 Good afternoon, my name is Shavina Baker and I am the Diversity Equity Inclusion Educator for the Illinois CTE project, Illinois Project Team. And today I have with me a real live veterinarian. Dr. Contreras is with us today. So you may have had an opportunity to see some of our Trailhead series where we're really focusing on making sure that students get an experience and a real world experience getting to know some of the professions in the industry. And so today we're looking at health sciences as it relates to veterinary science. So I have introduced myself. And at this time I would like for you, Dr. Contreras, to introduce yourself. Hello, Dr. Mondrian Contreras, a veterinarian owner of the Carroll Street Animal Hospital. I've been a veterinarian for graduating 2010. So I think it's about 12 years that I've been a veterinarian. I've owned my animal hospital for the past eight years. I have started a nonprofit, the Vet Bros Pet Education Charitable Fund, a 501c3 nonprofit organization helping pet owners and their pets and as well as with environmental and educational initiatives as well. So it's a great, great organization. And I'm currently in the process now of opening up a doggie daycare next to my animal hospital. And so that's been a very trying endeavor. It's been good. We're getting ready to open soon, but that was very, very difficult. And so but it's been a very great learning process, a lot of learning, which has been great. Well, if you don't mind sharing with us, Dr. Contreras, just a little bit about your background, if you would, like where you went to school and what types of classes did you like when you were in school for our audience because they will be students who will be viewing the video. So we'd like to know a little bit more about you. Excellent. Absolutely. So I am, I was, I went to my undergraduate, I went to the University of Illinois. And so for, I then I actually graduated in art history. And so and then I went to actually went down. I didn't swear I met my wife at the University of Illinois actually brought her back to Florida where I'm from, hoping that we were going to live there but also to go to vet school in Florida and so we ended up going to the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine. And so, which is four year, four year program to me it's the by far the best university in the country. And so I've been very, very, very blessed to be able to have that opportunity. And they can have one second here. So sorry. Absolutely. We'll go ahead and pause. We'll have about 30 minutes. Is that okay. And then after this interview, we can do our stuff. All right, are you okay. Yeah. Oh, thank you. Thank you. My, my general manager came in and we're, we have our, we have quite a bit of stuff going on. No worries. Sorry about that. That's okay. So we'll pause like five seconds. Okay. All right, so if you could Dr. Contreras, could you tell us just what a day in the life of a veterinarian looks like from the time that you walk into the time that you go home what is some of the things that you encounter throughout your day. I love the question. And it's mainly because all right, every day is extremely is so different, which I absolutely love. So, when you're a veterinarian, one of the things you have to know is that your day is never going to be the same. Okay, and so, you know, we'll have days which are great where I get to see the puppies and the kittens, you know, which are like obviously our favorite days but then we have the days unfortunately, where, you know, we have I had a dog yesterday that came in, unfortunately, non responsive, we were able to get the doggy back, you know, with medications, CPR and those type of things. But unfortunately, it has an illness that we could not, we could not, you know, overcome. And so, so it can be very, very difficult in this profession to go from one, you know, you're going from, you know, seeing a puppy, right next to then the very next appointment you're having to put a dog down that you've been with for, you know, that you've been that you've seen as a puppy, all the way up to 1015 years of age, you know, then having to put it down and then you have to go right into the next appointment to a healthy puppy and things like that. And so, that really describes our profession and the things that we have to do we have to be able to manage those things, you know, really from one hour to the next and it can be, there can be a lot of varying emotions throughout the day, in order to be able to treat these pets and so so that's a that's a big thing. So, the biggest part about I think our day, especially for general practitioners is that every day is extremely different than from the next. And so, which is very appealing to some. But again, if it doesn't fit your personality, that is something very much that you should know before getting into getting into this field. And how did COVID affect your day to day practice. Great, great question. Again, that has been a huge, huge impact. Some good some bad, but it's had a huge impact on the way, literally that we are able to treat patients as far as, you know, again, because every pet comes with an owner. And so we had for long, long times we had been obviously the owner comes in they see us do everything the exams and everything like that but then right for, you know, for a couple years, literally, we're taking the dogs out from the car we're doing the history