Vet Spotlight: Dr. Haros is grateful to have telehealth in his vet med toolkit
Dr. Haros attended veterinary school at the University of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia and completed some of his clinicals in Saskatoon, Canada. He then returned home to Virginia Beach upon graduating to set roots in his local community. His interests include internal medicine, diagnostic imaging, and urgent care. He fills his schedule with relief shifts at local urgent care clinics and with virtual Vetster appointments. He owns a Bernese mountain dog named Ovi and a Bernedoodle named Oni.
“I greatly appreciate how it (telemedicine) allows improvement of the lives of owners, pets and of those of us working in this demanding field.”
What initially brought you to providing virtual care?
I feel that telemedicine has become the inevitable progression of veterinary medicine. It helps to alleviate many of the current problems we are facing such as staff shortages and increased patient loads. Finishing my degree during the height of the pandemic, I was quickly made aware of how bad the situation was. Shortly after I began working, local emergency clinics were significantly lessening their hours due to staff burnout. This was causing quite a panic among pet owners and veterinary staff alike. I began picking up urgent care relief shifts and looking into virtual veterinary opportunities to help with the growing problem. It was then that I discovered Vetster, and I’ve been enjoying helping pets and their owners virtually ever since.
Share a time you ended a Vester appointment feeling really good about how you helped the pet and client.
It’s difficult to isolate just one experience, but recently I saw a GSD with a history of ear infections. The owner lives in rural Virginia with limited veterinary clinic accessibility, made worse by the fact that her dog has been banned from those clinics due to extreme aggression. For this reason she consulted Vetser for help. I am generally very careful to explain to owners that treating ear/skin infections without knowing the pathogens present or knowing if the tympanic membrane is intact can have certain risks. However, knowing that this dog wouldn’t have otherwise been able to receive any treatment or relief if not for virtual care makes me feel extremely relieved, grateful and proud that I could help this animal and its owner.
Where do you see veterinary telehealth five years from now?
The veterinary shortage will likely continue to be a major concern, as there are projections that in 2030 there will be a shortage of about 15000 vets. Efforts to mitigate the problem such as increasing vet-school class sizes are great but will not solve the crisis in the short-term. Even more recently, discussions are being had by the AVMA to loosen in-person VCPR regulations for telemedicine, which will be incredibly beneficial in many states where restrictions are stricter than in states such as Virginia where I am based. Overall I greatly appreciate how it allows improvement of the lives of owners, pets and of those of us working in this demanding field.
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