing/inspirational stories about their pets & how they came to be with them.
A part of my job is also to assist our great technicians and veterinarians which allows me to learn techniques and watch some really interesting procedures, and also in those difficult times, I am able to be there to help support those families saying “goodbye” to a very treasured friend. Being a CCS, allows you to be on the front lines of the industry and grants you the ability to see a whole different side of veterinary medicine.
For me, I need to enjoy my position, ability to see & learn new aspects of the industry, and the ability to go home at night knowing I made a difference in someone’s life (in this case a family & their fur-babies). I can honestly say, I feel this way every day at Harbour Cities. For me, we are a family at the clinic, who work together to help each other grow & succeed in the industry and to help families once like myself, leave feeling good with their experiences. My drive every day in the past and present has been my love for my dogs (DollarBill, Tacoma, Brandi, Ciara & Riley) ensuring they were well taken care of, and I am so happy to be able to take all that and extend it to other families and their pets.
I am definitely known for my willingness to help where I can and interest in continuing to learn more and more every day I am at the clinic. A running joke at the clinic is my “blue surgical gloves”, every time there is a surgery or procedure I am observing I always tell the doctor & tech “I have my blue gloves if you need me to take over!” …. LOL
Written by Ashley Wrathall, CCS
