Living and Working at CareVets Gisborne with Rhonda - Clinic Coordinator - ep.1022

Episode 1022: Rhonda - CareVets Gisborne

Host: 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 1022.

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

Today I'm chatting with Rhonda. Rhonda is the clinic coordinator at CareVets in Gisborne, New Zealand.

Rhonda came from corporate backgrounds in Auckland and London—big cities, long commutes, the whole package. And she chose Gisborne five years ago.

Host: Julie South [00:00:55]:

Rhonda's the person who keeps the machine running in clinic. The person, the woman who checks in with the team, who listens when the team says we need to tell people what it's really like here, how good it is here.

At the time of recording, CareVets Gisborne is recruiting for a small animal veterinarian. You can find the role at vetclinicjobs.com/carevetsgisborne—I'll put the link in the show notes for you to refer to and click.

What you are hearing here today, this episode, are real veterinary voices telling real veterinary stories. Not polished messaging, just real lived experience.

Listen out for what a five-minute commute actually means when you've spent years in traffic.

Let's join that chat.

Rhonda - Clinic Coordinator [00:01:51]:

Hi, I'm Rhonda and I'm the clinic coordinator at CareVets Gisborne.

Host: Julie South [00:01:56]:

How long have you been at CareVets Gisborne?

Rhonda - Clinic Coordinator [00:01:59]:

Coming up to five years in January.

Host: Julie South [00:02:02]:

Somebody doesn't stay somewhere for five years if they don't enjoy it. So what's it been like for you? What do you enjoy?

Rhonda - Clinic Coordinator [00:02:12]:

I enjoy working with like-minded people. I love animals. I love the daily interaction with animals and the people I work with.

It's a great environment. There's a lot of good spirit, good fun, hard work—because there's lots of challenging times. But mostly the people. I would say the team that we have here is awesome.

Host: Julie South [00:02:35]:

Rhonda, are you a former—I shouldn't say former because once a vet nurse, always a vet nurse. Once a vet, always a vet. Are you a vet nurse?

Rhonda - Clinic Coordinator [00:02:44]:

No.

Host: Julie South [00:02:45]:

You're not?

Rhonda - Clinic Coordinator [00:02:45]:

I've always worked in a corporate business environment until I got this job.

Host: Julie South [00:02:52]:

I'm pleased you said always worked in a corporate business environment. Would you describe CareVets Gisborne as a corporate clinic? Because it's part of a large group, but would you describe it as being corporate?

Rhonda - Clinic Coordinator [00:03:07]:

No, no, definitely not. A lot of people do describe it as that. But comparative to other big corporations, it's definitely not anything like that.

We're quite independent in Gisborne. Although we obviously have our protocols that we're given to follow and we're guided by upper management, in particular our regional manager. But we're independent because of our location. So it does have a family feel within the team.

Host: Julie South [00:03:40]:

When you and I have been talking on the phone a couple of weeks ago, you mentioned that when you're with the team, the team has said we've got to tell people about what's so great about working here. What would you describe as being so great? What do people need to know?

Rhonda - Clinic Coordinator [00:04:04]:

Definitely the passion of everyone that works here, the drive towards excellent customer service. Our clients are really, really important to us.

The nursing team are excellent. They're highly organised, efficient, they do a lot of the work and support vets very well—and I've had that feedback from locum vets. I always check in with the locum vet before they leave.

Rhonda - Clinic Coordinator [00:04:42]:

Definitely the nursing team are just a great all-round team personality. They all get on. We deal with problems if they arise, as and when they arise.

And I think we just all between us and together we give a great service to all our clients. Everyone enjoys working here and people who come in from the outside will say what a great team it is. And I think we've got a lot to offer as a work environment for anyone who wants to come and work here.

Host: Julie South [00:05:05]:

Off air, you mentioned that you moved from Auckland to Gisborne and that you have lived in London. So both of those are big cities. What's life like in Gisborne?

Let's talk about the commute. What's your commute like? Because in both London—I worked in London, it took me 90 minutes on the train to get to work. What's the commute like for you today in Gisborne?

Rhonda - Clinic Coordinator [00:05:35]:

Exactly five minutes.

Host: Julie South [00:05:37]:

How many trips?

Rhonda - Clinic Coordinator [00:05:38]:

Which is brilliant. I love it. I absolutely love that I go home for lunch. And yeah, five minutes home through 5 o'clock traffic—it might add on a minute or two because you've got to wait for half a dozen cars at the roundabout instead of usually just going straight through.

Host: Julie South [00:05:55]:

So you don't have to sit through multiple changes of traffic lights.

Rhonda - Clinic Coordinator [00:05:58]:

No, definitely not. When I lived in Auckland, I had a manual car. Never got out of second gear on my way to work.

So now—yeah, and that's one of the things that really appealed to me, coming to Gisborne because, yeah, I'd lived in London. An hour, hour and a half commute. Auckland was the same and I was just really looking forward to having those two, three hours a day back.

Rhonda - Clinic Coordinator [00:06:26]:

And that's definitely one of the great things about living here, and tied in with that is just the ease of living. Because of that, getting places. The beach is only five minutes away. Everything is just so much easier. Parking, getting around.

Host: Julie South [00:06:41]:

Gisborne is an outdoors lifestyle city. What's your—when you're not working, how do you take advantage of what Gisborne has to offer?

