Support for continuing education
We’re major proponents of continuing education. All of our team members have full access to the AtDove and Animal Care Technologies (4ACT) online learning systems. For team members who are certified, we offer a yearly CE stipend so they can take additional online CE courses or attend in-person veterinary conferences that are relevant to their position. We also offer different CE stipends based on different types of certifications (CVA, CVT, VTS, etc.).
VHA also pays 100% of each semester’s tuition for scholarship recipients and provides an hourly salary that increases based on performance. Our CE and scholarship programs give participants the ability to work at their own pace, collaborate with each other, and have plenty of time to focus on their personal lives, too. Wherever you happen to be in your career, we’re happy to open more doors for you.
Resources that Support Every Aspect of Your Health: Mind, Body, Spirit!
VHAFit was first envisioned as a unique way to support our team in ways far beyond the typical offerings in the veterinary industry. Initially, it started with hosting 100% paid fitness events where our team could bond, get outside the practice, and break a sweat!
Over time, VHAFit has evolved to address more than just physical fitness, encompassing a holistic approach to wellness that includes mind, body, and spirit. Whether it's nutrition education, eating for mental health, or learning how to grocery shop on a budget, we aim to provide comprehensive support for our team. Check-out some of our initiatives below!
Our recent initiatives include:
- Monthly fitness challenges
- Hydration challenges
- Live virtual sessions discussing "Sacred Rest" and the seven types of rest we all need
- Exploring the power of our intentions and compassion
- Health optimization research
- Podcast episodes and even one Dr. Nations, our CEO, was featured in: Metabolic Tails: How People and Pets Shape Eachother's Health
We also offer resources and events focused on breathwork, anxiety relief, immune boosting, mental health, and sleep optimization.
Some of the exciting events we've participated in include:
Titan 13 MudRun
Orlando Color Run
Sound Bath Yoga
Pilates
VHA Softball Team
Tony Robbins Seminars we have done both in-person and virtual, all 100% expenses paid for
Nature Walks
Yoga
Savage Race
Local 5k's and Road Races
HIIT Training Class
MindValley Access 100% paid for online transformational education platform
Our mission is to help people and pets become healthy, happy, and healed, and that starts with our own people. You can’t pour from an empty cup.
- CARRIE-ANN LUKAS-BRADY Chief People Officer
Features to help you build a healthy, balanced life
We want to help you become the best version of yourself and achieve a healthy balance between work and play. Wellness, mindfulness, and nutrition--we believe all of these are essential to your happiness at VHA, and beyond.
We have an OpenSeed meditation pod that provides team members with a peaceful, isolated space to relax, recharge, and refocus.
If you need temporary housing, we’re happy to offer accommodations on campus to ease your transition into VHA and the Winter Haven community. We currently have 2 houses and 3 condos, with plans to purchase more properties in the near future.
We offer a spacious, members-only dog park where you and your dog can enjoy the outdoors safely.
The Dog Dayz Cafe offers nutritious, high-quality snacks and beverages to team members and clients. All profits will go to veterinary research and animal adoption.
Our Specialty Referral and Emergency Center includes a fully-equipped fitness center to help you focus on your physical health.
Battling burnout and compassion fatigue
At VHA, we want you to love your job, your fellow team members, and the environment in which you work. We provide you with the tools and resources you need to relax and re-energize, so you can live your best life.
Veterinary medicine is a challenging industry, rife with burnout, compassion fatigue, depression, and pressure brought on by heavy case loads. We want to change this and make veterinary medicine the nurturing, compassion-driven industry it should be. Your well-being matters just as much as the well-being of our clients and patients, and you deserve to have the time you need to take care of yourself and your family.
We can make this possible with:
Flexible work schedules
Shift differential for overnight/weekend shifts
Company-paid life insuranceand long-term disability benefits
Nourishment for your mental health
VHA Fitness Center
We're well aware of the positive impacts regular exercise has on mental health. That's why we've included a fitness center on our campus. We offer a 30-minute paid break to allow our team the time to utilize this amenity and welcome them to use it on or off their shifts.
Openseed Meditation Pod
Another resource is the Openseed meditation pod; a place of calm and isolation where team members can go when they need to hit “pause” and take a few minutes to reflect and recharge. The Openseed pod uses sound, lighting, and essential oils to create a calming experience that increases awareness, creativity, and productivity.
Our new, cutting-edge facility
Our Specialty Referral and Emergency Center marks a new chapter for our practice, with the construction of a 20,000-square foot building that houses incredible technology, a research center for specialists who want to move the needle, a gym, café, a meditation pod, and much more. This one-of-a-kind building gives the VHA tribe a place that’s not just for working, but for exploring new treatments and technologies, supporting the needs of our teams, patients, and clients, and bending the arc of veterinary medicine.
Investing in your ability to change the world
We’re building an incredible new research center to conduct paradigm-shifting research into nutrition, metabolic health, and more to improve the lifespans and healthspans of pets and people. We don’t have all the answers, but we’re excited to offer a place for visionaries to work with us and tackle some of the biggest issues in veterinary medicine. We are building this research center to build a better future. And if you want to change the world, perform groundbreaking research, and give pets and people better lives, then this is for you.
Offering you the freedom to question, explore, and make waves
As a member of our tribe, you’re free to question systems, propose changes, and make things better. Do you want patients to feel more comfortable while they’re waiting for treatment? Have ideas for improving communication with pet parents? You have our attention. You’re always a part of our solutions, and our continued success.
What’s different at VHA is our focus and our passion for our mission. We’re doing something completely different from any other practice on the planet. We’re changing the world, one patient and one client at a time.
- LOREN T. NATIONS, Owner, DVM, DABVP