4 Paws Animal Hospital

In this episode, we hear from the owner and founder of 4 Paws Veterinarian animal hospital. 
Dr. Rich Coleman grew up in Fairfield, Ohio and began his journey into veterinary medicine as a kennel attendant at the age of 15. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Cincinnati before graduating from The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 2002. Dr. Rich took over Plum Veterinary Clinic in December 2006, changed the name to Four Paws Animal Hospital in 2007, built a new facility in 2012 and began a remodel in March 2019 to allow for more growth and opportunities for our community.

Dr. Rich has been recognized and received awards from the Warren County Drug Task Force K-9 Unit for his work with their canine officers. His contributions include raising money for bulletproof vests for the canine officers and free annual check-ups and vaccinations for these valuable members of the Warren County Sheriff’s Department. Dr. Rich and the staff at Four Paws Animal Hospital currently care for over 20 members of the active and retired canine officer force throughout Warren County and surrounding areas.

Dr. Rich is very proud of his community and shows his support in as many ways as he can. He sponsors various sports programs, collects clothing items for local shelters, and has provided Thanksgiving Dinners for over 100 Lebanon residents, participates in Christmas Giving Trees, provides his services to Warren County Career Center Veterinary Science Program, and participates in reduced-fee programs through Warren County Humane Association and so much more. He truly believes that his community gives back to him and this is just a few ways that he can give to the same community that supports him.

Dr. Rich is married to Jen, a school teacher at Lebanon City Schools. In their free time, Rich and Jen enjoy traveling, scuba diving, camping and riding their jet skis. They have two daughters, Gabi and Juli that participate in rock climbing, Lacrosse, Volleyball and Cross Country Running. The Coleman family has two cats, Miss Sally and Dory and two black labs, Scuba and Rosie.

https://4pah.com/

Transcript

spk_1:   0:01
today on our podcast, we have Dr Rich Coleman, who owns and operates four Paul's. Welcome to the show, Rich. Hey,

spk_0:   0:09
Mike, Thanks for having me today.

spk_1:   0:10
Thanks for coming on. Now we're gonna get into the cove, it 19 stuff here in a little bit how it impacts your business. And I did see a letter that you penned, uh, on our let's talk 11 in sight, and that was very inspirational. But let's talk about you personally. How did you get involved in veterinary in science?

spk_0:   0:30
Well, actually, uh, I originally wanted a kid. I actually wanted to be a pilot, and, uh, I'm colorblind, so they don't like when you don't know which color the flight awards when you go in the land of plain. So when they say go to the green lights in the red lights and you can't figure out which one they don't really like that when you land on the wrong wrong runway. So I, uh, I worked. Um, I actually lived right next to an animal hospital in Fairfield when I where I grew up, and, uh, just got a job there growing up cleaning kennels. And I realize this is This was my life's work. So I was actually pretty pretty interesting the way things gonna work out. So just happen to be the business that was closest to my house, got a job there and realized this is it. So, you know, and the working my way through Ah, undergrad it, you see, and went, Oh, I stayed for a vet school and, uh, move back to 11. And my wife, uh, my wife actually was teaching in Lebanon, and she used to be one of the volleyball coaches. And I, uh, I started out working just in Cincinnati, and then we moved our way up to Ah, Levon in kind of had the opportunity to take over Plum Veterinary Clinic, which Dr Plumb started. Ah, when he got out of school and I ended up taking over that practice in 2007. Team we change name to four paws Animal Hospital, and the rest is history. We moved into ah, new building in 2012. We used to be right next to where Little Caesars is right now. And, uh, we were in that. And right now, the Warren County kir center has there that tech program in my old buildings. So they've got a ll, the students, the vet science students coming in there. And actually, I still do some work with them. We started a program at war Incoming career center. Um, with um, Meghan fellow the, uh, teacher for the class where we actually go and do surgeries at my old clinic. And the kids do recovery of the patients so we'll do the ah anaesthetics will spay and neuter some animals with, uh, the Humane Society will bring some of their animals over. And so it started out just me doing it. Ah, couple of years ago and then, ah, a couple of the other vets in town have jumped into Call me then, um, Caitlin from 11 and small animal. They've jumped in. And so now these kids are getting to do some really cool stuff. So that old building down there is actually still rocking and rolling and and teaching and doing some good things for animals. So it's kind of neat to see it comes full circle.