Rhonda - Clinic Coordinator [00:06:55]:

I would say there's beautiful walks, there's beautiful beaches. I have dogs. Me and my husband have dogs. You can easily go to the beach and there's hardly anyone else there.

You know, you're not sharing the beach with heaps of people. Gets busy in certain areas. But you can go to the beach and be the only one on the beach with your dog who can run off-leash. Beautiful parks to walk in as well, with dogs.

Host: Julie South [00:07:22]:

What sort of person do you think would fit best into the team at CareVets Gisborne?

Rhonda - Clinic Coordinator [00:07:29]:

Someone who enjoys outdoor activities. Surfing. We had a locum vet, she got involved in surfing, she learned how to surf, she joined the rowing club, she went on lots of walks with one of our nurses here. They both had interests like that.

Yeah, surfing is a big thing, but there's also soccer, football, all sorts of sporting, netball, really whatever you want to get involved with. Mostly outside—there's not great shopping, but there's lots of outdoor activities.

Rhonda - Clinic Coordinator [00:08:17]:

So it's really that if you're into city life, this isn't the place for you. But if you're into an active life, outdoors and enjoying warm weather, then this is the place for you.

Host: Julie South [00:08:17]:

When you get busy, how does your team usually handle or respond to things?

Rhonda - Clinic Coordinator [00:08:25]:

We communicate about what's going on, what's coming up, and basically we will always quickly make a plan and work out how and who's going to deal with whatever needs to be dealt with.

Yeah, we make a plan. It's usually—we communicate between us. There's very, very good communication in our team. Like we will get together very quickly, come up with a plan, very quickly work out—you know, as the clinic coordinator, I'll listen to ideas, like the head nurse. I'll listen to what she's got to say, her opinion, what would work best, and we all basically put in.

Rhonda - Clinic Coordinator [00:09:21]:

And then often I'll make the decision, but also the others, if I'm not here, are very capable of making decisions about how things need to be dealt with.

Host: Julie South [00:09:21]:

Do you have team huddles, daily huddles or handovers?

Rhonda - Clinic Coordinator [00:09:25]:

Yeah, every morning. Yeah, before surgery. So we have our admits early, we open at 8, have our admits up to 8:30, nurses are getting organised for surgery and then 9 o'clock we'll get together, have a chat about the day ahead.

And communication is really important to me personally and I think to most people here. Everyone likes good communication.

Rhonda - Clinic Coordinator [00:10:04]:

But we like to make sure the front of house know what's going on, you know, out the back stuff's come in overnight, so reception know what calls to expect and so we're all on the same page.

Host: Julie South [00:10:04]:

Rhonda, what makes you excited about coming to work on Monday mornings?

Rhonda - Clinic Coordinator [00:10:08]:

I miss it when I'm not here and I just love the variety of what the day can bring. Like literally no two days are the same.

Yeah, I don't work Mondays, actually Tuesday is my day and I'm always interested to learn how yesterday was, the day before was, and sort of what cases we've got in, what's been happening. That's what I look forward to.

I think it's probably really important for the person coming here to know what kind of place Gisborne is and for that to be the kind of place they want to live.

Rhonda - Clinic Coordinator [00:11:03]:

Yeah, someone who doesn't want to be in a big city anymore, someone who likes living in a small town, has always lived in small towns and I guess to be prepared for that.

Host: Julie South [00:11:03]:

Having said that, you've lived in big cities and you love Gisborne, so it doesn't have to be somebody who wants another small town. Right.

It could be a vet who is absolutely over long commutes or is absolutely over not being able to go to the beach that's just down the road. Or go hiking or surfing or whatever.

Rhonda - Clinic Coordinator [00:11:32]:

I mean, no matter where you live in Gisborne, it's a five-minute drive to the beach. If you're lucky, you can be a walk away from the beach. So that's—I think I did say partly that at the beginning of my answer to that question. You live and you want to get out of a big city, like this is the place to come.

And I think too, what I've heard from people, people working in other countries, the hours are much longer in other countries. We've got a Canadian nurse, she used to do 11, 12-hour shifts. We do eight-hour shifts, eight to five.

Rhonda - Clinic Coordinator [00:12:04]:

Occasionally we go on a little bit past five, but we've got our vet who's coming back in March. He's in Australia at the moment. He does 10, 11-hour days and he's got a young family, gets a half hour lunch.

We—yeah, it's just easier living here, I think. Yeah, you can have a life, I think whereas big cities, you just spend most of it getting to work, at work, coming home. We've got that work-life balance, which is a cliché, but it's true.

Host: Julie South [00:12:45]:

You've just been listening to Rhonda, clinic coordinator at CareVets Gisborne.

When good clinics struggle to attract the right people, it's because vets and nurses can't get that feeling of, yes, these are my kind of people.

What you've just heard is the kind of context that most job ads can't give you. What the clinic coordinator notices, for example, what locums say about the nursing team, what life really looks like when your commute drops from 90 minutes to five.

Host: Julie South [00:13:41]:

This is culture storytelling. Real veterinary voices telling real veterinary stories beyond job requirements.

Now, if you're listening to this and thinking, hey, Julie, that's all well and good, we've got stories like this, but how on earth do we capture them or share them? You'll find a link in the show notes to talk with me about your clinic's real stories.

This is Julie South signing off and inviting you to go out there and be your most fantabulous self. Because great work happens when you're part of your kind of clinic with your kind of people.