Dr. Richard F. Bristol of Waunakee – WVMA President 1977
Photo: Courtesy of Dean Emeritus Barney Easterday
There were a number of changes that took
place during my term. The veterinary
profession in Wisconsin was undergoing a great many changes, especially in new
technology. The numbers of veterinarians
coming into the state increased dramatically during that period, both five
years preceding and the years after my term of office. Continuing education was becoming a big issue
during that time and these were some of the things that we had to face.
During a one year term you do not
accomplish very much as a president of the Wisconsin Veterinary Medical
Association. I guess I feel kind of bad
about that. You can initiate some ideas,
but you can’t see them carried out in that year.
There were no real difficulties that couldn’t
be talked out during the circumstances of my presidency. We were able to forge ahead. We were able to do things, but that one year
seemed to me terribly short and you could rarely see the outcome of the work.
Another
thing that bothered me during my presidency was the fact tat we were wasting
the talents of the past-presidents of the association. I felt that we should form a committee of
those past-presidents to guide the association and to contribute to the efforts
of the association. We did this for a
couple of years but then, unless you get the people to carry it on, they let it
go.
During that year, 1978, the Veterinary
School was formed and I joined the staff at the School of Veterinary Medicine
and was responsible for the curriculum extension and the planning of the Large
Animal Clinic.
Through the
years the Wisconsin Veterinary Medical Association was probably foremost in all
of the associations in the United States in the matter of health insurance for
its members, in the way it practiced, and its dependency on ingenuity of the
practitioners in the state itself.
I graduated from Michigan State
University in 1951. My practice area was large animal practice in rural
Wisconsin, the Montfort area in Grant and Iowa counties.
During his presidency
There are a
number of changes that took place during my term. The veterinary profession in
Wisconsin was undergoing a great many changes, especially in new technology.
The numbers of veterinarians coming into the state increased dramatically
during that period, both five years proceeding and the years after my term of
office. Continuing education was becoming a big issue during that time and
these were some of the things that we had to face.
During a one
year term you do not accomplish very much as a president of the Wisconsin
Veterinary Medical Association. I guess I feel kind of bad about that. You can
initiate some ideas, but you can't see them carried out in that year. There
were no real difficulties that couldn't be talked out during the circumstances
of my presidency. We were able to forge ahead. We were able to do things, but
that one year seemed to me terribly short and you could rarely see the outcome
of that work.
Another thing that bothered me during my presidency was
the fact that we were wasting the talents of the past presidents of the
association. I felt that we should form a committee of those past presidents to
guide the association and to contribute to the efforts of the association. We
did this for a couple of years but then, unless you get the people to carry it
on, they let it go.
During that next year, 1978, the Veterinary School was
formed and I joined the staff at the School of Veterinary Medicine and was
responsible for the curriculum extension and the planning of the Large Animal
Clinic.
Through the
years the Wisconsin Veterinary Medical Association was probably foremost in all
the associations in the United States in the matter of health insurance for its
members, in the way it practiced, and its dependency on the ingenuity of the
practitioners in the state itself.
Wisconsin Academy origins
One of the
things that I really wanted to do was to try to avoid making continuing
education as a part of the state law for veterinarians. And for that reason we
tried to put together a Wisconsin Academy of Veterinary Practice. To join
veterinarians had to take about 24 credits of continuing education per year. We
succeeded in doing that but it didn't last all that long. I'd say it lasted
maybe five or six years after I left the presidency.
The
Wisconsin Academy of Veterinary Practice was a real concentrated endeavor on
the part of late Elvin Prather of Spring Valley. Fred Born of Fond du Lac and
Bob Madson of Green Bay certainly were the early people to get it started.
There was a good acceptance of the program. I think the first required number
of credits was only 12, and then it increased each year. The AVMA was very
conscientious about education during that time; they almost took over all of
the endeavor from the states as far as continuing education was concerned at
the national meetings. I suspect that's one of the reasons that
the academy seemed to fade out of the picture. It
accomplished its task and made sure that 1) veterinarians were aware of
continuing education, and 2) in Wisconsin we did not have a law requiring CE to
occur, and the less regulation we had the better. I've been an anti-regulation
person. The less regulation we have, the better off we are. The association
actually acted simply in a record-keeping function for the veterinarians so
that they would know and have a record of any educational programs that they
had attended during that year.
The Wisconsin Academy of Veterinary Practice logo
Major issues
The major
concerns were the formation of the Veterinary School and how it was going to
affect the practicing veterinarian in Wisconsin. Doing the programs are always
a controversy in any veterinary profession where there are large animals or
small animals that were being shipped interstate, but there is nothing that
can't be talked over and talked out and improved on as time goes by and I think
this occurred. Wisconsin veterinarians have been known to do their best to
solve problems and have devoted an awful lot of attention to them and were
willing to give of themselves to get those problems solved. I've always found
that and I've never found any resistance to helping to solve a problem. There
may be differences of opinion but they're always willing to work at it and I'm
a great admirer of the Wisconsin veterinary medical profession in that respect.
