We recently connected with Dr. Heather Moreau, BVM&S, MRCVS and have shared our conversation below.
Dr. Heather, appreciate you joining us today. Setting up an independent practice is a daunting endeavor. Can you talk to us about what it was like for you – what were some of the main steps, challenges, etc.
Being a practice owner was always my goal, long before veterinary school. I knew that I would never be intellectually & emotionally satisfied with being an associate veterinarian and I had so many plans that I was looking forward to putting into practice. I used my time at veterinary school and the various externships in the United Kingdom, Florida, and Utah wisely, gaining various leadership skills and knowledge along the way. By the time I’d reached my second year in clinical practice, I had a pretty good idea of what it took to operate a successful business as well as the pitfalls to avoid, I was also fortunate to have a husband that shared this goal and was instrumental in helping make this dream a reality as well as helping to push me work even harder during the planning and construction process.
One of the main steps I had to take was finding a location, which is always easier said than done!m I knew that we needed to be located in an area that could support our type of business and in close proximity to the highway, especially for pet owners experiencing an emergency. With that said, I didn’t want to be on such a busy street that it was too much bother for clients to access our building or unsafe if a dog or cat got loose in the car park. I’m sure we can all think of a location in our town that always has a ‘for rent or for sale’ sign out front, and I didn’t want to fall into that foregone conclusion. We did a lot of research into the car traffic per day/week that travelled past our location as well as the pet ownership data for our surrounding area before deciding to make an offer on our current building.
One of the challenges of the startup process was securing funding for the building as well as the practice itself. Believe it or not, I am still considered a ‘minority’ as a female business owner, or at least I was at the time I applied for a business loan. Even though many vet schools are graduating more women than men, we don’t seem to pursue ownership for various reasons. I met with several financiers and conducted a lot of phone calls and zoom meetings before deciding to go with our current lender.
Another big challenge was conducting interviews and selecting staff that would become the faces of Canyons Veterinary Clinic. Not only was it a leap of faith on their part but also on mine, as we’d yet to have opened so I was not in the position to conduct ‘working interviews’. They hadn’t even had a chance to see the building where they would be working nor learn the software, equipment, or protocols. I’ve always considered myself a good judge of character, and thankfully I was able to paint a picture of my vision for them and follow through once we’d opened. Some of those interviews were a few hours long, as time got away from us chatting about the prospect of creating a new and exciting place for people to work and care for the animals of our community.
Just about the only thing that I would have done differently is try to buy a bigger building. Who knew, right? Although realistically we probably couldn’t have gotten funding for it at the time as most Veterinary practice loans have a smaller $ amount for startups. I remember my construction company saying ‘why do want so many cabinets? Why do you need so many rooms?’ These were reasonable questions to ask at the time, however I never intended to be a single doctor practice and was always looking ahead to the future in my design. I guess I didn’t realize that we’d fast forward to 4 full time doctors in 3 years, already outgrowing our space!
My advice for those of you with aspirations starting your own practice is start now! Don’t wait until you’re ready, because you never will be. I also feel that in some ways it’s helpful to be younger, as it honestly takes a tremendous amount of physical and mental energy to maintain a high level of medicine as well as a positive work environment with high morale. Try to find a great mentor now, especially one that either owns their own practice or has done so in the past. They will be able to provide you with better insight into what things are truly like, including the good and the bad! With that said, business ownership/practice ownership is not for everyone and that’s OK. A good way to ‘test the waters’ may be to apply for a medical director position, as it will give you a taste of the additional responsibility you will be faced with in addition to practicing medicine.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?
I was born in Pennsylvania and lived there until age 16 when my family relocated to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. Although at the time it was quite a drastic change, leaving all my childhood friends and familiar places during those challenging high school years for an island off the coast of new England, I made the most of the opportunities that the move provided me. From there I moved to Maine to attend undergraduate school at the University of Maine at Fort Kent, where I was fortunate to enjoy four great years in a school and community where I still maintain good friends to this day, I kept busy with a challenging class schedule, competing on their alpine and Nordic ski teams, and honing my future leadership skills as the student representative to the University of Maine Board of Trustees. Upon graduation I met my future husband and we journeyed west to Utah for me to attend medical school, or so I thought at the time. When plans changed to veterinary school, I was able to get my first job as a receptionist at a locally owned vet clinic through mutual ski team friends. At the time I was coaching their children, who are now grown and these same friends are now clients of mine at my very own practice. I bet neither of us could imagine where we would all end up at the time, and its funny how life works out sometimes!
