16 COMPANION | Q1 2014 FEATURED MEMBER OUR FEATURED MEMBER FOR THIS EDITION OF COMPANION IS DR BILL HARKIN OF BLACKBURN ANIMAL HOSPITAL. HE SPOKE TO BEN NEUTZE ABOUT HIS CAREER, FROM GROWING UP ON A SMALL DAIRY FARM TO HIS TIME AS PRESIDENT OF THE VICTORIAN DIVISION OF THE AVA. 16 COMPANION | Q1 2014 Bill Harkin
Article: A day in the life of Bill Harkin....just one of the many articles in Q1 Companion Magazine - full publication available to ASAVA members. ava.com.au/asava
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COMPANION | Q1 2014
FEATURED MEMBER
Our feAtured MeMber fOr thIs edItION Of COMPANION Is dr bIll hArkIN Of blACkburN ANIMAl hOsPItAl. he sPOke tO beN Neutze AbOut hIs CAreer, frOM grOwINg uP ON A sMAll dAIry fArM tO hIs tIMe As PresIdeNt Of the VICtOrIAN dIVIsION Of the AVA.
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COMPANION | Q1 2014
Bill Harkin
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COMPANION | Q1 2014
Bill HARkin gREw Up likE MAny
vETs Do wiTH His sigHTs FiRMly
sET on onE goAl – To woRk wiTH
AniMAls. HE spEnT His EARly yEARs
on A sMAll DAiRy FARM in gippslAnD,
in REgionAl vicToRiA AnD soon
EnoUgH cAME To THE DEcision THAT
vETERinARy sciEncE woUlD BE THE
MosT ExciTing AnD cHAllEnging
wAy oF FUlFilling His pRiMARy
AMBiTion.
“when I was growing up, the veterinary input
into farming was really just developing,” bill
says. “so I didn’t see too many vets out on
the farm. but it seemed to be a career that
offered a lot more excitement than milking
cows for the rest of my life.”
bill enrolled in veterinary science at the
university of Melbourne, and although he
found the first year to be a little bit of a
shock, with its focus entirely on science and
theory, he formed a close bond with many of
his fellow students.
“we very much lived in each other’s pockets
– we were a small group – 50, down to
about 45 when we graduated,” he says.
“when we meet up at our reunion every ten
years, it’s just fantastic to get back together –
you have that shared bond from having that
time together at a very formative time
of your life.”
when he graduated in 1975, bill was
intending to go into rural practice, with a
focus on cattle, but those jobs were thin on
the ground.
“It was a really bad time for rural veterinary
practice,” he recalls. “the Japanese and
the Americans had both cut off all of our
beef exports and the price of cattle had
plummeted to virtually nothing.”
he eventually found a rural job, doing mainly
routine work – tb testing, pregnancy testing
etc. but found that he didn’t have the support
he needed in the position.
“It was a very tough year. the average length
of stay in that job was ten months, and I pretty
much conformed to that length of time.”
bill had been a member of the AVA since he
was a second year student, but in his first year
as a new graduate, found the support invaluable.
“I was really thrown into the deep end and
was out there on my own,” he says. “the
support and the social interaction I got
from the AVA branch meetings made me
feel less isolated. being treated as a fellow
professional was just crucial and it made a
big difference.”
After he left that position, he found that there
weren’t rural jobs available, and ended up in
a small animal practice.
“to my own surprise, I found that I really
enjoyed small animal practice. surgery
became my true love and there was just so
much more you could do in small animals,
surgery-wise, than you could in large animals.”
Over the years, bill worked in a number of
small animal practices and owned a smaller
practice before 25 years ago he bought
blackburn Animal hospital.
“the practice I had at the time was about
a one-and-a-half vet practice, and it wasn’t
enough to nail my feet to the floor,” he says.
“It might sound strange, but I was very heavily
involved in high altitude mountaineering at
the time and came to the decision that if I
continued doing that I would end up dead.
I needed something to distract myself.
“I didn’t even know where blackburn was.
I was a country boy, so I had to look it up on
a map.”
Over the years, bill has seen the practice
undergo a number of changes in its relationship
with clients. he says the relationship between
owners and their pets has changed, meaning
the way the practice provides services has
had to move to reflect this.
“we moved our consultations from 10
minutes to 15 minutes to 20 minutes. we’ve
got a greater emphasis on preventative
medicine now, and if that’s what you’re
dealing with, you have to spend more time
talking to people about doing that.”
he says that being a stable presence in the
community has meant that his relationship
with clients has improved over the years, to
the point where there’s great trust between
the practice and the clients.