spk_1:   3:21
It is now going back to when you first started volunteering. We're getting paid just to help out your local veterinarian. Everybody out there. Probably wants to know. Are you a dog lover or cat lover or both?

spk_0:   3:35
Ah, yeah. I'm gonna I'm gonna make about 35% of my clients mad. I'm a dog lover. I'm a dog lover, and I keep my kids. My even my own cats don't like me. So, uh, they got I got two cats and and if I come in the room there, out the door. So but they my kids love cats, Probably more than the dog. So it's kind of it's kind of funny to see how everybody at work is. They re the dog. People are cab people is really funny, so yeah, it is interesting dynamic. Sometimes when you know I'll take care of any dog. I love them all. They're good, even the ones that want to eat my face. So, uh, you know, there are most of those air, the police dogs. So, by the way, I saw that on your own. Stalking you on Facebook? Did you used to be a K nine officer.

spk_1:   4:21
I handled Kalen over at the creation center when I was working over there. Yeah, Yeah,

spk_0:   4:26
I saw that. So yeah, those guys those guys were my, uh those guys in my passion I love I love all the canine officers. We started out, uh, taking care of some of the Warren County sheriff dogs. Um, Kilo was our 1st 1 that we started taking care of it. We, uh we took care of him. No charge. You know, we it was kind of our service we did to the community. And then slowly, we kind of started adding in more. And then we ended up taking 11 and dogs and taking care of them. And then, ah, lot of the other minister palate ease around town. Uhm around Cincinnati started bringing their dogs. And I think at one point, we were taking give 28 police canine officers at no charge. So we got eventually got too many to be able to do completely for free. But we still charged just, you know, some of them we only charge costs, whatever it costs. The hospital, we charge them. So So those guys are my passion. We actually took care of our retired 11 and canine Kaiser yesterday. He, uh he had some surgery done yesterday, so he was in hanging out with me in the office. I've taken some selfies with him, so Yeah, I love those guys. Those Those guys are kind of my passion. So I love that dog

spk_1:   5:45
house Officer Kinds were doing.

spk_0:   5:47
He's doing great. You recovered really well, and, uh, we just a little biopsy, depending on him, but, ah, he's he's he's a good boy. He's 14 and still rocking and rolling. And he's, uh he's definitely one of my favorites. So if you actually come into our office, we, uh, we actually have a little memorial to some of arcana and officers in our lobby. Um, Kilo cash, Um, major couple of the ones that we've lost. So, Yeah, that's that's the one thing we try and do a good job when we lose those guys. We, uh you know, we have old service, formerly. You know, we usually have quite a few officers show up each other respects. We, uh you know, when we do lose one of those guys, we we'd like to share with them the the honors that they deserve and will do a casket will do a processional and everything else, so it's too Unfortunately, you know, they don't live as long as we do, and we do lose them every once in a while. But we try and do It is, uh, as honorable is a CZ. We can, and you know those guys there, you know, they do it only for a for a toy. You know, that's that's the cool part about those guys is they just want to do it for a toy and you know, that's it. You don't have to tell him you don't do anything else. You just gotta give him some love and let him ride around in a squad car for a little bit. And they love every second of it.

spk_1:   7:14
Reminds me when we were kids, we would do things for toys. It didn't get up. Get a little later. Exactly. Exactly. Now you you're currently married to Miss Jin, married since 2001 and you have two Children, is that correct?

spk_0:   7:31
Yeah, Gabby and Julie Gabi's, uh uh, eighth grade. We think she's in eighth grade. We're not sure right now. We're not sure where it looked great. Anybody's in writing out, you know, But she's an eighth grade going to be a freshman next year, and then Julie's in fifth grade, getting me in sixth grade next year. So, yeah, they're they're about his officer that thick as it gets when it comes to kids, they they look like twins, but they're complete opposites from each other, so it's kind of kind of funny to watch him grow up

spk_1:   8:00
Now. Julie is the younger one.

spk_0:   8:03
Yeah, she's my She's my crazy, rock climbing, lacrosse playing singer. And, ah, she, uh she has, uh, the creative heart and her CIA. She likes the bill Legos and and create houses and everything that she's doing this kind of, ah, using that imagination of hers. And then Gabby is my analytical thinker that likes to have everything in place. And there were everything is and, uh so they were complete opposite kids. And I love every every everything they do is just great.

