Dr. Phil Johnson of Winneconne - 2010

Dr. Phil Johnson of Winneconne - WVMA President 2010      

     

  

Phil Johnson, DVM

Photo:  Courtesy of Dr. Phil Johnson

      The most important WVMA developments during my presidency, I would say among the many developments, there was one inside the WVMA and one outside the WVMA. It was decided early in my presidency to move the WVMA office from a location near the State Capitol building, to a location on the east side of Madison. This new location had several advantages. It was larger, with space for most committee meetings of the WVMA to be held with no cost to the association. The location also

had easier access from highways for WVMA staff and members and all at a cost savings to the WVMA.

      Externally for the WVMA, some of our most significant developments were in the area of state legislation that occurred over my term. The highlight moment was when the WVMA cooperated with several allied groups to convince Governor Doyle to veto legislation that would have permitted the sale of raw milk in Wisconsin. This legislation may surface again in the future but it has not to this point in time.

Personal information

        I was born in Alma, Michigan in 1954. My father was a family practitioner and my mother a registered nurse. My father always had a great love for farm life and from a young age we resided on hobby farms. My formative years were spent near Rockford, Illinois on our 80 acre farm where our family developed a herd of registered Angus cattle. I joined 4-H as soon as I could at 10 years of age and had many wonderful years working with the cattle and showing them at the fair each summer. The many experiences with various animals led me to a desire to combine my medical heritage with my love of animals and to pursue a career in veterinary medicine.

        After high school I attended Iowa State University and earned a BS in Animal Science in 1977 and my DVM in 1981.

        During those college years I dated and eventually married in 1975 my wife Molly, whom I first met in the cattle barns at the 4-H fair when we were both 13 years old. We have gone on to raise four children, two girls and two boys. Our second grandchild was born in March of my presidential year.

After a brief practice stint in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, I joined James Tomasek in Omro, WI in a mixed dairy practice in the spring of 1982. I bought the practice in 1989 which by that time had expanded to three doctors. I was joined by a partner, Bob Wright, in 1992. The small dairy farms gradually dwindled in our area over the years. Fortunately, the companion animal business grew steadily until in 2007, we became a companion animal only practice.

WVMA Involvement

        As soon as I started to practice in Wisconsin, I joined the WVMA and the local association. Meeting and visiting colleagues at meetings was always something I looked forward to. For the first 14 years my involvement was just that, go to local meetings and the WVMA state convention to visit with colleagues, friends and especially classmates. Then a conversation with a classmate changed all that.

        In 1995, a classmate from ISU, Dan Griffiths, asked me if I would be interested in serving on the WVMA Legislative committee. Dan had been active at the WVMA committee level and would go on to be the WVMA President in 2006. I agreed to serve and soon found myself at the annual WVMA Leadership/Legislative Day in Madison. We met with our local representatives and senators, after a crash course in current veterinary issues, and had a Legislative committee meeting all in a busy 8 hour day. I completely enjoyed the experience and went on to serve two terms on the Legislative committee.

         In 2000, I was elected to the WVMA Executive Board to represent District 3. I served on various committees during my term, including Vice Chair of the Executive Board which put me on the Executive and Personnel committees.

         My proudest achievement while on the Executive Board was pushing for required veterinary continuing education and getting it approved before my term finished. I brought it up during the issue brainstorming phase of the first Executive Board retreat I was involved in. Leslie Grendahl, the WVMA executive director, was opposed to the idea, as there was concern that the WVMA membership would be unhappy with the requirement. I felt strongly that it was needed and fortunately the Executive Board agreed with me and the eventual legislative process made it become reality. My intent was to keep our profession as a whole moving forward in the life-long education process. The subsequent unintended impact of improving attendance at local and state meetings, offering continuing education, has been wonderful.

During his presidency

       In 2008 I was asked to be a candidate for president-elect of the WVMA. I was honored to be thought of for the position but soon found myself in a very active period of transition for the WVMA.

