Category Archives: Human Health

Wellness Wednesday – Social Wellbeing Tip: Give experiential gifts, such as a day at the zoo, horseback riding lessons, or a National Park Annual Pass.

In collaboration with Colorado State University, Merck Animal Health is conducting a study about swine depopulation and veterinarians. We ask that every swine veterinarian, whether or not you were involved in a depopulation event, participate in this survey by December 31st. Click here for the survey.

Wellness Wednesday – Physical Wellbeing Tip: Incentivize healthy habits by creating organization-wide challenges around daily steps, activity time, or water consumption.

It’s been called a “second pandemic” — the mental health implications of the global health crisis, political unrest, economic uncertainty, rising unemployment, social isolation, remote work, home schooling, and so much more. And while it can feel like the first pandemic has been with us long enough for employees to have accessed the necessary resources and strategies for handling their stress, the fact is, many of us are struggling more, not less. [Source: Harvard Business Review 3 November 2020, by Deborah Grayson Riegel]

Wellness Wednesday – Emotional Wellbeing Tip: Allow yourself time off to relax, exercise, do something you enjoy, make medical appointments, and see mental health professionals.

Watch for tips to practice, enhance, improve your wellbeing on Wednesday on AASV Facebook @AASwineVets, Twitter @AASwineVets, and now in the e-Letter! Today’s Wellness Wednesday tip is a Social Wellbeing Tip: Thank a veteran today! AASV thanks all veterans and their families for their service and sacrifices.

For good reason — the raging global pandemic of Covid-19 — public sensitivity to the detection of new pathogens is at an all-time high. Earlier this week, Canadian officials reported that a variant of the influenza virus that normally infects pigs, a virus known as Influenza A (H1N2)v, was detected in a person in Alberta. Although novel influenza viruses are indeed something to be wary of, this event is not a cause for alarm. [Source: EDM 6 November 2020, by John Drake]

The goal of harvesting hearts from pigs to solve the chronic shortage of these donor organs appears to be in reach, according to a new scientific review by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). [Source: Feedstuffs 9 October 2020]

Dr. Susan Detmer, AASV District 11 Director and an Associate Professor in the Department of Veterinary Pathology with the Western College of Veterinary Medicine says, in light of COVID-19 it will be more important this fall than ever to get vaccinated for the flu. [Source: Farmscape 9 October 2020]

Mental Health First Aid is an 8-hour course offered by trained facilitators and is listed in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices. Individuals will learn how to identify, understand and respond to those who may be experiencing a mental health related problem or crisis. Iowa State University Extension and Outreach is offering several Mental Health First Aid workshops throughout Iowa during 2020 with free registration for veterinarians, veterinary technicians, and other agribusiness professionals with code ADVOCATE. Register at ISU Extension.