spk_1:   8:40
So which one's more like mom? And which one's more like that? That's the question, right?

spk_0:   8:45
Yeah. Unfortunately, I am a little anally retentive about things, so yeah, I, I unfortunately, gave Gabby probably that awful gene. My staff likes to make fun of me because I have a little anally retentive nature to me, so yeah, it's, uh, some people call it a CD. I just call it normal.

spk_1:   9:05
So, yeah, I find a lot of the O. C. D. People say that's normal. I don't necessarily. Yeah.

spk_0:   9:13
I just don't understand why everything can't be perfectly placed And then a line

spk_1:   9:20
someone of a control freak, are you? Yeah.

spk_0:   9:23
I'm not gonna lie idea if I'm driving down the road and I see a manhole cover that Ah, they put just slightly off the lines. They're not not perfectly lined up. Not gonna lie to you. If I had a crowbar, I probably get out in six.

spk_1:   9:39
So which, which one of your family group? Whether it's jammed, Julia, Gabby brings home the strays.

spk_0:   9:47
None of them they know that's against the rules way. Haven't we have enough here? So, Yeah, I, uh I'm the one that pulling him off on all my awesome staff members I've got I've got 34 staff members that, uh that I can say. Oh, what do you guys take this one home. So, actually, we

spk_1:   10:06
have one of the good looking

spk_0:   10:07
Ah, yeah, we just took in this little kitten. I think it was 1 11 firefighters. Ah, literal kittens. Unfortunately, a couple of him a task away, but there's still one that was alive. She still had low umbilical cord attached to her. She's probably was just a day or two old and, ah, one of my one of my staff members, Holly. She's amazing. She's actually trying to get into vet Tech program. We're going to the vet tech program that you see, and she's like, I'll take her and just took her. Took her home, bottle fed er, er springs into work with her. She was put a picture on our Facebook page over yesterday with with the low kitten, but then she just took her home. Didn't even think twice about it. So it's, uh, veterinary medicine is an interesting thing. They, you know, they definitely don't do it for the money. You know, the, you know, we don't have insurance to pay all the bills and everything else you know, for people like they do with people, you know, people have to pay out of pocket. So it's not something that everybody is gonna, you know, make a $1,000,000 off, but they do it because they love it. And the staff I have is unbelievable. I mean, every day they wake up. I mean, we're in the, you know, I know we said we talked about the Kobe thing, but that's that's where we're at right now. We were in the middle of completely re inventing our business right now. You know, we were deemed an essential business, and, uh, we're we're working our way through that right now where you know, we're going out to the car, bringing the dog in and trying to keep everything safe, and they're showing up every day doing doing their work and doing everything they can to help these animals out. And, uh, you know, they worked really hard to keep everybody safe. And, you know, they said, Hey, you know, worrying for this. We actually I asked them a couple weeks ago to send me an individual message asking them if they have any reservations about anything that we're doing and, you know, coming to work, anything else. And they were all like, Let's do this. Let's let's keep going. Let's do everything we can tow help these, uh, healthy animals out. So there, there. Ah, they're a different breed, you know? And I can say that amongst not just my hostel, but just all of veterinary medicine. And you know, they do it because they love the animals and and that's the best part about it.

spk_1:   12:29
A lot. A lot of professions are like that. You don't get into it for the money. If you did, you're in the wrong profession. I don't care if it pays well or not. You might be motivated by something now, so we appreciate their passion for looking after our little for babies. Now let me switch gears for a little bit and talking about the co vet with animals Number one. Can they get it? And then, if so, uh, how do you treat?

spk_0:   12:54
Well, there's 1000 Corona viruses out there. I mean, it's it's it's a Corona virus is actually a very common virus. It's just like there's, uh, you know, 1000 flu viruses, 1000 herpes viruses. There's so many of them. So Cove in 19 is a very specific Corona virus, so Captain dogs get current virus is actually a vaccine for puppies that we sometimes give for Corona virus for specifically, Cove in 19. There have been a couple cases I think couple in Hong Kong, where some older, uh, debilitated dog's got the cove in 19 virus. And I think it was also a tiger in Brooklyn Zoo that got it. But as far as everything that we know, even the Avian made American Veterinary Medical Association has said this is not something that we have to deal with in Patch A SZ faras what we know right now. So it's not something where I want anybody to be scared of their their animals. You know, it's not something that we know is transmitted to animals right now. Now, viruses, community viruses can change. Could that change six months from now? Potentially. But as it right now, everybody's safe to be around our animals.

