Dear Friends and Clients,
As you may have heard from multiple news outlets, the healthcare industry, including Veterinary Medicine, has been strained and overstretched over the last 2 years. The pandemic has created a much higher level of physical and emotional demand from the individuals in our industry and consequently, employee attrition and team burnout have become endemic in our profession.
We are honored to be able to continue to serve our community and are more committed than ever to providing care for our patients. However, the reality is that demand is up, qualified veterinary professionals are in short supply, and our industry is collectively experiencing fatigue and burnout.
Our team is our most important asset and it is for this reason that I humbly ask for your support, compassion, and understanding. We reluctantly must accept the fact that we are simply unable to attend to our clients’ expectations in the same timely manner we have in the past. While we work to resolve these issues, here are a few ways in which you can support us:
- Be patient: At times, we may be unable to attend to all phone and email requests in the same timely fashion that we are known for. We promise we have not forgotten about you! We simply have an overwhelming number of inquiries that we must manage and our team is trained to address issues based on medical urgency.
- Be understanding: Despite our best efforts, we may not be able to schedule your pet without advance notice. We are working with a very high patient load and therefore have limited availability. Please understand that we still love your fur baby as much as ever, but simply cannot place volume above the quality of our medical rehabilitation. Our doctors and therapy team are human and as such, have limits as to how many cases they can safely take on per day.
- Be Respectful: Our Water4Dogs team members are our front line workers and work in earnest to accommodate the demands of a very large clientele. They juggle multiple tasks simultaneously and have to meet the demands of our clients and medical team. Each team member is a highly trained, college-educated animal lover and we ask that you speak to them with kindness and respect. Verbal abuse of any type will not be tolerated.
- Be Considerate: We make an effort to operate a therapeutic environment, as such, we ask that you respect our facility, equipment and rules. Please leash your pet at all times within the facility. We do not allow pets to be off leash as this may allow for greater injury or harm. Please avoid approaching other patients in the lobby or pets engaged in treatment. This is a healing environment where trust between practitioner and patient is paramount.
- Communicate: We understand that life happens and you may be unable to make your appointment. Please help us in maintaining that policy by calling or emailing us should you be unable to make your appointment or are running late. It’s frustrating and disheartening to see appointment spots go unused when we have other patients in need who would have been grateful for that time with your therapy team.
This has been a time of constant adjustment and change and I cannot thank you enough for your understanding, loyalty, and support. I promise to continue to search for the right balance and deliver the best veterinary experience for patients, their humans, and the whole team at Water4Dogs Rehabilitation Center.
Stay safe and be well.
Very gratefully yours,
Dr. DiPolo
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