Page 13 - Autumn 16

President’s letter
by Jane Keogh
On a different note, the subject of client testimonials came up at the AGM. 4H are well underway with their plans for next years Homeopathy Awareness Week in April. Part of that campaign will involve releasing patient testimonials to the public over the course of the week. This is a topic we have raised before. Our colleagues may cry “anecdotal evidence, doesn’t count” but the power of personal experience on the public is enormous. Stuart [Marston] has asked many times for all of us to send in client testimonials for the website. At present there is one single statement on the site, which is an indictment on us all. If we all sent just one single testimonial we would have seventy plus stories to share. If we sent two or three.... Nancy Morris (nancymorris@ kempsey.fslife.co.uk) has volunteered to help collate this material, helped by Stuart (sec@bahvs.com). With volunteers to deal with the testimonials and the opportunity to spread the positive story of homeopathy to a huge audience via the popular press and media outlets with 4H, I think that we would be insane to miss this chance. So PLEASE – just one story. Or two, or three. We may be a small organisation, but let us show what we can achieve when we unite behind a common cause. For those of you who have missed my previous explanations about 4H and what they do, I will be writing an article to explain the story behind the group. But please don’t wait to read it before getting your clients to write.
I sit writing my Presidential piece basking in the afterglow of a fantastically successful BAHVS conference. Huge thanks go to Geoff Johnson, Nick Thompson and Claire Davies for their hard work and dedication. Another enormous thank you must go to Wendy McGrandles and her practice manager Laura, for keeping the whole conference on track – pretty much as stressful as organising the event.
Those of you who did not make the weekend at Bath University missed a fabulous mix of education, partying and meeting of friends. Do read the report elsewhere in these pages and resolve to come to next years’ conference in Leeds, being organised by Sue Armstrong. And of course, don’t miss our one day meeting in the Spring – details will be on the BAHVS website as soon as they are finalised.
At this moment in time (September) we seem to have sailed once more into calmer waters after the storms of Danny Chambers and his petition to the RVC. After many months of campaigning Mr Chambers managed to get just over half the signatures he had aimed for (2600 of a target of 5000). Of these, 1000 signatures were from vets – a mere 4.5% of the RCVS membership, and rumour has it, several of those signatures were duplicated. Mr Chambers attempts at publicity on radio, TV and magazine article were robustly countered by Geoff Johnson, Mark Elliott, Nancy Morris, Richard Allport and others, with the help of advice from John Burry (communications manager) and Peter Gregory (veterinary dean) from the Faculty. Our thanks to them all.
A counter petition on Change.org is still going strong at the time of writing with over 6,200 signatures to date. The RVC re-iterated its statement that it could see no justification in banning veterinary surgeons from practising homeopathy. Proof that if we pull together we can stand up to the bullies.
Danny Chambers is now part of a familiar group of veterinary surgeons, who regularly protest about homeopathy. However, I feel they are beginning to chase their tails when they write that since homeopathy doesn’t work, any experiments that show that it does work must be subject to bias. A rational scientific view
Report from the Repertory Sub- committee – The VetRep grows Bernhard Hornig
Up until now, I have 2500 veterinary-relevant rubrics for cattle, 4.000 new additions of remedies, about 4.000 source references to the veterinary Materia Medicas and about 10.000 references to authors.
On Thursday the 17 November we will have a
indeed! It also means that they are admitting that there are trials to show homeopathy works... They are now spreading their net wider to include acupuncture and raw feeding.
Am I alone in not only becoming bored, but also wondering where they find the time to write all these letters? As the saying goes: “will those who say it can’t be done get out of the way of those who are doing it".
many members as possible, old and new, to come to our conferences and meetings and become actively involved in the life of BAHVS. We are continuing to see a decline in the numbers of vets (and doctors) studying homeopathy. The Bristol Course has no students for the new academic year, though a number of vets, vet nurses and doctors are currently studying on the course. Peter and I saw our 3rd and final course in Latvia finish in June this year. A total of approximately 60 students from Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania have now completed an accredited course in veterinary homeopathy, 8 of whom have passed the LFHom, despite language difficulties. They have formed their own Baltic Association of Veterinary Homeopathy and are a thriving and enthusiastic group of homeopaths. However, the issue of declining student numbers generally is of concern to us all, with minimal new blood replacing a naturally aging population! It is certainly a topic for discussion far into the night and I do not have any easy answers.
All in all I think our association continues to weather the storms it faces and maintain a vibrant life force. This is due in no small part between meetings to the production of the Mag and I must thank Malene and Phil once again for a year of great publications. Please everybody: keep writing.
It is now that time of year when the nights are lengthening and becoming increasingly cold. When we reflect on the year past and plan for the year to come. It seems to me that we have earned the right to hold our heads up proudly, when we look back at 2016 and recognise that as in the ancient story of David and Goliath, the small one can still win. I feel that we can step into 2017 with a hugely positive outlook and continue to pull more than our weight in the world of homeopathy.
It only remains for me to wish you all a very happy festive season and a bright New Year.
started with enthusiasm, but most of them have now stopped.
Recently I have found a little support from some German vets in the homeopathic work group in the GGTM.
I would kindly request all of you to think about how we can bring this project forward.
Or, maybe you think it is not necessary?
I look forward to our board meeting.
Our membership is holding its own and even slightly increased – we need to encourage as
meeting for vets during the ECH congress. The Vithoulkas Compass team will present its software version for human homeopathy. I have invited some vets to take part in a critical discussion about this project. I expect some fruitful results and I will tell you about the progress on Sunday [in Vienna].
Unfortunately, the appeal we made in the BAHVS mag and in the German ZGTM was without any result. Some Swiss colleagues
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