spk_1:   14:15
Well, that's good. And then just in the season, what do you What do you normally deal with? Is it allergies for dogs and cats or what? Oh, yeah.

spk_0:   14:24
Right now, the allergies. Yeah, right now, the allergies starting pretty bad, huh? You know, one Doug's when dogs and cats have allergies, you know, people running eyes, you know, sneezing, headaches, things like that. Dogs and cats, um, usually, allergies is itching there, too. And that their fee. Uh, they're scratching their getting skin infections, ear infections. So so seasonal allergies and dogs and cats are a little bit different than people. And, uh, my wife and I were talking about it last night. We have all these amazing medicines, uh, that we can use for dogs and cats for their allergies. We shouldn't even have an injection that you can give once a month or every other month to control their itching and scratching and chewing on biting. And we don't have her people. You know, we have all these great medicines for dogs and cats, but we don't have that one injection. You can get a month. You have to control your your allergies. I know right now, with all the pollen's, people are just suffering. You know, with their allergies. I think they were calling at Paul and 2020 instead of Cove in 19. Yeah. So half the people we're trying to figure out Do I have allergies, or do I have something

spk_1:   15:32
else? So

spk_0:   15:33
it's that's that's what we got going on in Dr Katz right now is is this This is the time when the seasonal allergies really come up mainly because of the grasses in the trees growing. You know, pollens, mold, all those kind of things. So there are a lot of animals suffering right now from from seasonal allergy.

spk_1:   15:52
What is your suggestion to help with that? Besides the injections? Is there a diet plan? Is there something that you can keep him away from home? Is it just hand?

spk_0:   16:04
Yeah. Unfortunately, it's something where you know they have to go outside to go to the bathroom. And even if they're, you know, little Chihuahuas that air inside using the potty. Ted, there's still breathing in all those allergens from outside. I don't care how good your H b a C unit. Is there still allergens in the house? Um, you know, if you got a dog that's really bad with their feet, no rents your feet before you bring him inside. You and I have you know, if we had allergies and we go for a walk outside wearing flip flops, what are we gonna do in the next 24 hours? We're gonna take a shower, wash all those allergens off. So dogs and cats, they go outside to get the fuzzy feet that hang on to all those Collins and allergens, and then they come inside. Now, all of a sudden, there, too. And I'm biting at their feet. So So one simple and easy things rancher Ducks feed off, You know, if you can rinse their feet off that that might help significantly. Just cut down some of the allergies and dog. Um, you know, some dogs respond really well to a simple anti histamine. Uh, not not all dogs, but sometimes come respond. This simple anti histamine. So there'd be something where you have people call the vet, Talk to them about that. Um,

spk_1:   17:09
you know, a drink or something?

spk_0:   17:11
Yeah, Like a bend. The driller is our attack or Claritin. Something like that

spk_1:   17:16
is that I was just looking over the counter human dances.

spk_0:   17:20
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So they just they call it that and talk to him about you know, what kind of does they can use for a dog that size? And, you know, obviously you get it. You won't talk to your vet. Anytime you start any new medicine, make sure that there's no contraindications to using it. You know, each each animal's different. With what medicines they can take, You know, if they've got something else going on medically, but ah, yeah, But sometimes you do really well with that Food Allergies is a totally different scenario. Food allergies is a year round thing where they're actually allergic to the proteins that they eat in their food s. So the chick in the beef, whatever it might be And, uh, you know, back back in the day, when I was younger, we used to do a simple lamb and rice diet. Something like that, and lamb and rice dies were great. Well, unfortunately, now all these dogs have been exposed. The lamb is what we called a novel protein, a protein they've never seen before. Well, unfortunately, there's all these new foods have all these other proteins, and you see these fish diets and all these other over the counter diets that you can get. And so we've found that dogs and cats don't really have novel proteins anymore because they've been exposed all these things. So now what we're doing with these guys that are year round allergy dogs and we're concerned about a food allergies were actually doing something called a hydra lies diets actually really kind of cool, actually. Take those proteins and cut him up in the tiny little amino acids, which are the building blocks of protein. So so you and I want to start bodybuilding and and get in Boston on Dino. My staff right now is laughing because that's never gonna happen for me. But you know, we might take an amino acid supplements the building blocks of that protein. And so these new foods air great because they will. Actually, um, they can take that. They can eat that chicken, or they can eat whatever protein it is. But it's cut down into the small pieces so they don't react to it, but their body builds it back into what they be. So I've actually been using a lot of soy protein hydrolyzed soy protein, so it's not even an animal based protein. So that's a specific allergy, you know, way. Always say, with the food allergy, it's years and rears, you know, don't have recurring ear infections and itchy butt. You know, that's usually the dog that we have the realities with. But yeah, there's There's so many different aspects to allergies nowadays. It's, uh, you know, there's There's even veterinary dermatologists that you can go down to were pretty fortunate. We've got a couple here in town, so yeah, this is that. This is what we'll see. Probably for the next two or three months is a whole lot of allergy cases. I fell a bunch of them yesterday.