Canyons Veterinary Clinic is a dog and cat specific veterinary practice that opened September 9, 2019. We started with myself and 5 staff members and have grown to include 4 full time doctors and 14 support staff members +/- various visiting nurses and students throughout the year. Our goal is to partner with owners on their pet’s health and wellness journey, and we truly focus on involving our clients in every step of the process. We schedule all of our appointments so that we have ample time to spend discussing your pet’s needs and take the time to explain disease processes and treatments in an understandable manner. I require all of our support staff to complete at least 10 hours of continuing education per year, through online platforms and local conferences. I believe that a great team starts by being on the forefront of best practice recommendations, and by staying current with our education we can provide the best medicine and service to our clients.
The fact that we are locally owned has really started to set us apart from other practices. Corporate veterinary medicine has certainly swooped in to the Salt Lake Valley in the past few years and many former locally owned practices have joined larger buying groups. As a business owner I fully understand the appeal and understand why this change is happening, but with the shiny new sign and technology behind the scenes, also comes some changes that are inevitable and sometimes off putting to clients. We often have clients call just to ask if we’re corporate, and will book an appointment purely because we’ve said no. With that said, I’m in no way making a negative statement regarding corporate veterinary care or their vet’s abilities, but purely stating that clients are hungry for an emotional connection in a world where everyone seems so distant. At Canyons there’s a sense of community that is palpable during your visit and our continued efforts to make clients feel welcome and heard, is really what sets us apart. As a locally owned practice our ability to run our practice as I feel is best really comes through on a daily basis.
We’ve also become known for being an innovative and diverse practice that includes a heavy dermatology, surgical, and integrative medicine caseload. I encourage our associates to pursue their interests, which has led us to increase our offerings in areas such as acupuncture, chiropractic care, and feline medicine. Everyone has a unique skillset which further strengthens the team and that shows in the care we are able to provide our patients.
What I’m most proud of may surprise you! Although I take pride in the medicine, successful surgeries, and care that I practice, one of the most important things to me is being known as a great boss and a great employer. My husband and I are normally the first to arrive in the morning, well before opening time and I’m usually the last to leave. For the first 2 years of business ownership, I worked 6 days a week, sometimes 7 if you count dreaded weekend catch up work! I do my absolute best to work hard, lead by example, and create a positive and supportive working environment for my staff. No one has ever left a position at Canyons because it was a ‘bad place to work’, but for other life reasons such as a birth of a new baby or moving out of state. That’s something that I truly take pride in and gives me personal satisfaction every day. This high-level work environment that we’ve created is what sustains our high level of customer satisfaction. Our employees love coming to work and want to be present, which shines through to our clients and keeps them coming back.
Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?
I think your ability to understand your client’s concerns and connect with them and their pet is the key to succeeding in veterinary medicine. You may be valedictorian of your veterinary school, but if your client doesn’t understand what you’re saying nor perceive you as confident in your abilities, you will struggle to work up cases and keep clients coming back to your practice. Despite the technology and social media overload that we are experiencing, I’ve found that clients are actually hungry for an emotional connection and want to be feel like their concerns regarding their pet are heard and don’t want to be ‘just a number’. They want to walk into your practice and be remembered and greeted by name. If you focus as much energy into customer service as you do high level veterinary medicine, you will be successful.
Any advice for managing a team?
I think any good leader needs to come to work with a positive attitude, have clear goals for themselves and the team, praise & reward their fellow team members, and be the hardest worker on the payroll. ‘Lead by example’ is such an overused catch phrase yet few people ever follow that advice. No one wants to work for someone that dishes out orders then rolls out of the office two hours before close, leaving everyone else to pick up the slack. One would think that as a business owner and medical director I’d do just that, but it’s quite the opposite in fact. I get to work early, assigning the various tasks to the nursing team and doctors and I am normally the last to leave by 30 minutes to an hour, catching up on all the things that got away from me that day.
I enjoy getting to know all of our team members, their spouses, children, pets, etc and truly care about them and as well as their goals in life and work. We have quarterly team building activities such as trips to the zoo, MLS soccer game nights, snow tubing parties, and Best of State gala dinners, to name a few. I also cater our monthly staff meetings, organize many CE luncheons and dinners, and take all of the staff and their spouses out for our annual holiday party. For a mental break I offer a free fitness membership to all of our staff so that they can prioritize their health in an industry where many nurses and doctors suffer from fatigue and a lack of work life balance. In turn I’ve seen coworkers become friends, enjoying each other’s company in and outside of work, further strengthening the Canyons Veterinary Clinic team. My advice is to prioritize your team’s happiness and show them that you care about them on a daily basis so that maintaining high morale takes care of itself.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.canyonsveterinaryclinic.com
- Instagram: @canyons_veterinary_clinic
- Facebook: @canyonsveterinaryclinic
- Twitter: @Canyons_Vet
Image Credits
Jon Cracroft