In addition to a lineup of fantastic speakers, industry partners will be at the Expo Market Place, showcasing the latest products and services available.
The VHA Expo features an opening keynote, four program tracks, and closing keynote, covering content for all members of your veterinary team! The 2024 VHA Expo is worth up to 6 CE credits.
Date: Friday, November 22nd, 2024 | 7am – 4:30pm
Location: DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Bloomington
Pricing:
Member Early Bird (Now – Oct. 18th) – $100
Member General (Starting Oct. 19th) – $140
Non-Member Early Bird (Now – Oct. 18th) – $150
Non-Member General (Starting Oct. 19th) – $200
Want to book a hotel room at the DoubleTree for the VHA Expo? Click the button below – room registration ends October 22nd.
Reminder – Registration for this event closes November 15th, 2024 at 12pm CT.
Speaker – Chad Greenway
Chad played 11 years for the Minnesota Vikings after finishing an All-American career at the University of Iowa. Growing up on a family farm in South Dakota, Chad learned the valuable lessons of hard work, perseverance, and dedication to a craft can bring success. He now runs Lead the Way Foundation which helps families in need.
Keynote – ‘From the Ground Up’
Speaking on experience of an emerging leader, Chad went through many leadership changes in his career and three times over has gone from the bottom to the top. Chad walks through the process of following before leading and the values of a leader. Being a Captain of an NFL team comes with many challenges, but a well-rounded valued leader shines through.
Speaker – Ryan Gibson, DVM, DACVIM
Dr. Gibson is a veterinary educator and neurologist from Auburn University. He transitioned from private practice to academia, focusing on neuroscience and clinical neurology. As the founder of two private entities, he enjoys improving access to neurological care and chronic condition education for owners within the general practice setting.
Keynote – ‘Fantastic Leaders and Where to Find Them’
Unleash your veterinary practice’s full potential by identifying and developing future leaders within your team. Join us for a session designed to highlight innovative strategies for recognizing emerging talent and cultivating leadership potential. By focusing on early indicators of leadership, we can ensure long-term success by creating an environment that allows for leadership development and growth. Together, we’ll explore “Fantastic Leaders and Where to Find Them” and develop action items to empower your practice’s future leaders.
Track – Controlled Substance 101: How & Why You Must Comply! DEA and Minnesota Controlled Substance Regulations Explained
Speaker – Janet E. Woods, Former Veterinary Practice Owner & Hospital Administrator, Co-Founder of Ask Jan For Help, LLC
Jan’s healthcare career has spanned over thirty years in both human and veterinary medicine. She has built a reputation as a go-to resource for Controlled Substance education in the Animal Health industry. She consults with veterinarians nationally on a full-time basis, with areas of expertise encompassing compliance with DEA regulations, as well as other state and federal regulations, clinic and hospital practice management & operations, human resources, finance, and marketing.
Learn about DEA and the State of Minnesota’s Controlled Substance regulations from a previous veterinary practice owner, consultant & public speaker/educator, who has worked with attorneys representing Veterinarians cited by the DEA. We’ll discuss how to protect your people, your practice, and your profit with effective, risk and theft reducing solutions.
DEA and The State of Minnesota’s Regulatory Requirements when ordering, receiving, storing, recordkeeping, logging, administering, dispensing, prescribing, inventorying, transferring and destructing controlled substances. Best practice time saving suggestions and controlled substance daily reconciliation logs will be shown and discussed at length in our second session.
How to recognize and handle staff and client addiction and what the DEA says the practitioner must do about it. Learn how to improve security and prevent theft per DEA and Minnesota regulations.
Knock, Knock it’s the DEA! The last hour of our sessions will help the your clinic proactively prepare for a DEA audit plus how to handle a DEA auditor who knocks on your door!
Track – Euthanasia
Speaker – Kathleen Cooney DVM, CHPV, CPEV, DACAW Resident
Dr. Cooney has been practicing advanced end-of-life care since 2006. Dr. Cooney is Senior Director of Medical Education for the Companion Animal Euthanasia Training Academy (CAETA). She is well-known for her work in companion animal euthanasia and has authored two books on the subject along with numerous articles and book chapters. Dr. Cooney has collaborated in end-of-life training for the AVMA, AAHA, NAVC, IAAHPC, the Fear Free Program, and many more. She is a strong advocate for best practices in all aspects of end-of-life care and speaks nationally and internationally on such topics.
Euthanasia was ready for an evolution, and much has changed in the past 10 years. Experts and practitioners alike have found ways to celebrate the bond, protect patient comfort, and elevate client pre-planning and communication. And everyone is benefitting from the advancements. Has your veterinary team joined ‘The Good Death Revolution’? In this session, we will highlight the 14 Essential Components of Companion Animal Euthanasia and answer your most pressing questions. It’s time to look deeper into what clients want, what patients need, and how veterinary teams can find fulfillment in euthanasia work.