spk_1:   20:05
Now, what is the strangest animal that has been brought to you? Well,

spk_0:   20:10
I'm scared of snake. Yeah, I'm scared of snakes. Um, I I have no problem saying that out loud. Uh, and on my 40th birthday, uh, so a few years ago, So I'm getting older and, ah, my 40th birthday. My staff decided to call one of my clients up and have them bring in. They're snake. Well, I had no idea that the snake was going to be in the room. Um, and I just went in. Just thought it was a routine vaccine appointment. I walked in the door. I may have said some words that were not appropriate to be said in an animal hospital professional setting, And I may have run out the back door, so yeah,

spk_1:   20:47
you may have, but we By the way, it sounds like my kind of staff. I like the Oh,

spk_0:   20:54
yeah. You know, we've had, you know, unfortunately, not allowed to take care. Wild animals. How wildlife. That's their job. But we've had, unfortunately, a deer that's been hit by a car before, brought in and, you know, we way put it out of its misery. It, you know, with a broken leg. We've had skunks and ducks and you know, you name it command. We had somebody bring a snake in yesterday, you know, for because it bit their dog turned out to be just a low garter snake, and we let him go. So so, yeah, is that sometimes the weird things come in, but we are Four paws Animal Hospital were 99% dogs and cats. No, no, no, no. I'm not gonna lie. Idea. I like being in my 72 degree building wearing my nice clothes. I'm not to go out to the bar and kind of a guys

spk_1:   21:46
social veterinary medicine. Don't you have to practice, like on every animal? Or how does that work when you're doing well,

spk_0:   21:53
you? When you go to vet school, you actually have to pass your boards on every animal, So I always say, can Veterinarians there are better than human doctors because we have to treat all the species, not just one. And don't tell him, Mike, er, doctor friends that I said that. But, you know, we have to, you know, they're they're all completely different from each other. If you look at a horse, a horse, it's closest, Um, intestinal relative is actually a rabbit. You know, they're built very similar, but they're completely different than a cow and completely different with been a dog and a cat now, and they're all gonna cat. Their G I systems almost built exactly like a human. And dogs and cats are actually built very similar to humans. They get diabetes, Kimmie, to these and all the things that people get

spk_1:   22:42
to So

spk_0:   22:43
they actually have quite a bit of similarity between humans and, uh, in those dogs and cats. But, you know, you can get into some of these other animals. You know, I have a good friend. She works out of the, uh, she runs the Pittsburgh Zoo, and she's knows he's treating lions and bears and tigers. Oh, my. And it's pretty impressive. The things that she can do out there.

spk_1:   23:08
Well, as very fascinating. Now with your staff. How many did you say you had?

spk_0:   23:14
We have 34 right now. We started out 2007 with three, and now we're up to 34. So we've Well, we built up a little bit. We have five doctors that that worked there. Um uh, up until, uh until Tino showed up about six months ago, I was the only guy in the entire practice over that whole period of time. So? So I love the Tina. Is there an Al Pacino and I and hang out with another guy in the office? Finally, for the first time. But veterinary medicine is going that direction where it it's mainly women. When I went to vet school, there was 120 women and 19 guys in my bed school class.

spk_1:   24:00
Wow. Yeah. What is your longest? Um, tenured employees.

