I think I promised in an earlier message to not use the 2020 vision comparison again. However, I have used “hindsight is 20:20” for years before this, so I think I deserve some leeway. Especially as I reflect on this past year as AASV President and the past year as a private practice swine veterinarian. Wow, what we have learned! We learned to communicate with family and friends via Zoom, before 2020 who even knew about Zoom? We certainly learned how to eat more meals at home!
My optimistic side says to look for a silver lining in the past year’s turmoil. This past year’s pandemic does have some silver linings. Technology has afforded us plenty of opportunities. With smartphones, tablets, and laptops, we all have video communication readily available. However, is this the same as live in-person visits? I contend electronic communication is better than no communication, however nothing can replace a veterinarian in a pig barn. Sight and sound are 2 of the senses that can be transmitted via digital communication. Scent, feel, and taste have yet to have a good electronic substitute. I know of multiple examples where the diagnosis of the problem was made with a sense that cannot be transmitted via electronic means. Feeling a bone fracture with minimal effort on a necropsy due to calcium deficiency? Smelling strong ammonia when walking through a barn breaking with Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae? Acidic smell of scours during an outbreak of transmissible gastroenteritis or porcine epidemic diarrhea? These are things that producers walking through barns daily may not notice. As Dr Rodibaugh has always mentored me: get in the barns, see the pigs. Nothing can replace the diagnostic capabilities of a good swine veterinarian. Walk though, determine activity level, cough level, temperature variation, high ammonia, high humidity, drafts, any diarrhea? All this occurs before the first necropsy. Answers to these variables with a necropsy generally leads to a good idea as to what the diagnosis will be pending lab results.
Another technology advantage that has become more useful with the pandemic is the web identification system and emailing of shipping labels. Producers can simply call in a request and the vet can email the necessary info to them for samples to be submitted, anything from tissue to blood to oral fluids. Diagnostic results can be received within 24 to 48 hours in most cases.
While the actual message may be delivered electronically, the gestures and facial expressions are more difficult to read on a screen. I really will miss the late evening dinners and adult beverages with my AASV friends at this year’s annual meeting. The personal connections made are invaluable to me and many others. I know I will be trying to give a quick call to some of the people I see only once a year at AASV Annual Meeting.
As planning began for the 2021 AASV Annual meeting, I was hopeful that we could bookend the pandemic. That did not happen, but by the time you are reading this we will have completed the virtual Annual Meeting. Prior to 2020, having an entire conference virtually was unheard of. Since others have already had experience and providers have done other meetings, I believe ours will be successful. Now my hope is that we can end the pandemic and attend the 2022 AASV Annual Meeting in Indianapolis in person. By that time, maybe enough people will be vaccinated that we all can feel safe to travel and mingle with hundreds of others.
While 20:20 may indicate perfect vision, the year 2020 will go down as one of the most imperfect in our lifetimes. But hopefully the struggles result in all of us learning some things to cope with challenges life throws at us.
Jeff Harker, DVM
AASV President