Dr. Robert Klostermann of Middleton - 2012

Dr. Robert Klostermann of Middleton - WVMA President 2012

  

Photo:  Courtesy of Dr. Robert Klostermann

Personal Information

      I graduated from Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 1978. Upon graduation, I practiced mixed practice and transitioned into small animal practice in my final 25 years of practice. I am married to Karen Klostermann and we have two children, a son Nathan and a daughter Abie who is married to Brian Moilein and a granddaughter, Eva. My wife and I live in Waunakee.

Involvement in the WVMA

       I was the Dane County VMA president the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine inception and development. This was an interesting time as there were a lot of pushback from local veterinarians providing conflict.

       I was elected to the WVMA Executive Board in October of 2010 as president elect. Prior to then I was involved with the legislative committee for 17 years, a member of the VE Rules Subcommittee, the Continuing Education Committee and the Awards and Recognition Committee.

Involvement on the Executive Board

        I enjoyed meting and evaluating the candidates for the position of Dean for the UW-Veterinary School.

Annual Meeting/Convention

        We tried a new venue for Convention in 2012, the Alliant Energy Center. This was a unique and proved to be rewarding. For me, the highlight was giving Dean Buss the Presidential Award.

       Another highlight was the great presentation given by Dr. Rene' Carlson which highlighted her year as AVMA President. Mike Staver was a great keynote that year, which everyone enjoyed.

Challenges/difficulties Faced Through Presidency

       The Prescription Drug Monitoring Program was a new program designed to address the pain medication addiction problem on the human side of medicine. But, the original version program had veterinarians being included. We were initially, able to scale back our reporting requirements. By the end of 2012, we were waiting for Assemblyman Dean Knudsen, DVM to introduce legislation in the 2013 legislature to exempt veterinarians from the reporting requirements.

       We continued to struggle with the staff at DSPS and by the end of the year there was no coherent message or direction coming from them. We initiated a plan in attempt to move the Examining Board into DATCP. This will be an interesting endeavor, but with our new legislative council, I have much greater hope of getting this accomplished. I feel this will help address the unlicensed practice issue as well as DATCP has a history of prosecuting offenders in the agriculture area.

       The non –profit entry into the regular practice of veterinary medicine has developed into an erosion of the quality and profitability of small animal practice. This issue was identified and we have initiated the Task Force to study and address the issue.

       The training and licensing of veterinary technicians was another issue that recurred after it had been addressed several years prior. Having decided that only Vet Techs graduating from a certified program would be able to sit for the Licensing Exam was a step forward for the profession.

       Ongoing discussion of our guiding principles was a contentious issue as I felt the board narrowing these principles down to simple statements was the right choice. I felt the lengthy statements and preachy agenda statements from the committee would not serve the profession. I would like to note board members Drs. Robert Zukowski and K.C. Brooks as drivers of these concise statements and Dr. Clarke as the board member who had to be the intermediary and keep everyone moving forward.

Final Thoughts

        I felt we made significant progress with our Residue HCAAP program through the guidance of Dr. Rhoda and Kim Brown Pokorny.

        Our new legislative council, DeWitt Ross & Stevens, S.C., gave me assurance that we now would be able to control and guide our legislative issues with more certainty going forward.

        The VEB continued to be a frustration with their Staffers and the overall mindset at DSPS. I am hoping our new appointees and efforts to move into DATCAP will improve this situation.

        Our relationship with the UW School of Veterinary Medicine continues to be positive and the new Dean, Mark Markel, has shown to be involved and concerned about the WVMA.