spk_0:   24:08
Um, Mindy is the hospital director, and she's been with me since they want. She has been with Mason's since I took over the practice. And, uh, she's the one that runs the hospital. It is. It is her hospital. She runs it. I own it. But you know she's She's the one that got the fingerprints on it. I mean, she's she's amazing. I I have never met a person that's, uh, so good at dealing with clients and staff and running the business. And, uh, yeah, I I owe her a lot. She's She's the reason that ah four paws is what it is. So I know I get a lot of the credit for it, but, uh, she's she's the one that's built this with me. So yes, then, Dr Ashley, Dr Ashley has been with me. Ah, probably. I think she started in 2009. Um, and, uh, Heather Eberts, one of her other manager. She's been with me for a long time, and we've got some people have only been there for a couple of months and and we've got some people have been there for 12 13 years with me, so

spk_1:   25:16
it's

spk_0:   25:17
kind of need to see it grow

spk_1:   25:19
Now. Um, I did see you pen something yesterday that we talked about earlier in the show, and I want to get into that a little bit as a small business owner myself. You know, the struggles of just you know, the what s on and having people rely on you is a weight all on its own and then for you to, uh, in turn. Now, try to figure out, you know, from our government's response how to depend on resource is coming in and and what that might look like in the future and how business is kind of changed for the good. And we're bad going forward and what you can do and what you can't do. And, uh, can you Can you talk about that for a little bit? Just the stress level of just being a businessman.

spk_0:   26:02
Yeah. And, you know, I I did ever a letter. Um, I kind of it was It was a rough, rough day I had and, you know, I thought, you know, maybe I'm just going to write some things down and see if it helps just kind of meat process. Something's too and writing it down and help me deal with this stress that was going on. And you ended up turning it into, like, a little letter of perspective of, ah, of a small business owner. And, uh, I'm showing it to my wife in a couple of people And they said, You know, you should put this on Facebook. It might help some people, and I kind of went a little viral. Uh, you know, I wasn't expecting that was kind of expected. A couple likes and a couple of comments, but it went a little crazy. But I am fortunate because we're still working. You know, we were deemed an essential business even though our business is down and we just with the way that we're doing the business now, going out, getting the dogs and bring him into the hospital and talking to people on the phone, we just can't see the same amount of patients that we, uh, that we did when people were coming into the office. And also we we've been down some staff members, you know, we, uh you know, luckily, nobody's gotten sick with Cove in 19 but, you know, you have to take those precautions And somebody did have a fever. Hey, and you just stay away for two weeks just on the off chance, you know? Yes, I know you had an ear infection, but we got to be safe. The stress of Hey, I'm sorry. You have to stay away from the office. You know that. That's tough. You know what happens if somebody does get sick? We got to close down the office. How am I gonna pay for the these 34 other families that we're relying on you? Thio put food on their table, you know, and to be able to afford that. So it is a big stress because we're not a massive corporation that that has billions of dollars in assets that they can rely on. You know, we're a small town business. And so it is something that was really weighing on me last week for us. Wow. What? What if what if something catastrophic does happen? You know, what if one of my one of my second family members, you know, I mean, these guys, sometimes I spend more time with them than I do my family. You know? What if one of them did get sick and and so, you know, that would be devastating. They'd just be like one of my one of my kids getting sick. So it's really hard when you, you know, there it is a small family, you know, we're a small family. We you know we all talk all the time. We, you know, we have messaging apse where we can talk and joke around and everything. Even though we see each other all day long, we still enjoy talking to each other. And so you know, when you when you look at, how are you going to be able to afford to pay these people with your revenues going down? Yeah, it's pretty stressful. And you know where they But I basically said was I've been fortunate there were at least getting something coming in. I couldn't imagine what some of these small business owners in the exact same scenario the dentist, the tear salons, the dry cleaners they had to shut down.