“with most of those clients, if I say we have
to do something, their reply will be ‘when can
you do it?’, not ‘how much will it cost?’ or ‘is it
necessary’.”
bill also, in 2009, became the President
of the AVA Victorian division. during his
time, he dealt wit the aftermath of the 2009
bushfires, ensuring vets were involved in
planning for the future, helped to revive
the AVA Victorian division conference
and establish VIAg; the Victorian Industry
Advisory group, devoted to the improving
the education of vet nurses.
Although his presidency ended in 2011, he’s
still active in lobbying and sits on a number of
committees, including the Victorian division.
Although he’s confident that the profession
will continue to develop in positive ways, he’s
concerned that vet schools are graduating
far too many students.
“I’ve had discussions with politicians and
universities, but the universities are in the
situation where they’re squeezed for funds,
and their answer to that is to increase the
number of students and hope that will raise
enough money for them to keep going. but
there isn’t any responsibility to the students.”
A lot of people do law, who don’t end up
working as a solicitor, but I don’t think that
everybody who studies law expects to work
as a solicitor, and you can use that degree
in lots of ways. I think people who go into a
veterinary degree – the vast majority of them
have decided to become a vet at an early
age in life, and they put everything into it.
graduating so many students is not a socially
responsible thing to do.”
Outside of his professional life, bill has had
four children with his wife Jan, and two
grandchildren. One of his sons is in Medicine,
and one of his daughters works at blackburn
as a veterinary nurse. his seven-year-old
granddaughter, sienna, like bill has her heart
set on working with animals.
“I encourage her, tell her to work hard at
school. but there’s a long way between being
a seven-year-old who wants to become a vet
and actually being one,” bill says. “It saddens
me when I talk to vets who have discouraged
their children from joining the profession.
“I think there’s a problem with vets having
low professional self esteem. Not enough
people have pride in being vets. I’m really
proud to be a vet. I’m somebody who grew
up on a small dairy farm and to me, to have
achieved what I have is fantastic. If you can
enjoy going to work every day after 38 years
of doing the same job, I don’t think you can
ask for much more.”
COMPANION | Q1 2014
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COMPANION | Q1 2014
on radiographs, but I warn his owner, in
the discharge letter that I write, that it will
require a lengthy course of antibiotics and
bathing to get on top of the infection, and
still might require amputation of the third
phalanx.
Progress to excitable 2 year old female
cavoodle, with 12 month history of
intermittent front leg lameness. unable to
elicit any pain response, either in original
consult, or prior to sedating for radiographs.
No visible lameness. radiograph from neck
to toes; nothing evident. I had suspected it
was elbow or shoulder, & I am now pretty
sure that it is not the elbow. I think there may
be a subtle instability in the shoulder, but I
wouldn’t swear to it. send her home with a
short course of NsAIds and then recheck. I
think I will be referring her then for advanced
imaging +/- arthroscopy.
have a chat about some current cases with
dr suzanne Nunn. suzanne has been with
me for 25 years in this practice, and is our
medical and dermatological expert. I try to
cure everything with a scalpel, so fortunately
we are complimentary. I did a core biopsy on a
dermal mass on one of her patients, ben (a 13
yo golden retriever with a very, very attached,
and nervous, owner) a few days ago. It has
come back as a grade 1 soft tissue sarcoma.
suzanne will ring karen, the owner, with the
news. I believe there is a very strong chance
of curative surgery. I had already prospectively
booked ben in for surgery in a few days.
hannah shows me a photo sent in by lisa,
a very long-standing client who has just
got home from hospital after breast cancer
surgery. I removed a mast cell tumour from
her dog, silk, last friday. she found out the
same day she herself needed surgery lisa
also lost her husband recently, from very
early onset Alzheimers. life isn’t always fair.
wound looks good in photo. small amount of
swelling, & very minor seromatous discharge.
lisa can’t bring her in for a recheck, so
hannah will arrange for either herself or
suzanne to call in to lisa’s to check the
wound. the secret of a successful practice is
good staff.
head home for lunch at 2:30 pM. I will be
consulting tonight from 5:00 till 8:00 (or
usually later). I have gradually reduced my
hours, so I am only consulting 2 evenings
these days. the downside is that I am always
booked out, and often go fairly late. I use the
afternoon break to keep on top of bookwork,
check emails, and usually have a short nap
before going back in to work at about 4:45
pm. It is very important to still be bright and
enthusiastic for the last patient of the day, just
as much as the first.
get phone call at 3:30 pM: can I come in
& do a caesarean. they have had a walk-in
with a very small Pomeranian or Pom X bitch,
mated by a mid-size dog; unknown dates.
recipe for trouble! head back in to work.
suzanne has got one live pup out, but no
response to Oxytocin, and at least one pup
still inside. I can just touch puppy’s tail per vag.