More Care. More Compassion. More Community.

Big news is here! 🎉

In this special edition of the Whittington Waymakers Podcast, we're excited to announce that Whittington Vet Clinic and Southside Veterinary Clinic are coming together.

Join Kylie as she sits down with Dr. Paul and Dr. Kim Bradley to talk about what this transition means for our clients, our teams, and the future of veterinary care in our community. We'll discuss why this decision was made, what clients can expect in the coming months, how we're working to make the transition as smooth as possible, and why we're so excited to welcome Southside's team and clients into the Whittington family.

Whether you're a longtime Southside client, part of the Whittington family, or simply interested in what's ahead, we hope this conversation answers your questions and gives you confidence in this exciting new chapter.

Thank you for trusting us with your pets. We are honored to continue serving our community with the same compassionate care you've always known now with an even bigger team, a shared mission, and an exciting future ahead.

Guided by Grace. Grounded in Care.

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:28

Hey everyone, welcome back to Whittington Waymakers. I'm Kylie, and today I'm sitting down with Dr. Paul and a special guest to share some pretty big news and answer your questions. Talk about what exciting new chapter means for our clinic, our team, and most importantly, all of you and your pets. Thank you for taking a few minutes to listen. We know news like this can be a lot of excitement. It can bring a lot of questions. And our goal today is to be as transparent as possible, walk you through what this transition looks like, and reassure our Southside families that your pets will continue to receive the compassionate, high-quality care you've always entrusted. So let's get to the exciting part and let's let Dr. Paul tell us the big news.

SPEAKER_03 1:08

Hey y'all. I guess the big news is that we have officially merged with Southside Veterinary Hospital, Bradley Southside Veterinary Hospital. And uh yay! Applause! Woo-hoo! Just super blessed, super grateful for what has been a dream and also come to reality. Just the ability to dive in and and I call it download Dr. Bradley's beautiful knowledge as well as his many, many gifts as far as veterinary medicine goes, but also as far as sustaining in this field, working for the public, working uh with the public in such a deep, community-centered way. And just we we are all anxious and excited to learn from him for sure.

SPEAKER_01 1:57

So just look forward to it. Dr. Bradley's here with the first one. Thank you, Dr. Paul. Glad to be here. Exciting afternoon for sure, to be able to communicate with uh our clients together. So I'm excited about the future. It's gonna be beautiful.

SPEAKER_04 2:16

Perfect. Welcome, Dr. Bradley. We're excited to have you here. Here today with us for this podcast and just here in general at the clinic. We're very excited. So, Dr. Bradley, why Dr. Paul and why Whittington?

SPEAKER_02 2:30

Through the years, got to know Dr. Paul and you know, his associate veterinarians and stuff. Not so much the young ones right now, but I hope to get to know him or we'll know each other a lot better in the future. But he's always had a high quality practice similar to mine. I think we mesh quite a bit on how we treat people and how we treat clients. And I think it's just a good fit that as I'm kinda not quitting, but falling back in my career that I have, you know, the opportunity to mentor his younger veterinarians and at the same time maybe get a little bit more time off. I'm uh I'm a fisherman. I like saltwater fishing. I don't get to do near that like I would like to, and I do hunt a little bit. That's pretty much my two go-tos right now. I do like fiddling around the farm. We have a I was raised on a dairy farm and there's always something to do to fix something or just clean up. That's what I did yesterday afternoon, actually, was clean up some spots that look pretty bad. I said, I can't let this look like that. So I spent a couple hours shoveling dirt and moving things around.

SPEAKER_04 3:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:41

So Dr.

SPEAKER_04 3:43

Hall, what does this partnership allow Whittington to do what we think to do before?

