Living and Working as a Veterinary Profession at CareVets Gisborne with Sarah - Vet Nurse - ep 1017

Julie South [00:00:05]:

Welcome to Veterinary Voices. I'm Julie South and this is episode 1017.

Today we're kicking off our CareVets Gisborne REAL+STORY series, where you hear directly from the team about what it's actually like to work there.

Veterinary Voices is brought to you by Vet Clinic Jobs, the storytelling platform for forward-thinking vet clinics.

CareVets Gisborne is currently looking for an experienced small animal veterinarian to join their community practice. Someone who wants all aspects of companion animal work with modern equipment, sustainable rostering, and the kind of clinical variety you get when you're a GP clinic in a provincial city and the closest referral hospital is too far away to be a viable option most of the time.

In this CareVets Gisborne REAL+STORY series, you'll hear from the people who actually work there. Today we're talking with Sarah, one of the veterinary nurses at CareVets Gisborne.

Julie South [00:01:19]:

Sarah moved from the Kapiti Coast, just north of Wellington, about eight years ago.

You'll hear from her what it's really like settling into the Gisborne community as an outsider, why she left CareVets and then came back, and what makes this team different enough that nurses actually return.

You'll hear about the clinical cases that keep the work interesting, from xylitol poisoning to renal failure management, how the nurses run their own consults for everything from booster vaccinations through to arthritis management, and why working in a smaller community means you actually get to know your clients well enough to chat about their pets while doing your grocery shopping.

Let's join the conversation with Sarah.

Sarah [00:02:14]:

I'm Sarah and I'm one of the veterinary nurses here at CareVets Gisborne.

I've been working for the clinic for a couple of years, but when I first moved to Gisborne eight years ago, I came here then as well, so I had a little break in between. I've pretty much been working for CareVets on and off for eight years now.

In between having children, I did go and work for a mixed animal practice just to experience something a little bit different. But a lot of my work was actually travelling out of town to Wairoa, and having kids, that was hard, so I needed something more locally based.

Julie South [00:02:48]:

You've moved to Gisborne. How was that? Is Gisborne friendly?

I mean, you've been there nine years, so I'm presuming it's a pretty good place to live. What was it like for you, coming as an outsider?

Sarah [00:03:02]:

Absolutely great, actually. I found it a really easy transition.

I came from the Kapiti Coast, which is just on the outskirts of Wellington, and I'd been there pretty much my whole life. I moved to Gisborne for my partner. He works on farms and things like that. This is where he's based and his family are based.

I was lucky enough that I had equestrian sports, basically horse riding, as my hobby. And the Gisborne community is really based around the rural lifestyle and horses are a big part of that.

Sarah [00:03:32]:

I was lucky enough through my hobby to meet heaps of people when I first moved here and they've become lifelong friends already.

One of the biggest things that I love about Gisborne is it's a slower-paced, relaxed lifestyle. People are pretty easy-going here. Obviously we still get things done that need to be done, but it's just less stressful.

There are much quieter streets, no hustle or bustle. I mean, traffic here—we still complain about the traffic, but really compared to where I've come from, there's barely any traffic.

We also have great weather here in Gisborne, always super warm through the summer.

Sarah [00:04:05]:

And we have a great coastline as well, which extends right up the east coast. So many beaches to choose from. Plenty of outdoor activities like that, if that's what you're into.

Julie South [00:04:14]:

Are you a surfer? Do you surf?

Sarah [00:04:16]:

I'm not, no. I can't comment on that because I'm not a surfer.

Julie South [00:04:20]:

That's one of the attractions, right? Moving to Gisborne.

Sarah [00:04:25]:

Yep, yep. And quite a few of the staff that have come through here, like locums and things like that, have come for the surfing.

Julie South [00:04:32]:

Sarah, you've raised a family in Gisborne. What's it like? What's the schooling like?

Sarah [00:04:39]:

Schooling? I'm not quite there with my kids yet because they're both under five, but we live rurally and there are a couple of rural schools even for us to choose from.

We have a local friendly family playgroup as well in our rural area. But amongst the town areas there are so many to choose from. Kindergartens and schools, they've all got pretty good reputations.

And the rural ones—what I like about the idea of that is that kids who are on a farm are going to school with like-minded children and staff who sort of understand what that lifestyle is like. You know, there's the busy season and not-so-busy season, and weather plays a big role and all that sort of thing. So it's just, yeah, for the kids it's going to school with like-minded children.

There are also lots of activities for the kids here, like out-of-school activities. Swimming.

Sarah [00:05:30]:

We've got a really good swimming school here. There are always lots of different times available to suit your schedule if it's busy.

