Shawn M. Finch, DVM

March 15, 2011 is…

Adopt the Internet Day.

In honor of Petfinder’s fifteenth birthday, pet lovers/bloggers everywhere are spreading the word about adoptable pets.  Here are some fun ways you can help…

If you have a website, write a blog post about Adopt the Internet Day.

Dedicate today’s Facebook status and picture to an adoptable pet from Petfinder.

Adopt a pet!

Share an adoptable Petfinder pet on twitter with the hashtag #adopttheinternet.

For more great ideas right from Petfinder, click the super-cute badge.  (Also, you can cut and paste the badge into your own blog post if you would like.)

Happy Birthday Petfinder!

May the next fifteen years bring you even closer to obsolete.

(I mean that in the nicest every-pet-has-a-forever-home sort of way!)

Thank you for being a Pet Saver on the grandest level.

Also, just as important, today is my Mom-in-Law Karen’s birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAREN!!  I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!

1

Overcoming Team Conflict

2

Building a Best of the Best Clientele

3

A Dramatic Wellness Exam

4

Recommending a High Level Standard of Care

5

Effective Communication Stratagies

6

Self Evaluation

7

Changing Times

8

Twitter for Veterinarians

9

Year in Review:  2010 in Veterinary Medicine

10

Conflict Resolution

Click on the article title to get to the article itself.  I know it would be cooler if I did not actually mention this and just let people find this out for themselves, but I never claimed to be cool (quite the opposite)…

Every one of the ten articles has a Scrubs link in it that pertains to the article.

Awesome.

Earlier this year, I started facebook page for Banfield, The Pet Hospital of Papillion.  It has been a very fun learning curve and a very fun project!

I still have not learned all of the ways in which to utilize facebook.  The group of people who “like” the page is just the neatest group of people ever (you).  So far we have posted some pet tips and links to articles here and there.  And of course, since it is me, there have been a few smart alec comments too. : )

Let me know what YOU would like to see on facebook!  I can amuse myself all day, but that does not necessarily help you or your pets, and that is the idea behind the page - to help you be better informed, be encouraged, get to know us, and to help your pets have the very best medical care they can have, either with us or because we have helped you become empowered to be super awesome advocates for them (hopefully both!)

So send me all of your great ideas.  If you like the page, tell your friends about it.  Thank you for all of your support here and there and in Real Life.  I think you are the very best.

Banfield, The Pet Hospital of Papillion

Here goes…THIS is gonna be fun : )

Banfield, The Pet Hospital of Papillion on twitter

This is the picture I sketched and colored with a blue Sharpie for the @PapillionBF twitter logo.  #LowTech : )

Banfield, The Pet Hospital of Papillion on facebook

Su helped me work on the facebook account all afternoon.  Dave helped me finish it from Mom and Dad’s house, and since I did not have my stash of pet pix, Mom let me use this cute one of Myrtle the Turtle.

Thank you for helping me get these two projects off the ground!  It has been a fun day getting them both started and I am excited to see what develops from here!

July 27, 2010 UPDATE: Keep a watchful eye on both of those projects, but don’t expect big huge, earth-shattering announcements and exchanges yet!  Both projects are on hold for now, but I am still reachable through both accounts or at @Finch93 (on twitter) or by e-mail - finch@rileyandjames.com.  I will let you know more as soon as I know more!

Follow @PapillionBF if you want “one more follower” as I will of course, follow you back, or if you want to be there in case I come back and say something brilliant, but don’t expect anything any time soon!  That project is still on hold and may become something else entirely.  Still exciting, and still fun to try new things and see where they end up!

The Banfield, The Pet Hospital of Papillion facebook page is active.  Feel free to join in even if you do not live in Papillion.  (haha that is a silly thing to say, I don’t even live in Papillion!)  We can discuss anything you would like to.  Dr. Wittler will probably be adding some medical information soon, and it could always use more cute pictures besides Myrtle the Turtle!

I just wrote a blog post for dvm360 at the invitation of Veterinary Economics Editor Kristi Reimer.  Ok, so it was not a direct invitation, it was the introduction to the June issue of Veterinary Economics, sort of a “Draw This Turtle” for veterinarians.

I opened my June Veterinary Economics and read it from cover to cover like I always do.  The last thing I read (It was on the front page - I read magazines and journals from back to front - I think it’s a lefty thing) made me space off and dream for the rest of my lunch break.  Kristi said (to me!) “We’re on the lookout for user-generated content.”

Earlier in the year, Charity, who I work for at Carefresh, suggested I write a list of every company I would like to write with.  I already have my dream Mom-Veterinarian-Writer career.  Really, could it get any better??

I write HERE (which I LOVE - thanks Dave!!) and for Omaha.net (which I also love - thanks Jordy and Morgan!), Banfield occasionally asks for my input for their blog and journal (Thanks Nina!) and I had just accidently landed my dream job with Carefresh (Thanks Charity and Tom!)  Was it even OK to dream bigger?

But I do everything Charity tells me to do.  So I started writing out my dream list.  And at the very top of my list was dvm360-Advanstar Communications.  They are the team behind most of my favorite veterinary journals, behind DogFancy and CatFancy, even, I just learned, some automotive, dental and sports publications!  I knew it was just a dream, but sometimes dreams can become Real Life.  And writing lists is fun.

Thank YOU for coming with me on this crazy (good-crazy) adventure.  It has been fun, hasn’t it? : )

And look, they let me post this…Twitter for Veterinarians

It had to be said - When the world of veterinary medicine (eighty thousand+ veterinarians) intersects with the world of twitter (six million+ tweeters), it is such an amazing thing.  It just is SO uncommon!  (Four hundred sixty-two veterinarians/hospitals on twitter by my count)  I wanted to make jumping into twitter easier for vets.  So I hope it does.  If you don’t see more veterinarians posting on twitter in the next month or so, assume they are, as always, busy preserving and saving lives, not that they are unable to figure out twitter, because now I hope they will be!