Joan Reilly: 35 years in local veterinary practice
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Joan Reilly has wanted to be a vet since she was five years old. Last month, the Golden Bay Veterinary Club organised a function to celebrate the 35-year relationship Joan has had with the club, its members and the wider Golden Bay community.
"It was really fantastic," said Joan. "Malcolm Topliss, who originally employed me, was there. The best thing about being in a small place like Golden Bay for so long is that you can build up relationships with farming families over two or three generations. When I go to see some farmers, I can be talking to the grandchildren of people I first worked for. I really like that. You're not a stranger offering a service; they know who you are and you have a relationship with them."
Joan came to Golden Bay in 1973, after graduating from Glasgow University. Born in England, she had lived in New Zealand for three years in the 1960s when her father's job brought the family here. She did most of her schooling in England and says she was lucky to eventually be accepted as a veterinary science student at Glasgow.
"While I was still at school I had to do night school to get my physics and French up to the standard that was required for university study," said Joan. "Because I wasn't accepted for vet school for a start, I had to do agricultural zoology in my first year at university. At the end of that first year I did all the things that I had to to get direct entry to second-year veterinary study. That meant borrowing a friend's notes and passing the first-year vet exams. I felt as though I had hit a lot of obstacles and overcome them. I ended up studying to become what I had always wanted to be, but I did work for it."
There was such a shortage of vets in New Zealand at that time that the farmer-owned vet clubs were prepared to bring practitioners out from Britain in return for a three-year bond.
"At that stage there were quite a few vacancies in vet clubs," said Joan, "But some of them said they were looking for someone ‘more experienced'. That meant they wanted to appoint a male. When I went to my first vets' conference I was one of only two women there. It's different these days-the majority of graduates are women. I was advised not to start working in a small club in an isolated area because of the shortage of professional support. It's important to be able to consult with experienced colleagues in the large animal field. In the end I applied for Golden Bay and was offered the position."
In October 1973, Joan began serving the farming community in her brand new yellow Ford Cortina. A reliable car was seen as absolutely essential when she had such a large and far-flung farming community to serve.
"My original plan was to do one year here, one year somewhere else and a third year somewhere else again, but I decided to do all three years here ... I felt as though it was only fair to stay and be useful in the place where I'd learnt so much. I really valued the support I got from the legendary Nelson vet, Peter Malone and Alan White from Motueka.
"In that first October I did 25 cow caesareans. It's very different these days. Calving is all over by October. Back then it was not unheard of to get a call to go out to a caesarean on Christmas Day."
Joan said that on-farm visits were very different in the 1970s. "There was an awful lot of on-farm work for farmers' wives then, so they tended to be there when you visited," she said. "Since the club charged its members by the visit rather than by the hour, it didn't matter whether you were there for half an hour or three hours. There wasn't so much sense of hurry so you'd have a cup of tea and so on."
Joan says that other things have changed about her profession too. "OSH has really improved things for vets," she said. "We're just not allowed to do things that aren't safe. In the early days I'd be hanging over the top of deer yards to inject them before velveting. I'd be just sort of leaning over the top with the farmer hanging onto my feet. I've fallen off lots of things over the years. I'm lucky not have broken any bones, though. These days things like vet stands in sheds make things easier and a lot safer."
Retirement is an option for Joan at the end of this year. In the meantime she works a slightly reduced week with Wednesdays off.
"I use it to regroup," she said. "Large animal work is very hard on you. I'm still enjoying the work, though, and I wouldn't have wanted to do it anywhere else. Not many places would be an improvement on Golden Bay. If I was given the chance to give everything over again, I would still be a vet. I have never regretted that decision."
Neil Wilson