spk_1:   29:19
They

spk_0:   29:19
couldn't do work anymore. And they had that same relationship with their employees. And they have to either say, I'm sorry, I can't afford to pay you or Hey, I'm going to mortgage everything that I have and still pay you, And I'm going to do the best I can for as long as I can, you know? And that's that's a tough, stressful place to be. And, uh, you know, it's just something where I just wanted people to kind of See, Look, this is what we go through. His owners. It's It's the Yeah, we built this and and and we've, you know, we benefit from it, you know? I mean, my family does well, you know, you know, gems a teacher, and she's, you know, she's a great provider for this family as well. I mean, I I couldn't do this without her. Um, but four paws is done. Well, for us, too. But we've worked very hard for, but now, well, four paws might be struggling a little bit just because revenues down. And I'm not gonna let these guys go. You know, my my responsibility is to them, and we're gonna do everything we can to help them out. So, yes. So we've we reached out to the banks, t get that payroll protection program. Get into that. We You know, I looked for every possible grant, every possible loan, everything that I could and my job behind the scenes was I need to have I need to have every scenario in place every possible. You know, if we lose this person how we're gonna fill that spot if we you know, the whole hospital has to go down for a little while, either because the government says we asked to or because somebody does get sick. How do we handle this? How do we go forward? So, you know, there were some sleepless nights where I just laid up and ran. Every scenario through my mind and thought of every possibility is for us what we can do to keep everybody going. And, you know, on top of that, I keep talking about the employees and game after them, but has 30,000 patients that I need to be seeing. I need to be able to be there for our are the animals of Lebanon and 11 in area. You know, if if they get sick, our job is to be there to help them. You know, we we you know, the health care workers that are working their rear ends off right now to help. Everybody. Was the cove in 19 or there. But, you know, we're working just as hard to keep everything going to help those animals, you know, they still get sick. You know, we still had vomiting and diarrhea dogs yesterday. We still had, you know, unfortunately, still have some sick dogs that it was their time and we needed to be there for those families. And, uh so yes, so that's that's the other stresses. You know, not only just the employees, but and I've got I've got a whole community of of people in there. They're four legged family members that are relying on us to, So it's a big stress. And like I said, I can't complain. We're fortunate we still have some revenue coming in. I can still pay for you know, everything right now, but still have to have every scenario in place. I mean, if you look at it six months ago and we were rocking and rolling, we were buying new equipment. Um, and we were, you know, uh, you know, reaching out thio improve every aspect also, because things were going well and it just came to a grinding halt, you know, And that's that small business, you know, that's how it goes sometimes.

spk_1:   33:01
Yeah, that's where your personality, you know, we were kidding earlier about being o c. D. But that's the kind of helps in some aspects, you know, to get through some things you gotta you gotta be a visionary. As a small business owner, you gotta be thinking about the what ifs when other employees are not even it's not even on the radar. So here that that is to be commended, some of the comments from your post lordly Davis. I feel every word of this post, she writes. His words Hold all the truth as a small business owner, some of the other ones obviously just singing your praises. Love for Paul's etcetera, Dr Rich. It's hard to believe that we were just having a blast at Louie's birthday. And now this. You guys rock and my for babies love you. So many shared post. I think this thing was shared over 26 times. Get over 7600 views on your post. So it's definitely being felt when you were talking about trying to do everything, getting secure, the loans and all that stuff and myself in our business we applied and the not knowing period that you find yourself in. You can't get your money on the phone. You can't get a return message. I bank with three different banks. One of the major banks have closed most of the branches. You can't even get a body in the, you know, at the local brain. Stephen, talk to you. So it's been difficult in a lot of areas. We've never faced this before. We're gonna get there, and it's gonna be fine. But at the end of the A, somebody has to shoulder the responsibility.

spk_0:   34:28
Yeah. Yeah, and it is in. And the one thing I'm hopefully everybody years. If nothing else, when this thing gets back to normal, yes, get into the small businesses, get get into those guys that the trainers and and the gyms get into the nail salon. Oh, my gosh. Everybody's going to need a haircut. There's gonna be

spk_1:   34:49
300 million

spk_0:   34:49
people trying to get their hair cut at the same time, you know, and, you know, support every single one of those. You know, one one thing that we've done. And, you know, even despite the way things are for the last two weeks, every day I've bought the staff lunch at a different local business every day. And we tried doing it to hear home. You know, we tried three or four times a week t get take out from one of the local businesses just in restaurants. Just trying to keep him going. Keep them going in a lot of them. You know what? We'll call in an order, and they're like, Oh, my gosh, This is great. Thank you. You know, for this huge order and, uh, you

spk_1:   35:29
know what's on lunch? I got an appointment. Come see. Yeah,

spk_0:   35:33
Yeah, yeah. Hey, there. I'm not sure

spk_1:   35:35
where there today.