SPEAKER_03 3:48

For sure. I think what it allows us to do is it's very rare in life that you can ever have wisdom imparted from someone who's so involved locally. You may get wisdom, you may bring in some new mind from another state, and they have a a dialect issue or they have a communication issue, they don't know about the roots of the community. And as you know, and as everyone knows, Dr. Bradley surely knows, our local area is special. And it's special for multiple reasons, but mainly because of the community tight-knit nature of which we serve it and serve. And so for me, it was it's a no-brainer. I mean, Dr. Bradley and I first started talking in 2017 just as a dream. And I'm like, hey, let me know. It wasn't like you're getting old by any means. Don't take I don't think he ever took it that way, but it was like, hey, let me know, because I knew it's so rare that you would be able to get that kind of wisdom, as well as somebody who's already in in the community, in the sense that people will already trust, they already know of him, who he is, whether or not he's ever been their veterinarian. But it was also so beautiful as I, you know, a transplant into this community, have gotten to know people, they're like, look, we love you and all, but we're not leaving Dr. Bradley. Like he has been our family's veterinarian, and that's a testament. The way I pray to be in the same, you know, era that he is in in my career. And so it for me it was a no-brainer. It took a lot of years for both of us to just get I I think if we would have done it in 2017, it it probably wouldn't have been the right time because here we are today. So I'm I'm patient, although most people wouldn't believe that. But um, especially in these types of decisions, I've been extremely patient not to force because I want it to be right for him as well, and I want him to be excited as well. What it allows, last thing, I know I'm gonna talk too much, so shut me down. What it allows is oh my goodness, the wisdom, this is why we do it, and it not be this new age. And I'm not saying like he has kept up in such an amazing way with veterinary medicine. It is very typical of the career path of any profession. I don't care if it's a mechanic, if it's a yard guy, if it's a you kind of know your stuff and then you kind of just stay where you are. He has kept up, and that's what was amazing for Casey and I to really like see his cases on the cases we would see if they were closed. I'm like, dude, he's he's keeping up modern, very, you know, uh forthright looking and not kind of just staying quoted status quo. So he's gonna be able to instill that and continue that in a very similar way to what we want. So it's it's beautiful.

SPEAKER_04 6:39

Now, Dr. Bradley, Dr. Paul had just said that some of these clients really feel, I guess, scared in a way that that you're leaving totally. And so what would you want to tell your long-term clients about this merger?

SPEAKER_02 6:53

Definitely uh that is stuff we hear, you know, when clients come in, they say, No, I can't believe you're retiring. And I said, No, I'm not retiring. I said, That's the wrong mindset. I'm gonna work for at least two more years, and if they have me, I'm probably be working longer than that. Because I like this is what I love to do. I mean, this is I just seem like it's my thing is to help people and to help pets. And I want everybody to know that I'm gonna be available. You know, might take it, I'll get a day off at least just now. But uh I will be available four days a week, and you know, sometimes I even I even have done surgeries on my day off at Dr. Whittington. So it's uh, you know, yeah I'm I'm here from everybody, not just, you know, I'm not leaving.

SPEAKER_04 7:36

Yeah, and so your clients are also they're gonna see your face around the clinic. They're gonna see, of course, our doctors and our techs, but they're also gonna see your techs. Who's coming with you in this merger?

SPEAKER_02 7:47

For sure. That's wonderful that we get to retain Ashton, Blair, and Valerie. They've been great techs through the well, Ashton's been with me for nine years now, and Blair's on a third year, and I think Valerie's on a fifth year, so they've been very loyal to me. Uh they're great technicians, they're great with the people. I don't think there's gonna be any lower verse standard standards by any means. You know, everybody's gonna work together, and you know, we're gonna make sure that everybody is comfortable with, you know, taking their pets to Dr. Whittington.

SPEAKER_04 8:20

Now, Dr. Paul, your long-term vision now that the two clinics are coming together is what?

SPEAKER_03 8:26

So this has also been a morph of so many different ways, and what I I love and appreciate about Dr. Bradley, and I think our relationship this season is is grown leaps and bounds. We're we're excited to announce or or say within the next two months, I don't know a date because it's a lot of different things, but within the next two months, Dr. Bradley and Ashton and Blair and Valerie will be working at our office on Westport Street at the Whittington Veterinary Clinic. Just out of the simplicity of keeping organization, keeping not having to run two locations. Also, the pet's needs can be transferred. If it is Dr. Bradley's day off the next day, there would be, you know, the di the day that let's say pet A comes in, that if he's off on that following day on the Tuesday, he can hand that case off to Dr. Griffin or to Dr. Ann Catherine or to Dr. Casey for the the care to be continued and the communication to exist, it's going to look a little bit bumpy at first, and we apologize because I know that walking into a clinic that people have walked into for longer than I've been alive, and then coming to our location, it's gonna look, you know, where's Ashton? Or where just ask. I promise you, we're gonna find them and we're gonna put them with you. We're gonna try and do everything we can to make it as comfortable for not only Dr. Bradley and his three staff members, but they're now our staff members, which means our girls uh who have been here and love veterinary medicine as well want to get to know you too. So we understand it's gonna look a little different. We understand it may even feel a little different, but we promise you we're gonna do everything we can to make it as homey as possible. It's just a different setting. Same doctor, same staff members, just in a different building. So I guess that would be the one thing, the location is two miles apart. You're not driving to another town, thank God. Which is also, you know, one of the deciding factors was hey, we're so close to together. Really, these asking people to not mind driving just a little bit further if they're from south of us. We may be closer in other ways to some of these clients. So I think it'll be beautiful, but please continue to tell us. We love feedback. Maybe most people don't, but we love feedback on things that we can improve on. So help us through it. If you're uncomfortable, tell us. And I promise you you'll probably get a phone call from me and possibly Dr. Bradley, if it's something, you know, where we can better address that.

