Living and Working at Energy Vets Taranaki with Mixed Animal Veterinarian - Dr Sam Armstrong - pt 2/2 - 1028

1028 - DR SAM ARMSTRONG - ENERGY VETS

Julie South [00:00:00]: Welcome to Veterinary Voices, culture storytelling conversations that help vet clinics hire great people. I'm Julie South, and this is episode 1028.

Today we're continuing our real story series with Energy Vets in Taranaki on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island.

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

Energy Vets is currently recruiting for an experienced small animal veterinarian, someone ready to step up and co-lead, mentor, and coach the small animal team.

You can find out information about that at vetclinicjobs.com/energyvets.

This is the second part of the chat I had with Dr Sam Armstrong.

Julie South [00:01:01]: In this episode, Sam reflects, looks back on what work looked like once you've passed those first settling-in months. The after hours, the workload, and what makes the job feel workable over time, rather than something you just simply push through.

As you listen, listen out for the practical details that he talks about, because those are often what really determines whether people stay at a clinic or not.

So let's join that chat with Sam.

After hours, the bane of every, especially large veterinarian's life, because it just is. There's a number of factors going on for you. One, you're a new grad, or you were, right, a new grad in a new clinic in a new country. First job. How was after hours for you when you first started it?

Dr Sam Armstrong [00:02:04]: When I first started, I think it was better than I thought it was going to be. You know, I think it's the big scary part of the job. You're about by yourself, and it's always crazy busy and whatever.

But here it doesn't seem to be. And I think we've always had an open WhatsApp group with everybody. And if you are stuck, you can always send a text.

And because we have, what, 10 or 12 people in the large animal team... so I only do large animal after hours, not small animal... it's really easy to get help when you need it.

And generally, during nine months of the year, it's not too bad. It's not very busy really.

It's over the calving time. So sort of from mid-July through to mid-September, maybe October time, is our busy time in terms of calving. But we're only on maybe two to three weekends during that time, and that's enough.

You generally have had one, one in those three that's been real busy each year, but it's not been crazy.

Dr Sam Armstrong [00:03:10]: Definitely coming from the UK, I think you hear some horror stories from over there. It's much more relaxed than what I've heard.

It will be very rarely that we get called out between, say, 11 and 5 in the morning. Like, we very rarely get called out between those times.

And then outside of, say, outside of that July to October period, it's generally pretty quiet. Using the Q word.

Having said that, I've just come off last night being an all-nighter almost, but that doesn't... yeah, that's probably the first time that that's happened to me.

And if we do work during those... like, between 12 and 5, or 11 and 5, if we do call out in those times, work's really good at saying come in late, we'll reorganise things.

You need to have the sleep to be able to just be safe, above actually doing a good job as well. So yeah, that's really easy.

Dr Sam Armstrong [00:03:59]: In terms of the small animal side of things, I've had the odd day where I've filled in and helped out over the after hours.

We've just, as of about a year ago, signed up for a new after hours clinic here in Taranaki, and it's in New Plymouth.

I think there's something like four or five of the clinics around the region who have signed up to that. And that's after hours from 7 through to 7.

So we sort of fill the extra hours outside of our working hours. But then, you know, once you get 7 o'clock, you signed off.

And they've been really good. So they're really good at handing notes back to us in the morning if they'd had anything overnight. They're really good at referring them back for revisits the next day.

And they'll take anything that we can send to them if we think something needs overnight care. That's actually now available to clients.

Dr Sam Armstrong [00:04:51]: I think, you know, because there's a full-time vet there on a night shift rather than being the after hours vet who's got to go home at some stage... and you set the patient up on a drip and give it the meds and maybe if you come back in and check on it at some stage...

But when you have that after hours facility, you can actually know that patient can get what they need, providing the owners are willing to sort of do the transfers and pay the extra cost involved.

But it's something we can offer, and I think it's a real strength. And I think you can definitely see the quality of life as a full-time small animal vet being a lot nicer with an after hours clinic.

Julie South [00:05:43]: Yeah, it has taken a lot of stress off Taranaki vets big time.

Sam, studying in Cambridge, studying in Cambridge and then moving to New Plymouth. Commuting from time to time in the dark in the middle of winter to farms on the other side of Mount Messenger. How was that for you? How have you found New Zealand roads?

Dr Sam Armstrong [00:06:12]: Yeah, fine. Really, really fine. I think New Zealanders like to sort of make fun of it a little bit.

But yeah, coming from driving through the UK in the middle of the night where the hedges are right up to the side of the road, to coming here where you've got a nice boundary and everything's pretty well maintained. Yeah, there's still a bit of roadworks and so on that you have to navigate, but that's fine.

And commuting so easy. You know, if you're coming from our north Waitara clinic down to New Plymouth where I tend to work in that clinic and come back, at most half an hour to do that drive. And you get stuck in traffic for five minutes.

Everyone in New Plymouth likes to complain about how awful it is, and you're like, yeah, it's not that bad. And that's an absolute worst case.

If you're coming from Inglewood into New Plymouth, you're, yeah, 15 minutes at most really till you're well into the town. If you're on the opposite side of town, maybe 20 minutes. But I luckily live on this side, so it's even less than 15.

And yeah, traffic isn't that bad, I suppose.

Dr Sam Armstrong [00:07:01]: Yeah, if you're a large animal vet having to go on callouts, yeah, the drive time can be a bit frustrating, but that's... I can imagine that will be the case in any job.