spk_0:   35:35
I'm off today. They're probably gonna get, like, steak all day

spk_1:   35:40
today, so yeah. Yeah,

spk_0:   35:41
I'm gonna I'm gonna come in, and I'm gonna have a huge bill sitting on my desk, but, uh, yeah, yeah, like I love it, but yet is that's what That's what I want people to do is I wanted them to see the side of Hey, this is what us a small business owners are going through. And we do. We try and hide that. We don't want our staff to stress. We don't want them to to know that side of it. We don't want, you know, Unfortunately, my staff knows it because, you know, I blacked my mouth and wrote this letter, but, um but you know I don't want them. You know I I r The owners don't want their staff to know. Hey, these are things that I'm concerned about. These are things I worry about. You just keep doing your job to keep living your life or there for you, you know, and we'll do everything we can to help you, and that's you know, But when we when this all gets back to normal, man, you you go to every small business that you can. And I will tell you once everybody gets out, I think that's gonna happen. I mean, everybody's locked up, and I know everybody's got restaurant fever and and you know everything else. And I'm sure that's I'm sure this economy is just gonna

spk_1:   36:46
didn't

spk_0:   36:47
keep rocking and

spk_1:   36:47
rolling again once

spk_0:   36:48
everything does. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Everything will be back to normal. We just gotta weather this storm for a little bit and get through it. We'll be better on the other side. Yeah,

spk_1:   37:02
Foreshore. So the steak is at your place? No. Hey, you like you think? Yeah. So you actually

spk_0:   37:10
they're probably gonna listen to this and say He said we could get out

spk_1:   37:13
back Whoever Whoever Your dashing right. Wherever you get it? Yeah. So? So people can still patronize your business. People can still make a point. Yes, correct. People can still come in support you. So if you need those visits as animals that are having the allergies, you know, pet your dogs. See? Let's see if they they like a certain spot that your pet him in. Check for bumps and see if you have any allergies and then get them in to see Ah, your favorite veteran att this particular moment. We believe that is Dr Rich Coleman waste. Really? Oh, yeah. No,

spk_0:   37:53
we're really fortunate here in Lebanon. I mean, we've got some great great veterinary clinics, you know, and, um, they're all they're all wonderful. I can't say enough about all the hospital that we had in town were for. Ah, uh, community, our size. The amount of veterinary talent that we have in Lebanon is just unbelievable. And so you know that I I can't say enough about every that clinic here in town. I know we try not to think of them as competition and everything else in

spk_1:   38:28
10 but

spk_0:   38:29
we do. We gotta support each other and on all the other vets in town are just They're They're amazing. They really are the. And we actually worked really well together because there are certain things that they can do that we can't do this certain things that we can do that they can't do. And you know we can. We can have Basically, anything done in Lebanon needs to be done whether it be an ultrasound or an X ray or a teeth cleaning or, you know, whatever it might be, you know, certain certain clinics might have things that other clinics stone. And And it's really great that this community has so many different options for veterinary medicine. Well, I'm very proud of. Of all the clinics rehabs here,

spk_1:   39:12
we'll just the experience that everybody brings to the table. I would imagine, like if my dog was facing something that you haven't seen. I would appreciate it if you reach out to a veteran who might have seen that thing. And it was successful treatment. So I'm glad you guys have that good dialogue and camaraderie. Yeah, Yeah. All right, Doc, Is there anything I wanna leave the listeners with

spk_0:   39:36
now? I I'm ready. I'm ready for sports to come back. I did. Like I said, I did stalk you on Facebook. I did like that. Your your first sports, like, was You see basketball?

spk_1:   39:47
I did. I did

spk_0:   39:48
hate missing my March madness. So? So when this is all back to normal, you and I might have to go Go ahead a couple of games up. Uh, maybe

spk_1:   39:56
it was. You

spk_0:   39:56
know, basketball's over, But maybe we'll go hit up the Reds or something else.

spk_1:   40:00
We've been watching our game. Kids play their amazing right.

spk_0:   40:03
Yes, Yes. Uh, yeah. I was actually helping coach my daughter's across ah, lacrosse team. And I miss just being out there on the field with the kids and watching the competition. So? So hopefully this all gets back to normal soon, and we'll be we'll, uh, we'll be better on the other side. I really appreciate you having me on it was this was fine. And, uh, yeah, and, uh, hopefully we'll do it again.

spk_1:   40:28
Absolutely. We actually asked you to come on and update occasionally, if you would. And then please, sure, that this with anybody that you feel I need to share it with on your social media. Police tag us and it would be great. We will. We

spk_0:   40:40
will. I appreciate your time.

spk_1:   40:42
All right, So you have a great day and you've been listening to Let's talk with Dr Ruth Coleman.