Pulse - July 2023 - 8

SCVMA PROFILE JIM BELL
Cory Day Calls Recognition
By SCVMA 'Highest Regard'
C
ory Day, recipient of the 2023 Ginny
Grant Award for exceptional support
of a veterinarian, describes himself as " an
experience guy, a hands-on guy. I like to get
things done but behind the scenes. "
An RVT and owner with his wife, Dr. Karla Nichols,
of Mariners Mile Pet Clinic in Newport Beach, Cory has
worked in veterinary medicine most of his life, as a veterinary
assistant and in other jobs. That is how he met Dr. Nichols.
" I planned that we would spend the rest of our lives together
well before she even knew it, " he recalled.
" We have definitely had a busy lifestyle, " he said. " You have
to move with the punches in life. And I think it was Winston
Churchill who said, 'If you're going through hell, keep going.' "
Cory said that winning the Ginny Grant Award was a total
surprise. " I wish I had prepared something to say. Hours later
I was still metabolizing it. I have not been shocked like that
before. It was just out of the blue in a good kind of way. And
that was a foreign feeling for me.
" I see the people at SCVMA as leaders of our industry.
And to be recognized like that by them is, to me, the highest
regard. Those are people I respect. It feels really good. If the
president of the United States gave me an award, my immediate
thought would be 'You don't even know what I do.' "
Allyne Moon called Cory " indeed a deserving and worthy
individual for the Ginny Grant award. He really is Dr. Nichols'
Eleanor Roosevelt - calm, supportive as bedrock, responsive,
honest and most of all, a kind and generous person. I see
him as the foundation of Dr. Nichols' success in the clinic and
her career. "
Cory has reevaluated his life periodically over the years,
he said. " At some point I transitioned from happiness being
the meaning of life to giving meaning as the reason for my
existence.
" Years ago I had a conversation with myself about money,
that it would no longer be a focus and I would treat it as a tool.
One day, about 12 years ago, I declared to my wife, Karla, and
our office manager that I was devoting my life to art. They
both stared at me and eventually the manager asked: 'What
does that mean for the clinic?' It didn't mean anything, I was
just on my own journey, " Cory said.
" My work has more to do with adding meaning to my life
than my ego or material gain. I must admit the most meaningful
accolade in my possession is a plaque my grandfather
gave me in my Boy Scout days when I reached Eagle Scout.
Grandpa was a hard worker, who worked every day even
though he never worked for a paycheck after age 40.
" Serving others, respecting nature and animals are a re8
" Serving
others, respecting
nature and animals are
a reflection of respecting
yourself and these are the
lessons of the Boy Scouts
that inform every decision I
make today. "
JULY 2023
PULSE
flection of respecting
yourself and these are
the lessons of the Boy
Scouts
that
inform
every decision I make
today. "
Cory, a surfing enthusiast
in his youth, grew
up in Orange. When
he was 24 years old, he
bought a house in Orange.
After their marriage,
Dr. Nichols told
him that she didn't want to
live in Orange. But the house served a real purpose: " It helped
us purchase our animal hospital. " That was in 2003.
Cory didn't know much about being an RVT when he and
Cory Day, RVT
Dr. Nichols purchased their practice, he said, so he enrolled in
a technician school in Garden Grove.
" The curriculum was set up so that I could work all day, "
he said. " I would work a full day and then drive to Garden
Grove every night and go to school until about 10 p.m. It took
me two years and I really enjoyed it. " The school brought in
specialists who lectured to the students, which always " made a
huge impression on me, " Cory said. Today, many such schools
are online and " the kids I talk to struggle with it a lot.
" I thought I was pretty smart in the veterinary world but I
came out of those two years a lot better equipped to take the
RVT boards and do my job. " P
Pulse - July 2023

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