of the phone we're doing a lot of these things. And so, again, a lot of those things unfortunately, they change dramatically. Okay, as far as how how we treat and how we interact with clients and so we've had to adjust dramatically to that, you know, so, so that's been a big huge, huge thing. Thank you for sharing that. Did you know that you wanted to be a veterinarian when you were in high school. I actually knew I wanted to work with animals. So when I was, I think I was in first, first or second grade, our, our, you know, our pet had had babies and so the grace day one of the greatest days of my life is when our dog Moja had puppies. We didn't stay our dog. And so he ended up having puppies. But it was a great I would run home every day just so excited. Okay, to see these puppies. And it was just like I knew like I loved animals I wanted to work with them. And so I got my story is a little different though because I did get a little sidetracked. I had, you know, I had a little bit of a difficult more of a difficult upbringing, you know, I was emancipated or foster child. When I was young, my mom died when I was really young. And so I did live in a variety of homes. When I was younger and so that had that had a little bit of a difficult impact because again I had I struggled a lot in school. And so, and again, obviously, wasn't that I'm very brilliant. But it's just I learned differently. Okay, and so I was very blessed to be able to play football and actually do really well in high school. So in high school I actually did volunteer at an animal hospital the greatest job I ever ever had. And then when I went to University of Illinois I had a football scholarship I was very thankful for. And I wanted to go into veterinary medicine. But because my grades were so bad and because they struggled really hard. They wanted me to kind of go in a different route. And so, just to make sure I was eligible and all those type of things but very, very thankful because they, again, I was able to learn, really know how I like to learn the best. And so that was very, very good so I ended up graduating like I said in our history, and then I went back to school in order to get my veterinary degree and everything like that. Tell me about your staff. Well, I have a great unbelievable staff so I have about 15 staff members we have receptionists we have technicians and we have doctors at my at my animal hospital and so it is, you know, again, it's one of those things that we have a group of people who just actually love animals and they've really loved their life, helping animals. They love teaching and educating pet owners and so it is absolutely amazing. Again, I couldn't be more blessed and these are, and these are the type of people obviously that I'd love to be around people that love to be with animals and help animals and have that type of impact and so, but my staff is great. And again, a lot of them do have a lot of different varying like backgrounds, you know, you know, a lot of them again, you know, as far as our technicians and things like that, you know, they have very educational background. And so, but yeah, and they, but again, it's one of those things that they do love all the things that they are exposed and get to do. And so, you know, again, yesterday, like I said, like my technician or your pet wasn't wasn't breathing and so they started CPR right away, you know, and then my other technicians getting the drugs that they're needed to give to these guys, you know, I'm really there to kind of direct making sure everything is going well, making sure we know the right dosages, what medications and things like that but they're, they're really good. They're on their game about what they, you know, what they need to do. And so that's been amazing. If you weren't able to be a veterinarian, what other job or career do you think that you would have gone into? Definitely. So I would be, I would either be a technician, a veterinary technician, all right, because I had, I was a technician for years before I got into that school. And I loved it. I had so much fun. So the technician, I probably would be, if I wasn't working or like a zookeeper or some other area working with animals in some capacity, I guess I would probably be a teacher. So I was planning. So when I graduated from the University of Illinois with my art history degree, my plan was to go teach like art, high school art. And so, you know, because, you know, I like sports, so I was going to be like, you know, you know, be like a football coach and like basketball coach and all those other things, you know, but but this is, this is what I love to do. And what is the difference between a technician and what you do as a veterinarian? What are the main differences between two positions? Well, the, the, the biggest one is, is again, treating is that I treat and diagnose and so diseases. And so, you know, I basically have to be able to, by biggest things obviously be able to diagnose diseases, and then be able to, you know, obviously give the right medications and prescribe medications and those types of things. And so a technician again, they are really there to assist. So in surgery, they can help me, you know, in surgery while I'm in there holding things. You know, they can even, if they go to school, they can even like so, so certain things out too. Okay, so they can actually do parts of certain parts of surgery. And again, they