16 Aug PVMA and OVTAA Partnership: Merged Programs and Benefits
Last fall, the Portland Veterinary Medical Association (PVMA) began exploring a partnership with the Oregon Veterinary Technician and Assistant Association (OVTAA) to determine what was needed for the OVTAA to be sustainable and for the PVMA to be able to offer more support to our community members.
Over the past 6 months, we have been communicating our plans to our community and preparing for this transition. The time has arrived! The PVMA will begin providing administrative management to the OVTAA while merging the benefits of our Veterinary Team Affiliate (VTA) program with OVTAA membership. In essence, members of OVTAA will become VTA participants and vice versa. Not only will this expand access to benefits, information, and programs, we have already harnessed the energy this partnership has created and begun planning multiple team-member focused events in the coming months. We have also created formal liaison positions between the OVTAA and PVMA boards, to better allow both organizations to collaborate. We are so excited about strengthening the Portland veterinary community and growing programs to better support the wonderful people in it.
There will be a bit of a transition period to ensure that current OVTAA members and those due to renew are fully set-up in the PVMA member management and email platforms. Those due to renew will be able to do so seamlessly, and others in our community will be able to join us during this exciting time! Please let us know if you have any questions or you need assistants with this process.
Background
Formed in 2005, the OVTAA’s mission is to promote the profession of veterinary medical support staff and foster education, recognition, and understanding of the roles of veterinary technicians and assistants in the State of Oregon. The PVMA established the VTA in 2011 as a direct result of feedback collected from a survey requesting more support of and programming for our non-DVM professionals. The program offers access to a variety of benefits and inclusion in PVMA emails but was kept rather simple out of respect for the OVTAA.
For more information and to become an OVTAA Member, please visit: www.portlandvma.org/ovtaa