Des Moines Register. October 17, 2019

Veterinarians, other workers should demand openness from licensing boards that regulate their work

Veterinarians are under incredible stress. Many feel unappreciated, are targeted online and have huge student loan debt. Too many have committed suicide.

These were among the troubling points made in emails from veterinarians to The Des Moines Register editorial board following a recent editorial about the Iowa Board of Veterinary Medicine.

Their concerns should be taken seriously by all of us, including patients, veterinary schools and especially the state board overseeing these professionals. Veterinarians are vital not only to pet owners, but also to a state with a large agricultural industry. We need them.

The Register editorial focused on the lack of transparency and information for consumers provided by the state-sanctioned board that licenses and oversees about 3,500 veterinarians and veterinary technicians in Iowa. It does not make available online the licensing status or disciplinary actions taken against vets. Other state job licensing boards do, which allows consumers to know about problems.

People with sick dogs and cats, who are distressed and facing sometimes huge expenses, should be able to quickly find out the same basic licensing information about veterinarians they can know about surgeons, cosmetologists, athletic trainers, dentists and numerous other professionals licensed by state boards.

Does this person working in a vet clinic have an active license? Has he been sanctioned? How long has she been practicing? Where did he go to school? What is she certified in? Changes to a state website could make all that information easily available to consumers, which is particularly important when pet owners are visiting an emergency vet with staff they don’t know.

Iowans responded to the editorial with stories of gratitude for doctors who saved their pets, but also frustration with huge costs incurred from testing and treatment. They raised concerns about the changing model of care, where corporate entities are replacing what were once private practices.

Yet the vast majority of responses came from veterinarians. They emailed from all over the country.

“As a veterinarian I have been blamed for delivering dead puppies . I have been blamed for not being able to save an unspayed dog too far gone because of an infected uterus . We are already the target of online mobbing and harassment,” wrote one.

Another asked why a pet owner would question a veterinarian’s licensing status. “That only happens when it’s about money, distrust and bad outcomes.”

A veterinarian from Marshalltown pointed to the practice of corporate ownership of clinics “which is removing the ability of veterinarians to purchase clinics to run privately as well as (creating) unfair situations for families involved in veterinary practices.”

“Articles like yours are part of why veterinarians have one of the highest suicide rates of any profession,” wrote another reader,

Earlier this year the Washington Post reported about a study finding that veterinarians, with mounting student loan debt and targeted by social media attacks from angry pet owners, are committing suicide at rates higher than the general population. Veterinarians often kill themselves with drugs meant for their patients, according to the article.

One veterinarian who spoke with an editorial writer expressed the emotional difficulty of euthanizing a dog in one room minutes before congratulating the new owner of a kitten in another. And vets, like workers in many other professions, worry about retaliation online from disgruntled customers on websites like Yelp.

That makes it all the more important for a state licensing board to provide legitimate information on its website for consumers. If people have nowhere to turn for information, they look to message boards and websites that gather anonymous, unsubstantiated complaints.

The struggles of veterinarians also make board transparency more important. Is the board doing anything to alleviate the squeeze on vets or is it making things worse?

Licensing boards have incredible power over the workers they regulate. Members are not public employees and are not accountable to the public. They can revoke licenses, issue sanctions, impose fines and strip people of their livelihood. They can spearhead changes in administrative rules to make it more difficult for future workers to enter a profession.

Meanwhile, complaints logged about the vet board with the Iowa Office of the Ombudsman are not public.

If anyone should be arguing for more openness in a state board, it is the workers whose livelihoods depend on the opinions and actions of a few board members appointed by the governor.

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Fort Dodge Messenger. October 16, 2019

Employers should consider this

Just about every employer is discovering that in Iowa’s booming economy, the job market is tight. In August, Iowa’s unemployment rate was 2.6 percent. Most people who want jobs already have them. That means that companies in need of workers aren’t having an easy time finding people to fill those openings.

One source of highly motivated potential workers that is often overlooked is the pool of formerly incarcerated individuals who are attempting to rebuild their lives. For these folks, getting employers to give them a chance to put past mistakes behind them is often a major challenge.

Gov. Kim Reynolds is encouraging employers and human resources managers to learn more about how hiring former prisoners might be an attractive option by attending an Employer and Re-entry Breakfast Roundtable on Nov. 6 at the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women in Mitchellville. The session will run from 8 a.m. to noon. It is being co-hosted by Iowa Workforce Development and the Iowa Department of Corrections.

“In Iowa, there are jobs looking for people and it’s critical that we address the skills gap holistically,” Reynolds said. “By forging a partnership between the business community, the Department of Corrections, and Iowa Workforce Development, we can help formerly incarcerated individuals find a better path. Providing Iowa employers with a much-needed workforce while opening new doors for Iowans on the road to redemption is an obvious win-win.”

That’s potentially a win for both employers and the former prisoners. Iowa’s prison system offers inmates the opportunity for a wide range of educational and skill development options while they are paying their debt to society. That means that many of them leave prison with excellent job readiness. Additionally, most of these individuals recognize that doing well in the initial jobs they take after prison may be critical to leading successful future lives. That motivation often makes them excellent workers.

Consequently, getting former prisoners back into the workforce is important to these individuals and can very much be of benefit to those companies that give them a chance.

The Messenger urges employers to take a careful look at this hiring option. It could be good for both them and society. Companies need properly motivated employees. Our communities need to make it possible for former prisoners to build lives that allow them to put past mistakes in the rearview mirror.

Employers may register for the roundtable event at Eventbrite. A link to the online registration will also be available at doc.iowa.gov. If you are interested in attending an event and have additional questions, please contact Richelle Seitz at [email protected]

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Quad City Times. October 11, 2019

More patience required on I-74 bridge project

We couldn’t help but cringe a bit when we saw the words that Danielle Alvarez, the Iowa DOT project manager for the Interstate-74 bridge project, uttered last week:

“Meeting our completion goal of the first half of 2020 will be challenging.”

Uh, oh.

For those who struggle to get across the Interstate-74 bridge each day, the idea that it will take even longer to finish the Iowa-bound span for the $1.2 billion project must be disappointing.

Originally, those lanes were to be done this season. However, it now appears even finishing by the middle of next year will be difficult.

As the Times’ Barb Ickes has been documenting for weeks, the builders of the span are having difficulty erecting the arches that will be a focal point of the project.

Officials said in March, when the arches were set, that it would take several months to finish them. Well, seven months on, they aren’t even halfway finished.

One of the trickier problems has been to build the pulley system that will help to guide the 34 arch segments toward their meeting point.

The good news in this is that it appears weather, which has already delayed some aspects of the project, won’t be a deterrent to working on the arches. Winter weather could make it more difficult, Alvarez said, but she doesn’t anticipate arch operations shutting down.

We are grateful for that. And while it’s been disappointing that the construction of the Iowa-bound span has bogged down, we fully understand the need for precision. The arches not only are the most striking architectural element of the project, but they also are vital to supporting the roadway that, eventually, we all will travel upon.

We are hopeful that the bridge builders resolve these difficulties and get the job done correctly and quickly. After all, the Illinois-bound span must be built, too.

Unfortunately, it looks like those of us who have had to endure the traffic snarls resulting from this project will have to be even more patient.

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