really prescribe the medication. They also educate the owners and those type of things. So they do a lot of those, those tasks as well. So tell me what is the hardest part of your job or your career, Dr. Contreras, what is the hardest thing that you that you do? The hardest thing is putting pets down. And that is the, the most difficult part of the job is it is extremely emotional. It can be a little bit, it can be quite, again, a little bit of a toll on you because again, like, you know, you grow up with these pets, you see them as puppies and then, you know, they get old and you see them every year, you get really close to the families and so they become your extended family. I mean, you see these guys all the time. They're calling you for advice and you get really close to the owners and you get really close obviously to the, to these pets. And that can be the really the hardest part. Again, I do look at it differently than a lot of people I do look at it as a blessing for me to be able to actually be able to end the suffering of a pet. And so, and so with that, because we do have a really high burnout rate we have a really high suicide rate. And there is, and it's that aspect that I think, you know, that people will need to understand about the profession about, because again, like we can make mistakes, you know, again, we can have dogs on the table and they die, you know, when we're trying to save them I think that that's one of those things that can be extremely difficult for for some people and I think that is one of the goals might not profit is to make sure we're educating people about the profession, one, and making sure that I talked to many in school high schoolers college kids middle schoolers elementary schools like I talked to many kids about the profession as possible, because my goal is different than to make sure that they understand the profession before they get into it. All right, because there's so many kids that I think would do amazing at this job but don't really want to because they think maybe that the grades are bad. There's so many that want to go into this job, but then they're like, I had this one girl who could not stop like a sobbing and crying after I had to put a dog down and she was like, she was like, unconsolably sobbing and I was like, you know, this is something you keep doing, it's kind of like an owner and you can't like, again, it's okay that you care about these people if you got to be able to, you have to be able to be emotionally, you know, stable enough to be able to literally, then, you know, literally I had five minutes later to go into another planet, you know, and so again, it's one of those things that, you know, and, you know, you have to, you do have to make sure you understand what you're getting involved in when you, when you, you know, when you get into this profession. And so I want to always make sure kids know everything about this because it's devastating for me to start for somebody graduate with this, you know, with the veterinary degree, you know, start practice and then like, I can't do this. Devastating to me. I can't even comprehend it because I love this profession so much, you know, but I do know there needs to be, you have to have a certain personality, you have to have a certain way of viewing thing. It has to be the right person for the job, you know, and so, you know, so that that's again one of the big things about this profession. Thank you for sharing that. I would absolutely not be able to be married in. You know, I might hold the tissue or, you know, console people and all of that. But I know you'd help with the puppies and kittens. Okay, you could help me with the puppies and kids. Great as far as the job. But I wish it was always that way. I've actually myself had to say goodbye to two of my old pets and so I can absolutely appreciate everything that you're saying about that. Yeah, we're going to take a little bit of a shift and because this audience is young people, well it's made up of young people who are looking at career exploration, trying to find a career path, trying to figure out what they may or may not be interested in. I want to talk a little bit about the sciences and students who are from non traditional, you know, backgrounds or girls or, you know, people that might be afraid because of the sciences to go into this field. What would you tell them? I would tell them that again, that you can learn anything like this isn't anything that should ever stop anybody from going to doing a job that they would love. You do have to like science and you do have to like math. You don't have to be, I want to make sure that you don't have to be great at it you don't have to be naturally gifted at doing these things. Again, and I would just say that one of the greatest things about being diagnosed with like a learning disability and all those things is that, again, it's not an excuse it's a way to that you learn differently. And so with me, I learned by interacting with other and getting help. And so I would get help with every single class that I has I literally had a tutor for every single class I took in college. Every single one. And so and again, it's so that I could thrive. I had to put in a little bit extra time. I had to, you know, I had to make sure obviously that I always go to class. I was going to make sure I would, you know, do the work, make sure again all the stuff that I didn't understand. I