Every one of us wants euthanasia procedures to go well. A dysthanasia is the opposite of a good death, or at least that’s one way to define it. What is and isn’t considered a good death is complicated. In this session, we review how pet owners and veterinarians define a good death, so we understand what’s not. We can then determine how best to address them when they happen, to protect the mental health of loved ones and the veterinary team. Dysthanasias are upsetting. How we correctly handle them makes all the difference.
Euthanasia requires more skill than just giving an injection. Practitioners need to determine the best approach given the patient’s signalment and the team’s experience. There are 5 common injection sites for use in most companion animals: IV, IC, IP, IR, IH. The goal is to reach for the best one given the situation. Our goal during this session is to review these 5 injection types, with time to review sedation protocols. Worried about those geriatric patients and poor blood pressures? Not anymore.
Teams function best with systems in place to ensure consistency and efficiency. In this session, we outline euthanasia-related factors affecting the health and overall wellbeing of the veterinary team. We will focus on standardizing protocols, review team training procedures, and discuss use of the CAETA team training manual. Attention will also be given to help personnel cope with euthanasia-related stress and reduce compassion fatigue.
Track – Feline Medicine
Speaker – Natalie L. Marks, DVM, CVJ, CCFP, FFCP-Elite
Dr. Marks has been a veterinarian for 24 years, 23 of which were spent in clinical practice and owning the largest animal hospital in Chicago. As a certified veterinary journalist and a columnist for several publications, I share my insights and expertise on quality patient care, animal welfare, animal husbandry, and innovation. I am also an elite Fear-Free and cat-friendly certified professional committed to reducing fear, anxiety, and stress in animals and their owners.
In this presentation, Dr. Marks will start with a quick review of how one of our most common feline patients present – for weight loss and poor quality of life. Attendees will then learn about important foundation diagnostics for chronic kidney disease and other differential disease states. Then, we will review and clarify the different stages of CKD as determined by the IRIS staging system and other associated diseases. The final sections of this presentation will focus on the seven key areas generalists should factor into treatment areas, including the two areas critical to improving quality of life: appetite and anemia. This will include specific therapy guidance, monitoring, and other supportive strategies for chronic kidney disease patients.
In this presentation, Dr. Natalie Marks will first review today’s prevalence of the three most common viruses in the kitten and cat population: FeLV, FIV, and FIP. The following three sections will break down each virus, discussing clinical signs and the current update in diagnostic testing, treatment, and prognosis. Specifically, we will provide clarity around the importance of FeLV testing (what a negative or positive means, etc.) and vaccination (why nearly all cats should be vaccinated for FeLV, at least as a kitten, even if going to be primarily indoor-only.) The closing section will suggest strategies for veterinary hospitals to help prevent these diseases, including vaccine recommendations guided by the most recent task force guidelines.
In this presentation, we will focus and feature top ten “must-have’s” to any general practice that wants to elevate feline medicine and client interaction in the year. Topics will include digital strategies, exam room handling and resources, products we can’t live without, and education every cat caregiver needs to know (and how to deliver it!)”
In this presentation, we’ll begin with a refresher on what REALLY stresses cats and their sensory experience, and then deconstruct a cat’s body so we know what these body parts tell us and where we should and shouldn’t touch at home and in the hospital. We’ll move into the two C’s: choice and control. That means understanding what choices cats want and what options we give and then moving into a bolder concept – giving cats control in the exam room! Finally, we’ll discuss what to do when low-stress handling alone isn’t enough.
Track – Customer Experience
Speaker – Mary LeMay
Mary LeMay’s passion for leading teams started many years ago. After obtaining her Associates Degree in Management, her journey into veterinary medicine started with an externship at Animal Hospital, Inc (AHI). After years at AHI, Mary realized she wanted to make a larger impact on the veterinary community. She found herself inspired to study the processes behind coaching and the pillars to achieving work-life balance and well-being. She aims to aide clinics in identifying future goals, developing systems to streamline day-to-day operations, and generate a culture that fosters growth and well-being. She is excited to combine her veterinary knowledge and love for coaching to support veterinary practice owners in creating profitable practices with high functioning teams.
Attendees will distinguish between customer service and client experience and explore how to elevate both to exceptional levels through every phase of the client’s journey with their practice.
This session will emphasize the importance of a strong online presence and exceptional initial contact. Attendees will learn how to create a positive and lasting first impression, from a user-friendly website to professional, welcoming phone interactions and an efficient check-in process. Attendees will leave knowing how to make clients and their pets feel comfortable and valued from the moment they enter the parking lot through the front door.
Attendees will learn how to create a calm, informative, and compassionate environment within the exam room.We will review how to prep the environment, use communication to educate and involve the client and deliver exceptional care that leaves a lasting positive impression.
We will review how to bring a veterinary appointment to a smooth and informative close and implement effective follow-up strategies, ensuring clients leave the practice with clear instructions and a positive impression. Additionally, this session will cover best practices for follow-up communication to maintain client engagement and improve patient outcomes.
Hours: Monday-Friday 8am-5pm
Toll-Free: 800-392-0446
Phone: 651-451-6669
customerservice@veterinaryha.org