PRACTICE POLICIES
Haven Veterinary Services provides veterinary care and consulting services in alignment with our core values of compassion, collaboration, equity, respectful care, and cultural humility. Our practice policies reflect our commitment to our clients and patients, and our expectations for how we will work together. Thank you for reading, and please reach out to us if you have any questions about these policies!
NON-DISCRIMINATION POLICY
We are committed to providing services to clients and animals without discrimination. We follow the BC Human Rights Code, which protects people from discrimination due to “Indigenous identity, race, colour, ancestry, place of origin, religion, marital status, family status, physical or mental disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or age of that person or that group or class of persons.”
VETERINARIAN-CLIENT-PATIENT RELATIONSHIP (VCPR) POLICY
According to College of Veterinarians of BC (CVBC) Bylaws and Standards, we are required to have an active VCPR established either in person or via telemedicine in order to provide veterinary care, including prescribing of medication for an animal or “herd.” As part of this VCPR, we will comply with and expect clients to comply with all CVBC Bylaws/Standards as well as other veterinary, pharmacy, animal protection, and animal control regulations as applicable.
Outside of a VCPR, including for all consultation services outside of British Columbia, we can only offer recommendations to the attending veterinarian or to shelter/rescue organizations to discuss with their veterinarian.
RESPECTFUL CARE POLICY
Our work relies on mutual trust. We strive to understand how we can best support our individual and organizational clients, and to work with clients collaboratively as partners. We recognize that clients and organizational team members are experts on their own animal(s), environment, and systems. We see our role as facilitators in helping clients optimize outcomes for animals, team members, other stakeholders, and the community.
All of our team members have completed training in low-stress and “fear free” handling for veterinary and shelter practitioners. Our practice strives to minimize animal fear, anxiety, and stress at both an individual and population level to support physical and emotional well-being. When doing in-person work, we utilize pre-visit pharmaceuticals, ample treats, and gentle restraint and handling techniques to ensure animals have the most positive experience possible.
ANTI-HARASSMENT/ ANTI-ABUSE POLICY
Haven Veterinary Services is committed to fostering a harassment-free environment where all clients and colleagues are treated with respect and dignity. We understand that caring for animals, especially those with physical and/or mental health conditions, in resource-limited situations can be stressful for caregivers. We strive to do our best to support clients, even during situations of heightened emotion or pressure. However, we do not tolerate harassment or abusive, threatening, aggressive, or violent behaviour online or in-person from clients (or anyone representing a client organization) towards any member of our team. Such behaviour is grounds for immediate termination of the VCPR and withdrawal of services.
SCHEDULING AND PAYMENT POLICY
We generally work weekdays during normal business hours (9 am - 5 pm) and will return calls and emails and schedule elective meetings and appointments within these hours. We understand that sheltering and rescue are 24/7, and that the need for after-hours and weekend work may arise due to clinical urgency or staff and foster schedules. We will do our best to accommodate urgent situations (new outbreaks, euthanasias, and other urgent issues), especially for existing clients. While we generally do not charge more for evening work, additional fees may apply for weekend and holiday work. We will always inform clients of both standard and additional fees prior to services being rendered. Payment is due within 30 days of invoice receipt.
We value our clients’ time as well as our own. We also understand that life happens! We ask that clients give us as much notice as possible if the need arises to cancel or move meetings and appointments. For project-based work, we will provide a service agreement containing terms concerning payment for work that is cancelled on short notice. For appointment-based work, if more than two appointments are missed or cancelled with less than 24-hours notice, we may require a non-refundable deposit for future work.
CONTINUOUS LEARNING POLICY
We choose to believe that we are all doing the best we can with the information and resources available to us! We are committed to continuous learning about our clients and their animals, as well as about developments in the field, so that we can improve our services. We are quick to refer or partner on cases that would benefit from the involvement of another veterinarian, behaviourist, or humane trainer. We view feedback as a gift, and encourage clients to provide formal and informal feedback.
We are particularly committed to evidence-based practices, low-stress animal handling, and equity and inclusion in veterinary and animal services. If, during the course of working with a client, we observe or participate in cases or situations that run contrary to these principles (even if inadvertent), we will respectfully speak up. Our goal is to learn together and nourish kind environments that are free from harm wherever possible.
CONFIDENTIALITY POLICY
As an accredited veterinary practice, client confidentiality is important to us. We do not disclose the names of our clients, client organizations, or the nature of our work together without permission, except where required by law or regulation or where already in the public domain (e.g. in a social media post or newsletter produced by a client organization).
As a specialty practice, we may involve veterinary students, interns, or residents in our work and we occasionally use animal cases for teaching purposes. If this is a possibility, it will be disclosed to the client organization and the organization will have the choice whether/ how the information is used and shared. Cases that are legal cases, owned animals, or designated as confidential by a client organization will generally not be considered for use as teaching cases unless prior permission specific to that case has been given.