SPEAKER_04 11:11

Now, Dr. Bradley, what what made you certain that your clients would be in good hands with you selling or mer let's not say selling, let's say merging, because that's what we're doing, merging together. Made you feel comf the most comfortable with that?

SPEAKER_02 11:26

Well, in the sense that, you know, when when I did take a day off or whatever, or I had a vacation and they chose to go to Dr. Whittington, they always came back with a positive comment about how how well they took care of the pets and how everybody was friendly, and it just seems a good fit that, you know, if he wanted me, I was willing to make the move.

SPEAKER_04 11:49

Yeah, nice. So let's let's jump into some like client questions. Is there anything that any Southside clients are gonna have to do right now? Do they need a call and ask for their records to be sent over? We have all that.

SPEAKER_03 12:02

That's a really good question. They do not have to call to ask for any records. Thank goodness we were both running the exact same software system, which was another, you know, super blessing. So neither his staff nor our staff have to learn new software. What is happening currently is they're basically merging the data between the two clinics so that if Miss Beverly calls, Miss Bev, sweet Bev, if she calls, we'll be able to look her up at the Whittington location. It is not there yet. That is what the real wait period time is for, as well as one of our Dr. Ann Catherine associate is expecting. And so we're so excited for her and you know, her first child, and can't wait to meet her beautiful girl. But we know that there will be a need to have Dr. Bradley really, you know, the end of August, sometime in there. We're really hopeful that that would be the date somewhere at the end of August, but do not hold our feet to that because we're at the mercy of IT people, and if you know any, that's all I gotta say. But we a client will not have to call to get records. We'll all be able to have all of Dr. Bradley's previous records, as well as, of course, all of ours, and they will be emerged together. You be patient with us if you have come to us for any need if Dr. Bradley was out of town or you share, you know, back and forth. We may have duplicate charts, but we will be able to easily find those and identify it. So according to IT people.

SPEAKER_04 13:39

Well, good. And what new benefits will clients notice, Dr. Bradley, that I know you've you've come do surgery with us so far, and what are things that you've noticed that you think your clients will notice about our practice?

SPEAKER_02 13:52

Yeah, definitely there's some equipment advances that I monetarily, I guess, over the years felt like uh because I was up in age that it probably wouldn't benefit me that much, or I couldn't justify some of the things that Dr. Paul has. And I had the pleasure of using an electrochardi unit the other day, and that was the bomb. I said instead of me tying off party blood vessels, I could just zap it with a little electrode and made the surgery made better for the patient, better for me, less surgery time for the patient. You know, quality surgery. Uh that's one big thing. He has an ultrasound, and that's another piece of equipment that I elected not to purchase in you know my uh later years of my career. So that's also very helpful when you can just put a probe on something and get a diagnosis without having to open up the patient. So there's uh there's a lot of good things that Dr. Whitakin has that or excellent things that you know uh I guess I chose not to do because of where I was in my career and that I had the opportunity to send them over to Dr. Paul or have somebody come to the office that would do an ultrasound. It's just uh it was a a decision on my part uh not to do some of those things. But now that we have all that availability, then everybody's gonna be uh in a better spot.

SPEAKER_04 15:10

Yeah, no, I I agree. And Dr. Paul, what would you say to these nervous long-term clients that I mean our clients as well that are nervous about this merger because I'm sure they don't know much of what's going on as well, but also for Dr. Bradley's clients that he's had for so many years that are nervous about this.