And again, just that outdoor lifestyle with the beaches and playgrounds.

Julie South [00:05:43]:

For a regional clinic, you've got some pretty sophisticated equipment and technology. What's that like to use?

Sarah [00:05:54]:

It's all pretty straightforward. I'm slightly older than some of the other nurses here and I still manage to work out all the technology.

But also we have a great team here that are happy to show you multiple times. Especially when I returned off maternity leave, my brain was working a bit slow and the girls were really happy to just work with me to show me these new bits and pieces that we've got.

But yeah, we've got in-house labs, an X-ray machine which is all digital, a dental machine, and we've got pretty good monitoring equipment for anaesthetics.

Julie South [00:06:23]:

What sort of cases are you getting in the clinic?

Sarah [00:06:26]:

That's one cool thing about being rural or, you know, in a slightly more isolated place like Gisborne—we don't have these big referral centres near us. So we see everything that you can expect to come into a vet clinic.

It's really general practice and, you know, for some people going out of town, being referred is not an option. They might not be able to travel or afford these things.

We get to give things a go here, try and treat animals here. Whereas, you know, some of those big cities will just see you in the door and go, oh, that's too hard, and off they refer.

So yeah, we see absolutely everything and we also run after-hours emergency as well. And that's when you see the real grunty stuff.

Julie South [00:07:12]:

What would be your most exciting or most rewarding case?

Sarah [00:07:18]:

Oh, that's a tricky one.

I mean, I'm just thinking very recently, on the weekend just been, we had a dog come in seizing and basically I like that sort of stuff because we have to work out why this dog is seizing and then obviously treat it accordingly.

So working with the client to figure out if the dog had eaten something potentially poisonous, which it turned out to be xylitol poisoning from eating chewing gum. And yeah, we treated it accordingly for that.

And I just like those cases because you obviously see them improve. Pretty scary at the start, especially for the poor owners watching their dog in that situation. But we do see them improve and obviously eventually they'll go home and live a long happy life.

Julie South [00:07:57]:

How much chewing gum had they had?

Sarah [00:08:00]:

Not much at all. I think they'd come home from doing the grocery shopping and they'd found like a ripped-up package, but not much at all. Yeah.

So it's pretty frightening how little they need and we don't see that that often. We do see poisonings quite a bit, but it is just trying to work out what's causing those symptoms.

Julie South [00:08:17]:

Would many of your dog cases be working farm dogs?

Sarah [00:08:22]:

Yeah, quite a few. So again, mixed practice. We do see sheep dogs, cattle dogs, and then obviously we've got our small companion animals as well. So it's good that you get to see a bit of both.

Julie South [00:08:32]:

I love that there's an ice cream shop almost next door to you.

Sarah [00:08:36]:

Yes, we do. Yeah. So that's Katchup. We call it Katchup Ice Cream. That's sort of our local vets' favourite at the moment.

They do really good coffee as well, so quite often the girls will send me or whoever over to go and get the team a coffee, which is super nice, because the coffee here is actually really good.

They make all their ice cream on site, so it's really yummy ice cream. They've got quite a few different flavours. They do like special flavours that they rotate and really yummy smoothies as well.

Julie South [00:09:05]:

Just recently my husband and I were in the area and came across this ice cream shop. And while we were in the ice cream shop it's like, oh wow, there's Katchup.

Sarah [00:09:14]:

Yes. We quite often, you know, if we're having a stressful hot day, if we get a break, we'll pop over there and get ourselves an ice cream or a smoothie just to refresh.

Julie South [00:09:23]:

What sort of person do you think would fit best in your team?

Sarah [00:09:28]:

We're quite a bubbly, easy-going team. So someone that is happy to have a wee joke around every now and then.

But also obviously when things get heated, just crack on and get stuff done. We all just put our heads down and work together as a team.

So someone that is really team-oriented too. You know, we've got a really good team of nurses here that are available to help in those stressful situations. So just using the team when it's needed.

Julie South [00:09:56]:

Okay, let's talk about the calibre of the nurses because not all vets use all nurses to the best of the nurses' ability. What's it like there?

Sarah [00:10:05]:

Yeah, really good. We've got some really well-trained nurses here.

Our head nurse, Emma, has a degree—she's got a bachelor's degree. And we've got Lesley, who has come from overseas in Canada and she's worked in some pretty high-paid, stressful clinics and seen a lot. So she's very, very good.

And then there's also me and Caz. We've both got young kids and we've come back after having kids and the girls have been so good at helping us adjust to that, because if anybody's had kids, they know it can be a bit hairy going back to work after having such a big break.

