You Can Feel It When Your Vet Is Calm

There is a particular kind of appointment where everything slows down. The person examining your dog is not watching the clock. They answer the question you asked, and then the one you were working up to. You leave knowing what happens next.

Dr. Adi Moorman names what sits behind that in the video above. When you go to a doctor who is calm and in a good headspace, you feel it. There is no separating the two.

That is the reason for the thing this post is about.

What does a calm exam room actually feel like?

Attention, mostly.

Dr. Craig Moorman's point is that attention is finite. When someone has less weight on them, more of it is free for you and your animal. Reduce the anxiety in a room and the focus comes back, for the client as much as the patient.

Veterinary medicine asks a lot of people. Long shifts, hard conversations about cost, and a euthanasia appointment twenty minutes before a puppy visit. That part is simply the job. What a practice chooses to do about it is not.

What did we do about veterinary team mental health?

A couple of years ago Dr. Reed Hall and Dr. Craig Moorman (LPC), co-founder of Finding Solutions Counseling Centers, built a support program for our veterinary teams.

Dr. Craig Moorman and Dr. Adi Moorman, both licensed professional counselors, work with our doctors and technicians on the weight the job puts on them. Coming from outside the company is what makes it work.

It costs real money, no client has ever asked us for it, and we have never advertised it. We do it because of what happens in the next room.

What does that change for your pet?

Dr. Craig Moorman puts it simply. When the team is taken care of, the care they can give the pet and the owner is superb.

What our teams report back is that they feel taken care of, calmer, more focused, and more present in the day.

Present is the one that reaches you. It is the vet who answers your question and then notices you had a second one you had not asked yet. It is the technician who sees your dog tense before you do and slows down.

Does the research back up the pet connection?

The link between people and animals is better documented than most people expect.

A 2019 meta-analysis published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes pooled ten studies covering 3.8 million people and found dog ownership associated with a 24 percent lower risk of death over the long term.

That is an association rather than a proven cause, and it is still a striking number. Your pet is doing something real for your health. Looking after the people who look after your pet is one way we pay that forward.

Dr. Craig Moorman closes the video on it. If we can help people live better by helping vets, we are achieving something great.

Frequently asked questions

Is this a Columbia Pike program or a company one?
All three of our hospitals. Columbia Pike in Annandale, Town and Country in Fairfax, and Animal Clinic of Clifton. Same family ownership, same program.

Who is Finding Solutions?
Finding Solutions Counseling Centers, a counseling practice here in Northern Virginia. Dr. Craig Moorman (LPC) and Dr. Adi Moorman (LPC) are the licensed counselors who work with our teams. Coming from outside the workplace is what makes it work.

Does this cost me anything as a client?
No. It is not a line on your invoice and it is not something you can buy.

Why put this on the website?
You are choosing who treats your animal. How a practice looks after its own people is fair information to have.

When should you call us?

For anything urgent, any hour. Columbia Pike Animal Hospital and Emergency Center is open 24 hours a day, every day of the year, with veterinarians and technicians awake and in the building overnight. There is no additional emergency fee, so the exam costs the same at three in the morning as it does at three in the afternoon.

For a routine visit, schedule an appointment online. It takes about a minute and you can do it at two in the morning if that is when you remembered. If you would rather talk to someone, call (703) 256-8414. We are at 4205 Evergreen Ln, Annandale, VA 22003.

Love People. Love Pets.