Living and Working at CareVets Gisborne with Alice Dawson - Regional Manager - ep.1023

Julie South [00:00:04]: Welcome to Veterinary Voices, culture storytelling conversations that help veterinary clinics hire great people. I'm Julie South, and this is episode 1023, continuing our real story series with CareVets Gisborne.

Veterinary Voices is brought to you by VetClinicJobs, helping vet clinics tell their culture stories, not just post job ads.

We began this CareVets series back in episode 1017, listening to the people who make up the clinic day to day. The vets, the nurses, the clinic coordinator, and a vet who had actually been locumming at the clinic.

In this episode, we add another perspective, another point of view. I'm joined today by Alice Dawson, who's the regional manager at CareVets. Alice supports Gisborne alongside other clinics in her region.

Alice has been with CareVets for 10 years and has worked as a veterinary nurse for 17. So what she shares here comes from long-term experience seeing how clinics are supported, how teams develop, and what helps people stay and grow over time.

This chat isn't about one role or one shift. It's about the structure around the team and how that support really does show up in real life, everyday practise.

Let's get into it.

Alice Dawson [00:01:42]: My name's Alice. I'm the regional manager for CareVets. I look after the Wellington team as well as Napier and Gisborne.

I have been with CareVets now coming just been 10 years and a veterinary nurse for 17 years. So I am responsible for the overarching running of Gisborne.

Julie South [00:02:01]: Nobody stays with an employer for 10 years unless they're a good employer. What do you really like about working for CareVets?

Alice Dawson [00:02:17]: What I probably enjoy the most is it's very much a family feel. So from knowing the CEO to the COO every day, you sort of have a bit of a conversation with them.

They're keen to see our teams grow from within. So there's a lot of movement from being in a junior role to that senior management role.

Julie South [00:02:38]: It's easy for people in New Zealand to see, because CareVets is so big, it has significant presence in the North Island, it's easy to see CareVets as being, and I'm using air quotes here, a corporate. But it's not, is it?

Alice Dawson [00:02:59]: No. CareVets is its own. Each clinic is its own separate entity. So we don't have that overarching corporate business to it.

Family owned and operated. Like I say, the CEO knows the team members by name and visits clinics often. So it's really nice.

Julie South [00:03:16]: How do you see that being beneficial? You've said that the CEO visits the clinics, he knows their names. How does that translate in real life, especially for Gisborne?

Because Gisborne is just the geographic location of Gisborne. It's out by itself, it's pretty remote, it's a destination place, it's not just a drive-past place.

Alice Dawson [00:03:43]: I think it shows that team feel to the company. But it's not just... they're out by, like you say, they're out by themselves. They are a little bit more remote than some of the others, but that we've still got that connection with our teams.

Julie South [00:03:57]: What do you especially like about Gisborne, the clinic, when you visit it?

Alice Dawson [00:04:03]: The people. The team are such a friendly bunch. They're always willing to help each other or you.

They're just an absolutely great team of people. They've got such a heart of gold and they're carers for the animals. At the end of the day.

Julie South [00:04:16]: We've got nurses now with bachelor's degrees, but it's still, the majority of vet nurses are diploma qualified. Gisborne has a bachelor's qualified vet nurse. What difference do you think that makes to the nursing team and to the vets that are working with a bachelor qualified vet nurse?

Alice Dawson [00:04:40]: Yeah, I think it definitely does. Emma definitely then holds people to a very high account, very high standards, and will hold them to the best for that animal and ensuring that the time and effort is put into each and every one and that best standards are followed.

Julie South [00:04:55]: Emma was telling me, and listeners, I will link to Emma's specific podcast, that she did her bachelor's study as part of the CPD offering that she had through CareVets. What sort of other advances have you seen people use their CPD for?

Alice Dawson [00:05:18]: Oh, it ranges in all sense. The nursing team, they'll do a lot of courses that they're interested in, especially up in Gisborne. A lot of emergency things with having after hours.

I've had other vets do orthopaedics, oncology, ophthalmology. Just whatever they're interested in that we see is beneficial to the team and to them as well, we will put time and effort into for them.

Julie South [00:05:42]: What sort of person do you think would fit best into CareVets Gisborne? Right now you're recruiting for a vet.

Alice Dawson [00:05:49]: I think somebody that's just very team orientated, is prepared to be part of that team, also have that support from the nurses. They are a very experienced team and they will do whatever they can to support the vets.

Yeah, I think somebody that just wants to be part of a very friendly, supportive team. The team do enjoy getting together every once in a while, so somebody that enjoys that slightly social aspect as well.

Julie South [00:06:12]: There's some pretty sophisticated kit on offer, equipment-wise, in that clinic. How do you see that being utilised?

Alice Dawson [00:06:20]: Yeah, we do take a lot of pride and effort in what we put into our clinics for the team to have. So, like you say, we do have a lot of fun toys.

With our diagnostics, we like to have that at our fingertips. No having to send out for labs and wait days for results.

So we just see it as a benefit for the vet, the nurse, and the patient and the client, having results sooner than having to wait, so we can get onto treatment plans sooner.

Julie South [00:06:46]: You live in Wellington, but you travel to Gisborne. Every time you visit the clinic, you're effectively seeing Gisborne as an outsider because you don't live in there every day. What are your impressions of Gisborne as a city?

Alice Dawson [00:07:04]: Yeah, I've always enjoyed Gisborne. I've visited many times there before even taking this role.

So the clients are lovely, the team are lovely. It's a nice, very warm climate rather than rather windy Wellington. I've always enjoyed it. I've enjoyed the people, I've enjoyed the places. The food's great, the accommodation's great.

Julie South [00:07:25]: Is there anything that you think somebody would find helpful to know that I haven't asked?

Alice Dawson [00:07:31]: The clinic sees a lot of diverse cases, from your routine consultations through to your emergencies, whether that be your road traffic accidents or your farm dogs or something like that.

So it's a very versatile role. No two days are ever the same in Gisborne. I can say hand on heart, having been there.

Julie South [00:07:54]: That was Alice Dawson, regional manager at CareVets Gisborne.

As Alice put it, what matters most is that people feel supported to do their job well, not just clinically, but as part of a team they can rely on.

Vets and nurses can't choose a clinic if they can't see what it's really like to work there. They're not just choosing a role, they're choosing the people they'll work with and the support around them when things get busy or unpredictable.

If you're responsible for recruitment at your clinic and listen to this right now thinking, hey, Julie, we've got stories like this, but we just don't know how to capture or share them, then please email me directly. julie@vetclinicjobs.com.

And if you're an experienced small animal veterinarian considering your next move, CareVets Gisborne is currently recruiting. You can find out more by going to vetclinicjobs.com/carevetsgisborne.

This is Julie South signing off and inviting you to go out there and be your most fantabulous self.

Because when vets and nurses can hear what working somewhere is really like before they ever see a job ad, they know whether they'll be working with their kind of people in their kind of clinic.

Julie South [00:09:18]: And when that happens, you're not recruiting anymore. You're welcoming people who have already decided that they belong on your team.