would go to somebody and get help, whether that sometimes it was the teacher, you know, August hours, I would always go. And sometimes it would be other students who are really good at explaining things who are just like they're gifted at it and they want to help and share their gift by explaining to you. You know, the things about organic chemistry biochemistry and those kinds of things so those classes are hard. And they weren't easy for me, you know, but I was able to do extremely well, mainly because I was able to use my resources. Use the resources that you have. And there are tutors. There are, again, there's so many people that want to help. And so, again, when you take advantage of those things, okay, which people want you to, people want you to use, take advantage of these things because they want you to be successful. And that's the great thing. All my teachers want me to be successful, and we all want you to be, you know, and so it's just about getting that extra help. It's just about getting, making sure you are taking on yourself to get the extra help in order to get the A and B that you need, you know, to, you know, be successful in your classes. And so, again, I was horrible. I was a struggle with physics, you know, for some reason my brain doesn't work that way, you know. But again, I was able to read it. Okay, this is what I don't understand. Okay, get help. You know, I mean, the tutor was, you know, I mean, like, this is how you need to look at it. Okay, still having a hard time. Again, I'm not understanding this portion of it. Okay, you get this. And so, and again, it's one of those things that, again, I'm not ashamed of it, but like, I knew the first time I took biochemistry, you know, like, I would fail that class. Okay, failed it. But, and so I dropped it. I did drop it in college. I went to the class though every single day. I still went to the class every day. And I asked the teacher like, can I take the test, you know, do you mind if I take the test, because again, I want to see what I can do. I did not do very well in any of those tests, but I went through the course, learned everything that I could went to all the, they are, we had this student who would teach the would do the extracurricular class is really awesome. And so we go to all those so the next time I took it. I mean I was able to get a the next time I took it. You know, but again, that took a lot, you know, to be able to do it. But why would I, why would I sacrifice the profession I'm going to do for the next 50 years. Okay, for something that again one semester, I just have to you know what I mean, you know, I mean, had to take a sit back know I wasn't ready. And it's like, it's just such a short period of time that you have to put in the time to get to where you need to be. It's just such a short period of time. And so biochemistry was not going to stop me from being a veterinarian. You saw the bigger picture. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. And then we have one class at a time and that's how we took it. So. Thank you for that. So what are some of the most important essential skills that you need to have to be a veterinarian. As it relates to, you know, communication, being on time, critical thinking skills, what types of essential skills would you say that is needed to be a veterinarian. Yeah, definitely. I mean, we have to have academic, you know, background, you have to be really good at, you know, you get to be good at math and science because we use these medications every day. And I have to make sure we know how to use them. Okay. And yes, you know, we see things. I see things almost every day that I have never seen before. Okay, like, I'll see one or two things that come in. I'm like, I don't think I've ever seen that before. You know, you still have to try to figure things out. So critical thinking is unbelievably important. Okay. And the most important thing, again, on my list, though, of those things is communication. The most important thing. Okay, because if I can't communicate, all right, to this owner about why we need to treat this way. They're not going to treat that way. If I can't communicate well to my staff, but these things are important. They're not going to be able to communicate to the owner and stuff and I can't talk to everybody all the time, every minute. Okay. You know, and so, and then, and so communication is by far the biggest key. And so that's why when they go to schools, I make sure that they understand why it's so important that you are one that you have a good, you know, that you are an extracurricular activity, you do the sports, you do the band, you do all these things because they teach you to learn how to be a team player. They teach you how to communicate with others, you know, and again, I'm like, again, if you're in the band, you know, one person is playing a horrible note. It makes everybody sound bad. And we know and I know in football, right, if one person isn't doing their job. That's where we get that's where everything splits open and that's where the defense that's where everything breaks down. And so if everybody's not on the same page, that's where things break down. And that's why again, communication is so key. And so, and so again, so that's why I think that's one of the most important things and that's why extracurricular activity is so important, you know, for kids, you know, so, but that's what I think