We had no veterinary school we could actually depend on
and we had to work out our own problems. They did it in a wonderful way,
particularly those associated with our state meat inspection. Wisconsin had the
finest meat inspection program and developed that, as any state in the union.
Note, I said state program, I didn't say federal. It also had one of the finest
regulatory programs during the years that I was in Wisconsin from the word go.
The caliber of the men that handed up the regulatory program was outstanding.
It was a pleasure to work for them and you always learned from them. These were
the things that I really feel were prominent during those years.
WVMA Executive
Board and continuing education meeting
The board
would meet at least quarterly and sometimes more often if there were special
problems. They varied their meetings throughout the state, as they were not in
anyone place. And there was an annual meeting held and it usually was held in
Milwaukee, and was usually held in January or February of the year.
The summer
meeting was almost always was held at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and
I think it was that year in the Stock Pavilion.
Veterinary Examining Board
Starting
around 1959 I was president or the Board of Veterinary Examiners. The
Department of Agriculture was dissolved of the responsibility for the
veterinary profession. Prior to that time, it had been both the licensing body
and the appointing body. Don McDowell, the Secretary of Agriculture, usually
appointed the members of the Board of Veterinary Examiners and the Regulating
Board. They were absolved of that responsibility during those years for a
couple of reasons: one, they didn't have the funds, and two, they didn't have
the space.
There was no
place for them to go, so being a member of the Board of Examiners, I
volunteered to take the entire office to Montfort, WI where my practice was. It
was located for a number of years, until I left for Iowa State in 1962.
Then a man
named Elwin Jones, who was president of the Montfort Citizens State Bank of
Montfort took over as the executive secretary, because he was not a
veterinarian and couldn't be a member of the board. It was located there until
the Department of Regulation and Licensing was formed in the state of
Wisconsin. They took over the licensing and regulation and the Governor took
over the appointment of the members of the staff. We served everything out of
Montfort, including complaints against veterinarians and malpractice in
addition to the annual examination for licensure.
Veterinary practice
Asepsis was
a very minor factor as far as large animal veterinary surgery was concerned. I
remember one of the veterinary practitioners in southwestern Wisconsin was
calling on me about the first month or so when I just started in practice. He
went to the trunk of his car and hauled out a hook-bladed knife similar to
those boy scout knives that had a hook blade on it. He said "I do all my
caesarian sections, all my castrations and all of my surgeries with this
knife." Now, I guess that would typify the type of large animal surgery of
that time.
Veterinary
medicine has changed, diagnostic methods have changed, but experience still is
the best diagnostic teacher that I've ever known. But that was the type of
veterinary surgery that was practiced.
I can remember doing my first displaced abomasum within
about a month after I was in practice and that thing popped out of that left caudal
flank and I said, "My God, what is that!" Eventually, we were doing
most of them routinely and it was a wonderful procedure.
I remember
doing my spays for $7.50 and that included keeping them over night, including
injections, and the whole ball of wax. Very early, I remember being more
concerned about being able to do a good job. I loved those people in
southwestern Wisconsin. They accepted me and they accepted my mistakes. You're
going to make them as a young veterinarian. I fell in love with those people
and they still are my friends.
When my wife
died, there were 10 carloads of people that came up from Montfort, Wis. and I
had been gone from there 30 years. It was one of those love-at-first-sight type
of things and we just liked each other. I still feel that way about the rural
people in Wisconsin.
None of my
experiences have been bad, none of them. I recall one time, getting a call at
two in the morning, accepting the call, writing down the person I was to go to,
and then rolling over and going back to sleep. I remember
that. The guy called about two hours later and he says, "Doc, did you go
back to sleep?
Well I still need you." Not a word of recrimination or anything. That was
the way it was. Our relationship was good, and I'm not sure that exists in this
day and age, but it was there.
I remember
going to Norwegian Hollow and, if I went there, you better believe that if it
early morning, it was early morning, I stayed for breakfast. I couldn't say no.
You just are expected to stay for breakfast. I still have a very real
sentimental feeling for those folks.
Lay pregnancy testing
I’ve been
asked to address a question about pregnancy exams, they existed all the while I
was in practice in southwestern Wisconsin. They didn't pose too much of a
problem because the farmers would always call, and we had to go in and check
the lay people's work. But also remember that, as far as veterinary
participation in pregnancy examinations, it was slow to develop. Part of this
lay examination, was because veterinarians did not develop the skills, and they
have to do that, just like you have to adapt to changes now, you've got to
adopt the skills for these things.
Bloodletting
In addressing blood letting, when I
first started in practice and some of the people swore by it, and I didn't say
anything against it. There was an unlicensed practitioner in Montfort that had
been there 28 years. He had been practicing bloodletting. I didn't attempt to
go into a scientific explanation why it wasn't sound, but I just said, "If
it doesn't work, why don't you just call me right away and we'll try to get to
the basis of the problem." Eventually he stopped his practice of bloodletting entirely. That was kind of rewarding, but sometimes you can't confront
things with farm folks. You've got to give them time to become acclimated to
things.
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