       Kim Brown-Pokorny had been hired in the early summer of 2008 as the new WVMA Executive Director to replace Leslie Grendahl who served in the role since 1986. In the process the Executive Board has been asked by the candidates, including Ms. Brown-Pokorny, what the Strategic Plan for the WVMA was. It soon became apparent that there was not one and through the efforts of WVMA presidents Ray Pawlisch and Doug Kratt, the process of developing a comprehensive Strategic Plan was completed.

        My president-elect year was filled with many meetings and phone calls as I served on the Strategic planning committee and helping with the subsequent reorganization of the WVMA committees. President Doug Kratt worked tirelessly at the project, on top of many other presidential duties, and did a tremendous job getting the new plan in place.

        So as my presidential term dawned at the Annual convention at the Monona Terrace in Madison, my goal was to implement the plan and not strive for any further significant changes in the workings of the WVMA.

        Nonetheless a significant change occurred in the first weeks of my term as the decision to move the WVMA office from the Broom Street location near the capitol building to the east side of Madison on Crossroads Drive. It was a cheaper, larger facility with easier accessibility from the highways and the ability to handle most committee meetings at little to no expense to the WVMA. As the year went by, it proved to be a great move for the association.

         A primary theme of the Strategic Plan was to have the WVMA be a leader in the discussions that impact our profession including animal welfare, public health, public policy and veterinary education to name a few. Being “at the table” with a wide variety of groups involving many subjects, was a major area of time involvement throughout my year as president.

          During the year there were many productive meetings with a lot of positive progress, some setbacks, some successes and some bone chilling realities that we face as a profession. We met with a wide variety of groups including animal welfare groups, legislators, state regulatory officials, producer groups, students and CVT’s to name some. We had success in the passing of legislation to remove pesticide continuing education requirements for veterinarians, the passage of legislation to license dog facilities and the veto of the legislation to approve the sale of raw milk in Wisconsin. We did have the frustrating realizations that raw milk is going to be brought right back up by newly elected officials, that some animal welfare groups will continue to use whatever tactics necessary to influence the debate and some of our state regulators have neither the desire, knowledge or financial means to help veterinarians protect their licenses and define the scope of practice. This Strategic Plan of being involved in all these aspects of the issues is a valid concept but as we found throughout the year, it can be exhausting to the staff of the WVMA office. We will have to continue to watch this impact on our staff and possibly re-evaluate it in the future.

          A duty of being president of the WVMA was being a part of the group that represents Wisconsin on the national veterinary level. The involvement with the AVMA winter and summer meetings as well as the Heartland Veterinary Conference involving 13 states, was a highlight for me. It is very clear that year in and year out our Wisconsin delegation is very well respected. Our AVMA House of Delegates representative was Randy Schuett and he has done a great job in this role. It is one of the many reasons he was named Veterinarian of the Year at our annual convention. Ann Sherwood-Zieser was our alternate delegate and Chet Rawson will be our nominee for the AVMA Executive Board next year. All of these fine people pale in the historic accomplishments we had the honor of being a part of at the AVMA convention in Atlanta this summer with the election of Rene Carlson as president-elect of the AVMA. She is the first AVMA president from Wisconsin and only the third woman to hold that office. It was a very proud moment for the WVMA.

WVMA Convention

        The WVMA annual convention was a success with good attendance, even in a year without a CE biennial “deadline”, and a good line up of speakers. Once again the meeting was in conjunction with the practice managers and the veterinary technician groups as the WVMA continues to try and help our allied groups with a team atmosphere and an efficient use of facilities and a shared program book.

Closing Thoughts

         The poor economy nationally continues to impact our profession. Sponsorship money continues to be tight and was much more labor intensive to acquire by the WVMA staff. Last year’s dues increase only slightly affected membership numbers, but a very tight budget made it a necessity. Financial concerns for the association, though not critical, continue to linger in the background.

          So on that cheery note; I would like to thank the association for allowing me to represent the WVMA as your president. I feel we had a productive year with great work by our committees, always the backbone of this organization, and a tremendous effort by the WVMA office staff. I look forward to helping the association in any way I can and seeing the progress that can be made in the future.