communications by far the most important thing that is needed in this profession, definitely. Awesome. Dr. Concheres, how do you celebrate your successes. I, I do. I guess I do, I do journal a lot. I like that you bring that up because I journal a lot. And so me and my wife actually journal everything we journal every day we're like, and so. And one of the ways is by making sure people like we know like hey I was able to do this. And that way I can always revisit like all the great things that are done. And I think it's so important. It's such a great question because it's so important that we celebrate that we take time to really acknowledge some of the things that we do that we take on like we do on a daily basis. I think we take for granted some of the things that we do, you know, like, you know, again, you know, even, even today we're moving a mass from those dogs, you know, I, I mean, again, like it seems routine, but it was really cool. You know, and so I'll write in journal about that. And the reason why it is so important to make sure we are celebrating a lot of our successes because too many of us focus on the one bad thing that I have. You know, it's the one client that get upset. It's the one time we made a mistake. And unfortunately that's what devastates people that's what people put people in depression and that's what puts, you know, because it's so much focus on, you know, something that did not go right. And that that's very difficult, you know, and so, but I think I what I celebrate myself as my, my wins I say are the things that I've done that I'm really proud of is I journal it so I can we live it and I journal it because when I write it down. Again, it's there forever. And so, and that's, again, I guess that's one way that I feel like I do I try to celebrate others and recognize others as much as I can, but they understand some of the impact and the great work and the, and the strides that they've made, you know, and so but that that is extremely important that we acknowledge some of the great work that we do every day. Because it's so vitally vital important really for our mental health. Thank you for sharing that with with us. Now I'm going to ask you kind of a question. It's kind of a wildcard question. Tell me something that's hidden about your job that nobody would ever guess or know what's some quirky thing or something that comes up or something that you've experienced that someone would never know about a veterinarian. Well, that we are all very, very different and what because one of the corky things that we do we have. We have our superstitions. And so whenever we have a really like difficult or never surgery, we have these figures, right that we have that will play in there. And so we have all the good mojo that something great is going to happen during this procedure. And so I would say one of the corky things is that we definitely are superstitious. And so, again, we are, we are people that again, obviously, we are, at least me, I am we are very science driven. I'm very evidence based, right, but I'm also, I also am very religious and so, you know, I practice my faith. And so we do have superstitions. And I think that's pretty, you know, I don't know the funny but we love it. And so it helps keep things, but it's a stressful situation. It keeps a little more lighthearted. Great. And to close out my very last question, Dr. Contreras, what would you tell your 14 year old self about your journey till today. I would tell myself that it is extremely difficult, it is going to be continuously difficult, and that you definitely just have to make sure you outlast the pain. Okay. But that the, you know, the things and the person that you become is somebody that you can, you know, look in the mirror and just be unbelievably proud of that you have done everything you can. And that you can be a model for your children's. Okay. The four children you're going to have as you're going to be a model. Hopefully, I feel like for the community and the people you serve that you care about so very, very much. And so, and that will, and that will make all the difficult, you know, times and the very, you know, constant, you know, difficulties of being able to, you know, become a visionary and a visionary and run a practice, you know, you're going to fail, you're not going to get into that school many, many times. You're going to fail until you finally get it, you know, you're going to finally get into that school then once you graduate you're going to have a hard time out because it's so hard to practice, but you find you get into a rhythm and get into, you get a lot of possessive, and though things are still always going to be hard, you're always going to push fast though. Okay, and be proud of who we are and what you've become. Well, I really appreciate you taking the time out to speak with me. I believe that there's a lot of gems that you've been able to share with us about your career path and about your service. And I want to thank you for all of the work that you are doing with students and I know that that absolutely does make a difference. So I look forward to continuing to partner with you, if at all possible. And for our audience, I hope that you will look at some of the other trailhead series that we have that are available as you begin to your journey into looking into what career path that you might want to go into. Until next time, thank you. Thank you so much.