Speaker David Paterson

Rotary club of Stirling meeting of 2/9/16.

JVP Ranald Ross Watt welcomed members to our Friday meeting. There were
no visitors
 
Secretary Sandy Farquharson reported on last week’s AM/AM, when, despite
a smaller number of teams,£3163 was raised for charity, a very good
result. PP Peter Mehta reported on his recent visit to the Rotary club
of Wiesbaden Nassau in Germany.
 
Our speaker was veterinary surgeon PP David Paterson, who has been in
practice locally for 34 years. He reflected on the changes during his
working lifetime. Starting with only two vets, himself and his wife
Christine, he now has five full time and one-part time vet, nursing and
secretarial assistants and a practice manager, despite which he spends
increasing time on admin. Before the days of mobile phones, it was
difficult to get time off as one of them was always on call. Pagers were
a partial solution, moving then to early mobile phones, initially heavy
with many areas of poor or no reception, but an improvement. Phone boxes
were some help but were frequently out of order. The advent of computers
presented another learning challenge especially as early software was
inadequate. Nowadays good communications and good IT are standard but
clinical judgment remains the essence of his work as a vet.  With
greatly improved treatment options and in house laboratory equipment,
much more can be offered and quick test results are part of daily
practice. In his early days any form of advertising was frowned upon but
the climate has changed and now vets practice from pet supply premises,
part of the freer access to services which many professions have
experienced. As part of these changes a good web site and use of
Facebook are very much part of everyday practice activity.
 
The vote of thanks was given by Ranald Ross Watt. For further information www.stirling.rotary1010.org
 
Next meeting Speaker’s host Alan Prentice, visitor's host Derek Robertson.
 
Dr I Richardson