Milestones Reached - Thanks Sarah

I found out the other day that I missed an important milestone.  Our head technician Sarah just passed the 15 year mark at the clinic.  Remembering important milestones and personal details of those close to me is on a list of talents I do not  possess.  The list is long and also includes things like singing in tune and dunking a basketball.  Sadly, I may work a lifetime on the list and never improve.

Sarah started at the clinic in 1999 as a volunteer and has essentially been with us the whole time we have owned the clinic.  She rose through our ranks and has been our head technician for a long time.  She is also one of the most skilled technicians I will ever work with.  She has had stints of being my surgery technician and she is as efficient and caring as she is talented.  

She grew up here with us.   She has been there for the growing pains of us becoming bosses.  She was there when were first figured out to have staff meetings every week and when we started the staff newsletter.  She has watched us expand and learn new techniques and was instrumental in developing our policies and protocols for many medical procedures such as chemotherapy.  Sarah watched us fix up the old building, contemplate its replacement, design the new building, move into the new building, and figure out life in the new building.  

There has been struggle and triumph.  I watched as she persevered and studied to became a licensed technician.  I was and am so proud of her achievement.  We have navigated staff upheaval together.  She is a breast cancer survivor.  She is married to a wonderful guy who is her sole mate.   She is an accomplished violinist and I have had the pleasure of accompanying her on the piano.  We once played at an adult music camp together.  She knows more music than anyone I know.  No one loves a “Highlights” magazine joke more than she and she is so funny and shares my sense of humor. She is my friend. Currently, she is pregnant with her first child.

I wish I could manage to acknowledge and thank all those who help me and make my life easier.  It is a daunting task sometimes and I can get caught up in just keeping up.  Sarah has always taken care of me and our patients.  She makes me a better person and doctor and she makes the clinic and those around her better.   

Thanks Sarah, for so many years of dedication and humor and for all that you do for all of us.  I wouldn’t have wanted to try and do this all without you.

Timothy R Kraabel, DVM, DABVP (Canine/Feline Practice)

Outreach Chairman, American Board of VeterinaryPractitioners