You know, we do cover a reasonably big area, and we have two people on call for that reason.

If you're way up north above Messenger, like you say, and then you've got to go around to Awakino to do a horse call or something like that, then yeah, we have two people on call for that reason.

But yeah, the roads are pretty... once you're outside of that sort of typical commuting hours, you can get through town with no problem.

Julie South [00:07:49]: Sam, is there anything that you think an overseas vet would benefit from knowing? From questions I haven't asked yet.

If you go back, say, four years in time and you were considering moving, relocating, you're in your last year at university, what would you like to have known?

Dr Sam Armstrong [00:08:17]: I think, to be honest, my move was really, really easy. Like, it's... if you took the same country, put it somewhere else, it would be New Zealand. You know what I mean? Like, yeah.

The weather is a little bit, well, definitely nicer. The people are pretty much the same. Everyone's really nice.

The lifestyle, I think, is really good. I think, you know, people like to take a bit of downtime. It's not always go, go, go all the time, and everyone generally supports that.

I think coming to New Plymouth, I think I had... yeah, I was interested in a bit of sport and stuff outside of study, and I can still do that with work.

It's much the same. I think I would just say go for it. It's so easy to move over from, at least from my experience coming from the UK and, or from Ireland. It's just really seamless.

Dr Sam Armstrong [00:08:43]: I would say, in terms of sorting out a visa, just make sure you go through and check you have everything you need beforehand. The lists are complete.

I just ran into a little bit of trouble with getting a police certificate from Ireland because I've never lived in the Republic of Ireland, so I had to go through... I didn't realise I needed one for that, and that took an extra couple of weeks.

But once I submitted all the bits and pieces, it only took two or three weeks for it to come back.

I've just applied for residency, and it was exactly the same. Once I got all the bits and pieces together, had it within a month.

I think as a vet, vets, we're pretty lucky. They want us, they need us. So it was really easy to make that jump.

Julie South [00:09:53]: So you have your permanent residency now?

Dr Sam Armstrong [00:09:56]: Yeah, I have a permanent resident, or...

Julie South [00:10:00]: A returning residence visa.

Dr Sam Armstrong [00:10:02]: Yeah, I think I'm classed as a resident, but I think I need to see out two years. And then once after two years, I can upgrade it to a permanent resident where I can come and go as I like, sort of thing.

For this two years, I can come and go as I like. Just after that, that's sort of the window in which I can do that. And then after that, I can upgrade that to a full-time visa if needs be.

Julie South [00:10:24]: And I think you have to spend so much time in New Zealand in these two years.

Dr Sam Armstrong [00:10:28]: Yeah, yeah. In that two years, I think it's over 180 days per year or something like that, which is... I mean, if you're working, it's not a problem.

And to be honest, I think if you're over here, you don't... you want to take the chance to see this country when you're over here. It's so far away.

I haven't actually left New Zealand since coming over three years ago. Heading back in April, which will be nice. I've got a trip to Australia planned.

But it's... you just so much to see and do. Seeing out that 180 days is not a problem.

Dr Sam Armstrong [00:10:59]: Yeah, I would probably would work with, or at least ask someone what visa is best for you.

I came out on an accredited employer work visa, which again was really easy to set up. Energy Vets just had to become accredited, and then they could basically sign for me and said they've given me a job.

And so long as I stayed with this employer, it was easy.

Julie South [00:11:24]: Thank you. Is there anything else that you would like to say?

Dr Sam Armstrong [00:11:27]: I think we've just got a great team, and I think that it's the people that really make it.

And we had our Christmas party a few weeks ago, just before Christmas. And I think it was really a case of showing it where everybody from all the different teams... you know, everyone sort of intermingling, having a chat.

And it felt really nice that, yeah, we're sitting there and playing a few games outdoors with small animal nurses, vet techs, office staff, large animal vets, us. You know, it doesn't really matter.

And to be honest, it's no different to how it is during the day. I think we've got something really cool with that.

Julie South [00:12:08]: As you've just heard, Sam talked about the longer view, the after hours, the busy periods, and how work is structured so that it remains manageable over time.

Taken together with what we've already heard earlier in the series from Jade as well, Veterinarian Jade, there's a consistent picture emerging, described independently by vets in their first years of work, about how support is experienced day to day, every day, at Energy Vets.

A quick note about what you're hearing across this series. These aren't polished stories. They're everyday experiences told by different vets and nurses in their own words about what it's actually like to work at their clinic.

This is one of the reasons that recruitment often stalls when clinics rely on job ads alone. Not because the roles aren't good, but because vets and nurses can't work out whether a clinic is their kind of clinic before they apply.

Energy Vets isn't just advertising a job. They're letting people hear what working there is really like through real veterinary voices sharing real veterinary stories.

Now, if you're responsible for recruitment at your clinic and you're listening to this and thinking, yes, Julie, we have stories like this too, but you're not quite sure how to tell them or use them in a way that helps other vets and nurses work out whether you're their kind of people, then please get in touch with me. julie@vetclinicjobs.com. Because I'd love to help you tell your clinic story as well.

Julie South [00:14:04]: And if you're an experienced small animal vet considering your next move, you owe it to yourself to at least check out the position at Energy Vets.

You can find out more at vetclinicjobs.com/energyvets.

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.

And when that happens, you're not recruiting anymore. You're welcoming people who have already decided that they belong at your kind of clinic.