Date: Saturday January 16th, 2016

Location: LaGuardia Community College

Lecture Hall name: The Little Theater, Main Building, Room #M134, 31-10 Thomson Ave, Long Island
City, NY 11101

Event Timeline:

8:30am to 9:30am – Registration

9:30am to 11:00am – Speaker: Melissa Ortiz, LVT “Radiology for Exotic Companion Animals”
(1.5 hours)

Objectives: 1. Be able to identify specific physiological characteristics of various species that may make                          radiography challenging

                    2. How to properly position various exotic companion animals for radiographs

                    3. Learn how to identify good quality radiographs and common presentations

11:00am to 12:30pm – Speaker: Melisa Coleman, LVT, VTS (Specialty Dentistry) “The Do’s and
Dont’s of Dentistry, Advancing Dental Care for your patient”  (1.5 hours)

Objectives:  1. Identify anatomy and learn how to perform a dental assessment

                        2. The technician's role in patient dental care

                        3. common clinical dental techniques and equipment needed

12:30pm to 1:30pm – Lunch (1 hour)

1:30pm to 3:30pm – Speaker: Michelle Albino, LVT, VTS (Anesthesia) “Anesthetic Monitoring
Techniques and Equipment” (2 hours)

3:30pm to 4:30pm – Speaker: Dr. Susan Cohen, DSW “Compassion Fatigue and Dealing with
Stress in the Workplace” (1 hour)

Objectives:  •    Recognize 3 signs of compassion fatigue
                     •    Name and practice 2 short-term preventatives for compassion fatigue
                     •    Name and practice 2 long-term solutions for compassion fatigue

4:30pm to 5:00pm – Questions, Announcements, Departure

Speaker Bios

Melissa Ortiz, LVT

Melissa Ortiz is a Licensed Veterinary Technician from Queens, New York. She graduated in 2007 from the Veterinary Technology program at LaGuardia Community College. She has over fifteen years experience in the field with over 8 years in exotic animal medicine. She is currently the sole Licensed Veterinary Technician at the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Queens Zoo. In addition to her daily work at the zoo she takes great pride in being an active member of professional and community organizations.  Most recently, Melissa has joined the Board of Advisors for the Veterinary Technology pro-gram at her Alma Mater, LaGCC. She is your District Representative of the NY Met-ropolitan area. In April or 2015, Melissa was awarded Aspiring Leader by her peers for her contributions to both the profession and to
NYSAVT.

Susan Cohen, DSW

Dr. Susan P. Cohen has been called a pioneer in the fields of pet loss and human-animal interaction. Since 1982 Dr. Cohen has helped pet lovers make decisions about the illness of their pets.She developed the first-ever Pet Loss Support Group and began an animal assisted activity program that took the then-unusual form of having volunteers work with their own pets. She originated many training programs for workers in the veterinary and social service fields, and she has been a field instructor for several schools of social work. She has written several book chapters and scholarly articles on social work and the human-animal bond.

These days she consults with veterinary practices on client relations and compassion fatigue and teaches online graduate courses for veterinarians and animal protection professionals. She lectures widely to veterinary colleges and conferences, colleges of social work, veterinary technician programs, and human health groups on communication, pet loss and bereavement, human-animal interaction, client relations, compassion fatigue, and career development. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, and Smithsonian Magazine. In addition, she has made numerous television and radio addresses nationwide, including "The Today Show," "20-20," and "The Oprah Winfrey Show."

She is Chairperson of SW AHAB (Social Workers Advancing the Human-Animal Bond), the first such committee of the National Association of Social Workers.

For further information or for help with a pet or practice issue, please visit her website:
www.petdecisions.com

Melisa Coleman, LVT, VTS (Dentistry)

Melisa is one of only two Board Certified Veterinary Dental Technician Specialists in New York City. Her passion for dentistry began as a child helping her uncle (human dentist) make dental impressions and models for his patients’ dentures. Her “dental bug” really took off while working with her mentor, Dan Carmichael, DVM, DAVDC at the Animal Medical Center back in 2000. Melisa became credentialed after sitting for the AVDT board exam and became Board Certified as a Specialist in the field of Dentistry. Since then, she has mentored AVDT candidates to become specialized in Dentistry, while working full-time at City Veterinary Care. When she is not caring for the patient's teeth on the Upper West Side, she is lecturing and offering wet labs at local veterinary clinics and educational institutions. Her motto is, "A happy mouth is a happy pet."

Michelle Albino, LVT, VTS (Anesthesia)

Born and raised in New York, she attended SUNY Delhi for her veterinary education, and graduated in May, 2003. Since 2004 she has been working full time at the Animal Medical Center in Manhattan in the anesthesia and emergency departments. Michelle has served as team leader of the anesthesia department and been in charge of anesthesia training and education for the past 3 years. She became certified as a specialty technician in anesthesia in the fall of 2012, and been practicing and teaching anesthesia full time . This year she will begin the process of becoming certified in pain management. She also run my own anesthesia training program for veterinary hospitals.