As Elyse Rowley closes out her year and Andrea Whittle starts off 2022, they hand off the Baton—or possibly the Endoscope—and both have thoughts to share with all of our members.
From Elyse, Immediate Past-President:
Hi everyone! Wow, so many thoughts and feelings coming home from Nashville! I’ll try to boil them down but my biggest take-away is the same every time I attend one of our meetings: we have an AMAZING group of people! It is so energizing to connect with new people and old friends and share ideas and stories, what works and what doesn’t, what we love about our jobs and what we struggle with, and I always come away with a sense of being stronger for all the connections that I have within our industry. 2021 was an especially challenging year, both from an industry standpoint and from the executive board trying-to-host-an-in-person-meeting standpoint. Things were changing so quickly (still are) and we did our best to keep up. But I have to say that while I’m honored to have been your 2021 President, the “president” was a whole team this year and Nashville would not have happened without my team. They are truly phenomenal people and I hope you all can meet one or more of them at some point at a meeting or even by email, as they are the type of people everyone should know. Good people, good techs, good team players, excellent AAEVT members and I am so pleased to call them all my friends. For me, that is the beauty of getting involved-I enjoy the friendships and connections nationwide that make my work that much more enjoyable. We, your AAEVT board, tried to get as many ideas from you all as possible in Nashville and Andrea Whittle, your 2022 President, is just the person to implement them and really launch us forward into this new era of veterinary medicine. I am so proud to be able to call her my friend and colleague and can’t wait to see where the AAEVT goes with her leading the way!
From Andrea, 2022 President:
Taking over from Elyse Rowley can only set me up for success! We went from strangers living in different time zones to discovering mutual friends and building on our own professional relationship. This all started with many text messages back and forth regarding the best ambulatory endoscope for gastroscopies, static and dynamic airway exams (yes, we’re both internal medicine nerds). That conversation progressed to the best cleaning protocols, storage protocols and then beyond that to a genuine friendship.
I’m really excited, and a little daunted, to step into the position as the President of the AAEVT for this coming year. We have a new year of challenges, education and engagement ahead of us in 2022.
Having been in the industry for 20+ years it is a huge privilege to take on this role and help facilitate the future of where you, as technicians and assistants, take our industry.
Cheers to 2022!
