We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Cara McNamee. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Cara below.
Cara, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
I decided to start my practice as a side gig at the end of 2019, thinking of it as a supplement to my income. I had one or two patients when COVID hit, and had to pivot and figure out how to see patients in their homes while also re-evaluating what to do with my general practice job. In the end, I cut back on my regular job and leaned into my own practice more, primarily because of the financial freedom allowed by the student loan pause due to COVID. It allowed me to develop a client base and expand my offerings despite the public health emergency, while keeping my clients safe.
Cara, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I grew up wanting to become a veterinarian, and after veterinary school went into equine practice. I moved back to Atlanta in 2011 and switched to small animal general practice, but missed the lameness and sports medicine aspects that I had working with horses. I was certified in veterinary acupuncture in 2015, and then canine rehabilitation in 2018. I had hoped to integrate both into general practice but found it challenging, so I started my own housecall practice in late 2019 as a side gig. In 2020 I started to cut back in general practice, and by 2022 was seeing housecalls almost full time. I partnered with VROMP, Veterinary Rehabilitation and Orthopedic Medicine Partners in the summer of 2022 to open the only rehabilitation facility inside the perimeter, and we opened Resurgence Veterinary Mobility in Decatur in December of 2022. We offer full-service physical rehabilitation care to dogs and cats, including acupuncture, hydrotherapy, laser therapy, and shockwave therapy among other modalities.
Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?
Give people ownership over the culture they create. I want my team to feel invested in the outcomes of the practice and the patient care, but I can’t force that. So while I’m the managing veterinarian, I involve the team in both big and small decisions and allow them to come up with solutions for problems. Work-life balance and burnout is a massive problem in veterinary medicine right now, and so setting an example to create appropriate boundaries and leave work at work also helps the team maintain those boundaries for themselves as well.
Do you think you’d choose a different profession or specialty if you were starting now?
To a large degree, I can’t imagine doing anything else other than vet med. However, the exorbitant cost of the education coupled with the low pay and industry-wide issues with burnout, corporate buyouts, and people leaving the profession has shifted my focus. As a rehab veterinarian, I want to prove that we can have a sustainable, rewarding career without the constant pressure to work more/harder. The past 3 years is the first time that I’ve ever had nights/weekends off. My daughter is old enough to remember when I would work past her bedtime, and it breaks my heart when she asks me if I’ll be home before she goes to bed. 
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