SPEAKER_03 15:29

I would I would first say, number one, Dr. Bradley's not going anywhere if I have anything to say about it. I may never let him retire. The gift that we have is I believe we're we're coming to know each other better and better, and relationships take time, and we've had a professional relationship for years, but now having more of a personal relationship that also will take time, and I look forward to also getting invited to go fishing with him. As uh it's just when you know how much he cares about patients. I mean, I I can tell you story after story after story of people telling me he went at night, he met them on the weekends, he answered their phone calls, it mirrors so much of like my heart. And the great irony is again, he's been practicing veterinary medicine longer than I've been alive, and he's not burned out from it. So I actually want to tap into his seat for for sustaining any problems that you may incur. I would just tell you talk to him if you're uncomfortable talking to me about it, if it's something we did, and we're open to feedback, but certainly like our goal is to mirror what he has done well and amplify it and and what we may or may need to change just through the protocols. We will hopefully explain them or hopefully invite you to help us think of a better route toward it, just to solve whatever the issue may be. I guess the secret is I want to learn, you know, sustainability from him. Just how do you, you know, still have a passion and want to come and do surgeries on your day off at after you've been practicing over 40 years? And then from the client standpoint, like I promise, I can vow that our goal is to do all of the things that he did so well, and that is caring for you individually, knowing your bets, knowing your history, and and recommending the gold standard and giving you but understanding if monetary things come up and you can only do plan B or C, we're good with that. We we we're there for you. So we want to be as understanding as he was. That is probab most likely why people have chosen him so well, is he's so understanding of where people are. I don't know if I answered anything you asked.

SPEAKER_04 17:43

That's okay, Dr. Paul. I'm sure people know you by now that you'll just talk, but it's good because you have good things to say. What surprised you the most about our clinics merging, about our staff working together as one and and all of us, I guess, interacting together? Your staff, you, our staff, our doctors.

SPEAKER_02 18:03

I mean, you know, y'all embarrassed the hell out of me when I first came in here and y'all all stood up and clapped for me that first day we came in. I was like, oh my God. Uh I know I was beat red at that point in time. But anyhow. No, y'all y'all genuinely accepted us. It was it was beautiful the way y'all, you know, the the reception y'all gave us. And you know, we we I mean, we got we had I had four staff members, and you know, we just had was that close-knit group, and then we you know, we were all scared. I mean, the the girls were the girls were saying, How come you went in m before uh we we got here? And I said, Well, Paul grabbed me and hauled me in and said, I didn't even have a chance to wait for y'all. So they were kind of upset about that. But I I didn't have their back, they said, but you know, it's everything's been great. I mean, everybody you know, everybody has been very nice and you know, helpful. Any kind of issues. I mean, we've we've had issues as far as for you know running two clinics at one time and then having one clinic purchasing for the other clinic, it it you know, it it sometimes it gets a little a little hectic when you need something and you don't have it right then and there. But I mean everything's been great. I don't my my staff is happy, you know, they're excited, they wanna they wanna encounter new things and learn new things, you know. We got I mean, I was kind of set my ways, I guess, in some way on how we did a certain procedure, and then you know, there's I'm I'm I'm game for change. I mean I I'm not stuck in nineteen eighty for sure. You know, when I first got out of practice. I mean, I'm always ready to improve on how I can do something.

unknown 19:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:39

So I think it's just gonna be a great collaboration of minds.

unknown 19:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:43

And I think that's the secret, you know, we're still young in this. So we're going to encounter, like any great family encounters, the trials and tribulations of working alongside each other, and you get to know that everybody's normal till you get to know them, and then you know, they have a weird tick, but we love them anyway. What I've noticed about Dr. Bradley and his staff is literally we talked about it, thought it would be one way, and especially Dr. Bradley, then it's changed, and then it changes again, and it's so it's unavoidable change, but it's really awesome to have him at the helm be okay with it, even though I'm sure sometimes he's not, and yet he can tell me, dude, this is like a lot right now, just get over here. And like, cool, because at least he's able to communicate that, and so my gift for you know, traditionally, I'm like Dr. Bradley, I'm cool with change. But we have learned quickly that not everybody in this world is cool with change, and so we don't want to drown out the worries, the the emotions that come along with you've been doing this thing, whatever that thing is, that way every time. You know, and so we just want to be open to whatever the three, you know, Blair and Ashton and Valerie may want. We want to help them achieve it. And and I think it's gonna be beautiful as well. I'm excited for it. As well as Dr. Bradley.

SPEAKER_04 21:12

I only have two microphones, so now Dr. Paul and I are fighting over who gets to talk.

unknown 21:18

Dr.

SPEAKER_04 21:19

Bradley says, I'll gladly give it to you. What excites y'all most about the future with merging wedding tenants outside?

