Pulse - June 2022 - 8

SCVMA PROFILE JIM BELL
Dedicated, Extroverted Spouse
Takes Home Ginny Grant Award
He was " really genuinely surprised, touched and honored "
when he heard his name called at the Annual Celebration on April
30, George said. " Everybody in SCVMA and veterinary medicine
has a tough and rewarding job. It is an honor to be in a room
with all these people. They're always kind, always working and it's
rewarding to see the love for what they do and the importance of
what they do. I'm honored to be a part of that.
" My father was a pediatrician and my mother was a public
health nurse. I always have found a huge similarity between veterinary
and pediatric medicine. The patients can't tell their doctors
what's wrong. They often pee, poop and throw up on them. So the
clothes they wear must be able to be wiped clean and be bleached.
And they work more for the love than the money. "
The Ginny Grant Award winner grew up in " deep south Texas "
at Harlingen. He attended Tulane University in Louisiana, majoring
in English literature and classical history with a minor in sculpture.
He spent several years on the East Coast, working a variety of jobs,
starting in theater management in New York, then went into publishing,
including jobs at King Features and Time Life. Then he worked
for a medical tech firm and that led to jobs in medical publishing.
George decided to move to San Francisco, where he worked as
D
r. Peter Vogel is happy about the progress of Animal
Orthopedic Center in Anaheim, his new practice.
He has increased the size of the staff and believes he will
soon need to add a second surgeon.
But, he said, the practice wouldn't be where it is today without
George Toland, his husband and recipient of the 2022 SCVMA
Ginny Grant Award.
" He's really dedicated, " Dr. Vogel said. " He doesn't do much of
the day-to-day operation but he does our marketing and payroll.
He's our IT guy. He actually helped design the practice - the colors,
the tile, the flooring. He did the artwork [on the walls]. It's all
his photographs. He does our website and he keeps our software
working. He does a tremendous amount of work - probably more
than I do. We wouldn't be where we are now if he weren't here.
He's an integral part of the practice. "
Vivien Flockhart of Boehringer Ingelheim, who nominated
George for the award, said that he is " a unique combination of
drive, passion and integrity. Everyone needs a friend like George.
" You can't be in his presence for long before you realize that he
has charmed you and you're hanging on every word. But it's his
love of animals that stands out. It reminds us that the human animal
bond is at the heart of our work, lives and relationships. "
" George is the very opposite of me, " Dr. Vogel said. " He's very
extroverted. He's one of those people who talks to strangers in the
line at the supermarket. For him, the pandemic has been really
hard. I'm not like that. I don't care if I don't see people. "
8
a technical writer, later moving to marketing and then photography.
" I was half photographer and half marketer for a while, " he
said. " Now I'm full time in veterinary support.
" I still do a few things for friends in marketing and photography
but when Peter decided to open his own practice - well, you really
do need a spouse, especially if you're in a solo practice, to keep an
eye on things like the payroll, the books, the marketing, the advertising.
And there is nobody with a greater interest in it [than a spouse].
" A lot of what I do is whatever needs doing. I wander in and
out of the office and I can do a lot of things from home, which is
great. I can do a lot of marketing work and a lot of legwork there.
I keep things going while Peter, who has roles with the SCVMA,
the CVMA and the AVMA, is working on those things. "
George said that support is the No. 1 role for anyone married to
a veterinarian, dating a veterinarian or living with a veterinarian.
" Medicine is medicine is medicine, whether two legs or four. And
it's a very long day having to deal with people who often are having
one of the worst days they've ever had.
" Some days everything can be just wonderful but they are very
much balanced by days where there's nothing you can do. That's
a lot for anybody in the medical world to handle. When they get
off, they shouldn't have to deal with anything else. They need time
to recharge and go do it again the next day. With medical careers,
there really are no days off. "
George and Dr. Vogel met on a Father's Day date in 2007. They
married on July 16, 2013, not long after California made same-sex
marriage legal. (July 16 was the birthday of George's father.) The
couple invited their friends to a second ceremony on October 13,
2013, Dr. Vogel's birthday. George's mother died in 2012 but his
father attended that event - and served as George's best man. P
JUNE 2022
PULSE
Pulse - June 2022

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