Practice Manager of the Year

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Awarded at the State Convention

Practice Manager of the Year 2011
Holly Houston -  Nominated by her hospital

On behalf of the WVPMA, we would like to congratulate and recognize Holly Houston of Lake Mills Veterinary clinic on her acceptance of the 2011 Practice Manager of the Year award.  Please enjoy the nomination form sent in by her hospital. 

Describe two major accomplishments that this candidate has achieved at your practice and describe how those accomplishments have positively impacted your practice.

In order to fully appreciate Holly Houston's two most significant accomplishments at our clinic, you must first know how she came to us, as it defines who she is as a professional and a person. Our office manager was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor, which quickly led to surgery and radiation. The Lake Mills Veterinary Clinic was adrift. With a lifetime of business acumen, Holly, because it is her nature, flowed to the greatest need.

I phoned Holly on a Tuesday and we met for lunch on Wednesday. After learning of our situation, she followed me back to the clinic, rolled up her sleeves, and went to work. Unwilling to usurp another’s role, she originally became our interim office manager, with no clear idea regarding timeframes, ultimate responsibilities or benefits for her.

Holly has defined and clarified our business. With no previous experience in a veterinary clinic beyond being a model client, Holly first set out to revise our staff handbook, and then moved quickly into documenting and clarifying all other aspects of our work. In doing so, she not only learned our business in every detail, she helped us define it. With years of business education and experience, she very successfully helped reduce the number of gray areas in our policies. Now, when there is a question having to do with vacation hours, continuing education, managing contagious pets in the building, or other aspects of our work, we simply refer to the written protocols. Clearly, this helps with consistency, but it also gives us a clear platform for continuous improvement. Once you know where you’ve been, it’s easy to map where you’re going. 

Holly elevates our professional and personal standards. Holly's greatest contribution to our clinic is hard to define, but easy to appreciate. As veterinarians we entered practice in order to help serve and protect the human-animal bond. As business owners, that becomes very hard to do in the face of distractions from every direction.

Holly seamlessly handles dozens of details every day, growing our business, building relationships with our clients and engaging with the community. Before lunch, she will hire new staff, sponsor a local school event, send a thank-you note to a client, repair the air conditioning system, and revamp the clinic’s retirement plan. Then she will skip lunch to do payroll and discuss inventory issues. More often than not, she recognizes a need and handles it before I even knew it existed.

She is compassionate, professional, and tireless. Holly stands well over 6 feet tall. This is relevant, because I can only speculate that God made her heart first.  As veterinarians we are blessed to work with loving, caring people among our staff and clients all day long. I have never met a more universally compassionate human being in my life. The smaller the being, the greater the need, the more she cares. Holly's compassion is without fatigue, unaffected by events in the world, hard-wired.

Holly’s professional demeanor is apparent in the way she dresses, presents herself and interacts with everyone having to do with our clinic and beyond. Knowing this makes it even more impressive that she is the first person to pick up the scooper or the mop, when there is a need in the waiting room.

It can be said that we are motivated by a number of things in life. I am motivated to practice to the standards that my clients deserve and that I expect of myself. If ever I am to run short on energy, I am obligated to practice to the level of my staff. Holly has raised the bar for all of us. She has elevated our staff in every professional parameter, compassion, and, of course, average height.

Describe this nominee’s participation in community service or public education as it relates to veterinary medicine and/or animal welfare.

Over the past 20 years, Holly has served as Director of two humane societies, as well as a member of the Board of Directors of a third humane society. She managed a capital campaign to build a state-of-the-art shelter in a large urban area, worked hard to help a different shelter overcome a huge debt incurred during its own capital campaign, and continues to serve on several committees for our local humane society.

Although she brings a wealth of administrative knowledge and skill to organizations she supports, Holly doesn’t just sit behind a desk or in a boardroom. She volunteers her time and energy to help with fundraising events, as well as less glamorous projects such as shaving and bathing 30 starving dogs rescued from a puppy mill.

During a blizzard last year, she waded over a mile through 6-foot snow drifts to get to the shelter, along with several other volunteers and staff, when the road they took to the shelter became impassable and their vehicle was stuck. It took almost two hours, but the animals needed food and warm blankets, and Holly was not about to let them do without.

Veterinary medicine is a noble and beautiful profession, and one I am proud to belong to. I take very seriously the obligation to represent my profession in the community. Holly Houston is one of the finest ambassadors of our clinic, our profession, and one of the most caring humans I have ever met.