But yeah, I felt super welcomed here.

Julie South [00:10:38]:

And supported. Changing the subject entirely. What's your favourite piece of kit or equipment at your clinic?

Sarah [00:10:51]:

Probably the blood machine that we have and being able to run bloods in a short time frame. The longest test takes 15 minutes.

And especially when you've got critically unwell patients, to have a sort of base understanding of what's going on internally for them.

Julie South [00:11:05]:

Is that what came into play with the xylitol?

Sarah [00:11:08]:

Yes, well, sort of. It wasn't the actual blood machine. We ran a blood glucose, which is just a little handheld blood glucose glucometer. Yeah. So that one in particular.

But we have, you know, other poisonings where it affects their liver and kidneys and things like that, so that gives us an understanding of what's going on.

Also, patients that might have internal bleeding and things like that—we can quickly get an insight into what's going on internally.

Julie South [00:11:30]:

And then another completely random question. In your opinion, what do you think is this clinic's best-kept secret?

Sarah [00:11:41]:

Our best-kept secret, I reckon, is the team. Like, we are such a great team here.

Both times I've worked for CareVets, I've made friends that will be lifelong friends. We come to work and we enjoy each other's company.

It's a great environment for making friends in a new place. If that's what the situation is for this new vet coming.

Julie South [00:12:02]:

Sarah, you said that you left and then you came back. Not many people actually return to a clinic. What was so fantastic about working at CareVets Gisborne that had you wanting to come back?

Sarah [00:12:18]:

I had missed the team. When I left, I really had missed the team.

I know that coming to work every day is a fun environment to be in, like, really cool people that I've made lifelong friends with.

I came back so that I could be in that team again.

Julie South [00:12:33]:

When we weren't recording, you talked about the cases as well. You said there were really interesting cases.

Sarah [00:12:39]:

Yeah, that's right. We see such a variety of cases here and I had missed that as well.

The place that I had gone to work at was predominantly working dogs, which is great. I love working with working dogs. But I did miss those more medical cases as well, and I've had all that since being back.

Julie South [00:12:52]:

Can you give me an example of some of the medical cases?

Sarah [00:12:56]:

One of the biggest ones for cats is renal failure. So supporting cats through that with, you know, sometimes we have to admit them for fluids. So we get to know the animals while they're here in the clinic.

Julie South [00:13:05]:

Do the vet nurses run any of their own vet nurse consults or clinics?

Sarah [00:13:10]:

Yep, absolutely. Yep. So we do vaccinations for, like, you know, boosters for puppies and kittens and yearly health checks if the animal is sort of young and healthy.

We also do Arthropine injections. So that's for your arthritic dogs and cats. Weight management type clinics as well. Yeah.

So it's really cool because you get to know the animals and the clients, like one-on-one, because a lot of the time nurses are sort of predominantly out the back of the clinic, as we call it, so we're not having that face-to-face time with the actual owners.

Sarah [00:13:42]:

So it's a really nice way to get to know the clients.

And that's one thing that also, you know, moving to Gisborne—in previous clinics I'd worked at, like, you know, you didn't see the same clients coming back all the time because there's just such a high number of people coming in and out of the clinic.

Whereas here in Gisborne, like, you actually get to know the clients on a more personal basis. You know, like, you'll see them out and about when you're doing your grocery shopping and you'll stop and have a yarn about their dog or their cat. And it's really nice.

Julie South [00:14:07]:

You're actually part of the community.

Sarah [00:14:10]:

That's right, absolutely. And that's what Gisborne is like. It's a really nice, small community.

You get to know people on a much closer relationship. Yeah. Like you can bump into people wherever you go and it's kind of—it's a real nice feel.

Julie South [00:14:29]:

You've just heard Sarah describe what brought her back to CareVets Gisborne after she left and what it's like being part of the Gisborne veterinary community.

But nurses are only part of the picture. In upcoming episodes in this CareVets Gisborne REAL+STORY series, you're going to hear from other team members about the clinical work, the equipment they use daily, and what the veterinarians value about working in a practice where you see everything. Because you're a GP clinic in a provincial city where the closest referral hospital is just too far away to be viable most of the time.

And remember, if you're considering your next career move, you owe it to yourself to find out the real story about this clinic, including the rostering structure, on-call arrangements, clinical equipment, and what your week actually will look like.

Head on over to vetclinicjobs.com/carevetsgisborne—I'll put the link in the show notes for you.

Until next time, this is Julie South signing off and inviting you to go out there and be your most fantabulous self. Because the clinics worth working for are the ones people choose to come back to