The Florida Veterinary Medical Association gave honors to our technician, Kathy Wilbanks, and her therapy llama, Dipity for their outstanding work.  We are very proud of them both!!



CVT of the Year                                Pet Hero of the Year
                                                   
Kathy Wilbanks, CVT                                                         Camp's Serendipity

Certified Veterinary Technician of the Year

Kathy Wilbanks, CVT

(article taken from FVMA Advocate)

Kathy Wilbanks' willingness to always go the extra mile was just one of the reasons Dr. Hasse decided to nominate her for this year's CVT of the Year Award for the state of Florida.  "Kathy has worked for me for over 23 years.  She has excellent people skills as well as technical skills.  She is the type of team member who is always willing to go the extra mile.  She is eager to please and seldom comes to work unprepared to give her utmost," Dr. Hasse said.

Dr. Hasse said Kathy is known for picking up and bringing in pets of clients who are either too sick or unable to bring them in themselves.  He said that she also continues to check on clients long after their pets have passed away and also spends her day off volunteering with special needs children.  But it is not just her work ethic that earned her the title of CVT of the Year, she is also being honored for her compassion and dedication to helping others.

"Her most compelling attribute is her heart for volunteering.  She raises and shows llamas and has certified many of them as pet therapy animals and uses them to go into hospitals, nursing homes, and schools.  She cannot say 'no' when asked to bring her llamas to various facilities throughout Sarasota County," Dr. Hasse said.

He said that Kathy often volunteers to pick up prescriptions and food items for sick and elderly as well as delivering meals during holidays or when needed.  

One mother of a special needs child also cannot say enough about Kathy's compassion and teaching skills.  "My son Bryan is 12 and attends a special needs school called Oak Park.  Bryan is often scared of large animals including dogs.  I can't explain the full impact of seeing him work with Kathy and her llamas and enjoying himself," said Bryan's mother.  She said that Kathy, in addition to her duties at work, also spends countless hours teaching children about llamas and how to show them at the local, county and state fairs.  "On top of her full time job, she spends five to seven hours teaching children how to train and care for llamas," Bryan's mother said.  "I am amazed with how giving and big-hearted Miss Kathy is and hope someday we can show her how wonderful she really is and that we appreciate all that she does for the sake of children.  I know that this experience will last a lifetime for the kids."

Kathy, who has worked at Sarasota Animal Hospital for 23 years, was in the second technician class from St. Petersburg Community College and was in the first technician class to be certified by the FVMA.

She has served as a 4-H leader in the Sarasota area for three different clubs for the past 15 years as well as on the FFA Advisory Board and as the Assistant Director of the small animal barn for the Sarasota County Fair for the past eight years.  She also volunteers her time with the Sarasota Humane Society.  Kathy is quick to downplay her efforts.  She says she is just doing what she loves.

Pet Hero of the Year

Camp's Serendipity

(article taken from FVMA Advocate)

Camp's Serendipity may seem like an unlikely Pet Hero, but those he has helped with his loving ways, see nothing out of the ordinary in him winning this honor.  Dipity, as he is called by his handlers, Kathy and Karli Wilbanks, is a nine year old camelid (llama) gelding.

"Dipity is a special, laid-back kind of guy," Kathy Wilbanks said with a laugh.  "He is the sweetest llama you will ever meet."

Dipity is a certified pet therapy animal who makes regular rounds at Sarasota area nursing homes, hospitals and schools.  He is also a star of the local Humane Society and can be found at charity functions as well as at the local and state fairs.  He was nominated for the Pet Hero Award by Dr. Jan Hasse.

"He is just very loving.  He will go from bed to bed in a nursing home.  He lays down on command and he will lay his neck across someone's lap.  He is just very gentle," Kathy said.  Dipity, like many therapy animals, can evoke a response in a person who may not respond to normal therapy avenues.  "There was one gentleman who didn't move his hands much at all.  They would put his hands in different buckets to try to get him to touch things and he wouldn't.  But we brought Dipity in and he laid his neck on the gentleman's lap and the gentleman put his fingers on Dipity's neck and then moved his fingers up along the ears," Kathy said.

Kathy told another story of a woman in a nursing home who had the reputation of being a grouch.  The staff had told Kathy not to bother going into her room.  She came back a little while later and there was the woman petting Dipity and talking to her daughter.  "She was patting the llama and he was kissing her.  She had the biggest smile on her face.  Those are the kinds of thing we see all the time with the llamas."

So for his work with children and the elderly, Camp's Serendipity is the 2009 FVMA Pet Hero of the Year.