SPEAKER_03 21:27

I I can speak for like what I think Dr. Casey's so excited about his knowledge. I think she's also excited to have the day off and know as well, like Dr. Bradley's there. We've got some ability to have like emergency section comes in, something that really is past the level of which you want to put on people that with a crowded schedule already. So some wisdom, some time off, which is uh something that we have noticed like these younger veterinarians really come out of school wanting, and it's it's just different than you know, we came out working six days a week and they come out wanting the four day a week, which is beautiful because it's a better work life balance for them. But he's gifting us with you know, his last let's I'll call it five years, right? Everybody's on a five year plan. So his his last five years of veterinary medicine, maybe it's ten, maybe it's ten. And that would be cool. And today. Download that wisdom into us and build us stronger, but it also gives people the immediate relief, such as Dr. Ann Catherine's going to have a baby in August. Like some time off. Some time away from the clinic and me not be begging her to bring an infant up here and let's go. I don't care. You know, it's just some real peace is what it's bringing our young veterinarians as well as for me it's just the wisdom. I love the wisdom. And Dr.

SPEAKER_04 22:55

Bradley, what excites you most about this?

SPEAKER_02 22:57

Uh Dr. Griffin has been coming to work for me or coming out, you know, coming to the practice and stuff. He's taught me things in the times as he'd been there that like measuring the the size of the heart, you know. I I thought that wasn't possible, but I'm not an IT guy, and he got on the computer and he's just started, this is this, this is that, this is it. I think it's a normal size heart. So we still said it to the radiologist, and the radiologist said the same thing. He said it's it's barely uh you know elevated. So I mean he's taught me quite a few newer things, I guess, that uh, you know, I I didn't go to enough, probably I'd I'd I'd go to continuing education, but because I was a solo practitioner, I didn't want to leave my practice. And you know, I I did the minimum or sometimes I did a little bit more, but you know, I didn't get exposed to some of the things that probably I can now if you know, because we have four veterinarians and you know we can kind of shuffle times where somebody can have a a couple of days off when they really feel like they need it, and then you know that's the good thing that I'm happy about is that you know people are still gonna get to be seen by a quality veterinarian, you know, their their pets are gonna get taken care of even if I'm not there for a couple of days.

SPEAKER_04 24:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:03

That's what I'm looking forward to.

SPEAKER_04 24:06

Dr. Paul, what is one sentence? One to welcome our new clients.

SPEAKER_03 24:13

May we excited. Welcome.

SPEAKER_04 24:16

Country, come to town. Dr. Bradley, what's one sentence to say thank you to your clients for putting their trust in in you in all the years that you've been with them?

SPEAKER_02 24:26

That's the thing. I mean, I have clients that they've been with me since 1980 when I first started. They still come through the door. They we've been through you know, excitement, been through you know, loss of pets. They followed me, I followed them. It's you know, that's the best thing I can say is that the the loyalty that the people of Abbeville over me and parish has given me still wanting to see me at this point in my career. So that's what I I thank you for being so loyal to me.

SPEAKER_04 24:56

Okay, and then this one's for both of y'all as well. What do you hope people say about this merger a year from now?

SPEAKER_03 25:02

I certainly hope that it surpasses all their fears. That they just say, I was super worried, and I want them to acknowledge that. Like it's okay to be worried, but I hope that we surpass your fear, that you're you're taken care of in a way that allows you to reflect and say, Wow. But they actually they they know my pet, they know my baby, they know me because they want to. So that we uh surpass their fears. That's my that's my hope. And it's a gamble, and I understand we can't win over everybody. But we are gonna try like X.

SPEAKER_04 25:40

Yeah, that's one thing about about Whittington is we love love. Dr. Paul loves people. If you if you listen to our podcast previously, you know that his favorite thing about working in VetMed is the people. Dr. Bradley, what do you hope people are saying about this merger a year from now?

SPEAKER_02 25:57

Pretty much the same thing as Paul uh reiterated on that you know they're gonna feel comfortable and they're gonna know that they made the right decision by following me and that they're gonna get the standard of care they always used to, and even beyond that, probably.

SPEAKER_04 26:12

All right, guys. Well, thank y'all for listening today. Dr. Paul, Dr. Bradley, thank y'all for coming up here and talking with us, talking with me. And I can't wait for everybody to hear it.

SPEAKER_03 26:24

Let's go. Love y'all.