We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Georgia Ratcliff a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Georgia, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?
I get my work ethic from my parents. Both my parents were teachers. My Dad was an academic and my Mum was a special education teacher for children with hearing impairment. Studying and hard work was prioritized in our household. Education and learning was considered one of the most important things and a life long journey. As an adult, I’ve had to learn to slow myself down a little bit!
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I am the managing veterinarian working at Riverside Veterinary Care on Columbus which is a boutique practice on the Upper West Side in NYC. Our practice is unique because it is one of the first Fear Free Certified practices in New York City.
Fear Free is a movement that was started in 2016. The key concept of Fear Free medicine is that a patient’s mental wellbeing is as important during the experience of their visit as their physical wellbeing.
Many of our dogs and cats are (understandably) afraid when they come into an animal hospital. Animal hospitals have many innate stressors – other animals are present, strangers poke and prod you for your exam and treatments.
We are constantly making an active attempt to acknowledge and listen to what our patients are telling us about their emotional state, and try to respond in ways that will make their visits less stressful. This might involve detailed notes about an individual patient’s preferences for treats or how they prefer to be held to keep them as comfortable as possible. Sometimes it means using anxiolytic medications to help the patient – in the same way Laughing Gas if offered for many dental procedures these days.
Our hospital is designed with patient comfort in mind. For example, close contact with dogs is often very stressful for cats. As such, they have a dedicated waiting room, exam room and hospital ward.
Becoming Fear Free certified was a process that took several years, but we have been proudly certified for a few years now.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Patience – introducing our team and our clients to Fear Free medicine took time. As with any change, there is often resistance to initial ideas. Dedication was required from all our staff to complete their individual training, and get used to new ways of practice.
Belief in the goal – from the beginning, there was no doubt for me that adjusting our practice to prioritize patient wellbeing and mental health was the right thing to do. No one works in the veterinary field wanting to see animals suffer. The idea that trying to help them be happy and relaxed was a priority was easy to focus on. It also gave me un-waivering belief that we just had to keep working on it until we were succeeding in this.
Love of animals – it’s such a privilege to work with dogs and cats. They are such incredible creatures and I learn from them every day. It’s impossible to work with them and not want the very best for all of them!
Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?
I try to breathe slowly! In my position, it’s important that I always maintain calm and clarity in my work. This is important for the patients – I need to be able to focus on them in the moment. My clients need me to give them measured advice that is in their pet’s best interest. My colleagues need to feel like the ship is being guided safely even when we are extremely busy.
Most of the effort here is done outside of work. I meditate on the subway on the way to the hospital each morning. I make sure I work out because it makes me much happier. I try and sleep. Self care out of the office means I have more to give while I am there.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.rvcoc.com
Image Credits
Images by Erin Wakeman and courtesy of National Veterinary Associates
