Finding flexibility: While others promise it, not everyone delivers
Becoming a vet, and an athlete.
I grew up in Long Island, New York. Since the age of 8, I knew I wanted to be a vet. For as long as I can remember, I have also been an athlete, playing softball and field hockey. My parents, who emigrated from France and Italy, challenged my sisters and me to go to good schools after graduation. The Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges was a prominent fixture in our house. It was a dream for them, especially my mom who didn’t finish high school.
Their dreams and mine took me to Cornell for undergrad where I played varsity field hockey (since they didn’t have a varsity team for softball, my better sport!). I stayed at Cornell for vet school, coaching and managing the varsity field hockey team during those years. Any vet knows vet school can be really stressful – it was nice to have that outlet and spend time with young women who had brilliant minds and were also brilliant athletes.
Right out of Cornell, I started at a veterinary clinic in Northeast Pennsylvania that was a mixed animal practice. I treated large and small animals and exotics from the local zoo – it was a wild time!I worked on some very interesting creatures and cases including surgery on a monkey who had been fed coins (who thought that was a good idea?) and helping a horse who impaled itself on a fence post and needed over 100 sutures. While I was there, I also made time to mentor our vet techs. I taught them about the meaning behind the tasks they performed to help them find value in their work. I enjoyed that part of the job and developed a desire to own and run my own practice.
After seven years, I set my sights on a city with more to offer the younger generation and a clinic that I could eventually call my own. That led me a few hours south to Philadelphia in 1996 where I joined a practice in the Society Hill neighborhood. Just seven years later I achieved my goal of buying that practice. I worked at the clinic for more than 20 years, selling it in 2021 and departing in early 2024. That’s when I joined IndeVets.
Sports have always played a big part in my life. With IndeVets, I can be a vet and an athlete.
I continued to play softball after college – I played in a highly competitive league in Northeast PA with two of my vet techs – but it wasn’t always easy to find opportunities to play in such a rural area.
Once I moved to Philly, I saw that the Cornell field hockey team would be playing in nearby Delaware and rallied my former teammates to travel and catch the game with me. As I watched the game, I was shocked at how different it was since my college days. Less whistles, lots of running, and a game that was constantly moving. It looked so fun. That’s when I started my research to find an adult league in Philadelphia.
After 20 years away from the sport, I found the Philadelphia Field Hockey Association and signed up to be an extra player on the team, not having much expectation. I’ve now been playing with the team for the last ten years. They practice on Saturday mornings, and I coordinate my work schedule around it. While I was at the Society Hill practice, I’d play field hockey early in the day and tell the clinic to start my appointments at 11am. I worked later hours sometimes just to fit the patients in. Not ideal, but I made it work!
When I turned 60 last year, I decided to try out for the U.S. Women’s Field Hockey Team, and I made it!
I was selected to play for the U.S. at the World Masters Hockey Pan Am Continental Cup in Buenos Aires in December of 2023. I recently also played in a tournament in Holland – a full-circle moment for me, as we played there my senior year at Cornell.
Next on my list is a 10-day trip to New Zealand in November for the Masters Hockey World Cup. All this, and I’m still practicing as a veterinarian! As a flexible associate veterinarian with IndeVets, it’s possible. The job I love, with the support and flexibility I need!
IndeVets allows me to vet the way I want.
I joined IndeVets in the spring as an Any-Time Vet, picking up shifts here and there, recently transitioned to part time. I was looking for something new, and the biggest thing for me was the ability to choose my own schedule.
At my last clinic, I was often the solo vet, and we utilized vets from various relief and staffing organizations over the years. I asked each of them about their experiences and got to know them and how they practiced medicine. I found out that some relief companies assign your shifts, which decreases your flexibility and doesn’t allow you to be in control of your schedule or choose to work at practices you’re comfortable in. I was happiest with the quality of medicine IndeVets provided. In my conversations with IndeVets doctors, I also learned about their benefits and growth and CE opportunities – which a lot of the other organizations did not offer.
IndeVets seemed like a company that really takes care of the people who work for them.
And by comparison, I didn’t get the sense that the vets I met who worked for other companies were anywhere near as happy with the flexibility they were being offered.
IndeVets was the clear choice for me.
Now, I practice medicine in both Pennsylvania and Maine and schedule shifts around my field hockey practices and travel schedule.
I love that I finally have the freedom to vet the way I want.