Louise Millar of Hambleton Equine Clinic talks us through how the Coronavirus pandemic has changed her day-to-day life.
If someone had told me a few weeks ago that the only routine in my day would be doing a surprisingly difficult Joe Wicks workout on youtube with the kids at nine every morning, I wouldn’t have believed them.
Following the Coronavirus pandemic this has become my reality.
I furloughed from the job I love in a busy equine practice last week. This was a sensible decision given that much of my work involved lameness investigation and diagnostic imaging. There was the added consideration that I live over an hour away from the clinic and staying in a shared house when on call was no longer practical given social distancing recommendations. I also had my new role of primary school teacher to consider. My staying at home with the kids would allow my husband to increase his hours at his practice as vets were furloughed there.
To be furloughed seemed an obvious solution to support both my family and the practice but I have to admit that when my boss rang to confirm this was the situation I felt both disbelief and shock.
It has been a strange experience so far. I have even more respect for teachers than before! There have been some positive aspects to having more time at home. We are lucky to live in a beautiful part of Yorkshire and our walks and bike rides together are definitely the highlight of the day. We finally finished the raised beds we had been threatening to make for years and the kids enjoyed planting vegetables.
There has been an increased sense of community both locally and within the veterinary sector. I really miss my close team of colleagues doing a brilliant job to keep the clinic going, but we have kept in touch by phone and email. I feel guilty that they are having to manage the increase in on call and risks associated with seeing clients. We hope to continue with our Friday morning Journal Clubs virtually via Zoom or similar.
The BEVA furlough club virtual meetings are brilliant. It’s an opportunity to keep in touch clinically with case presentations and “meet” other equine vets in a similar situation to share ideas.
Thanks for reading my blog and stay safe everyone,
Louise.
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