The VBMA will be at the 2024 American Holistic Veterinary Association Conference in Reno, Nevada from September 28th - October 1st. Our 2024 Annual Herbwalk will be held on Friday, September 27th at AHVMA.

Chanchal is a medical herbalist and has been in clinical practice for 35 years with a specialty in holistic oncology. She is the author of Fibromyalgia: A Journey towards Healing and her latest book Holistic Cancer Care: An Herbal Approach to Preventing Cancer, Helping Patients Thrive during Treatment, and Minimizing the Risk of Recurrence. She held the faculty chair in Botanical Medicine at the Boucher Institute of Naturopathic Medicine in New Westminster 2004-2016, and she publishes widely in professional journals and lectures internationally on medical herbalism, nutrition and health.

The 2024 VBMA/ACVBM Annual Conference will be held ONLINE on Sunday, November 9th, 2024 and feature Jody Noe MS ND. The ACVBM will be joining us in this educational venture and are sponsoring speaker Brendan Kelly L.Ac. on Sunday, November 10th. All registrations will be processed through the ACVBM.

Jody will be discussing cancer treatment, and Brendan will lecturing on how to effectively treat COVID, long COVID, and viral infections using Chinese medicine and western herbs. 

PRICING FOR CURRENT VBMA/ACVBM MEMBERS:
Saturday 11/9/24 Only - Includes lectures by VBMA Sponsored Speaker Jody Noe, MS, ND $175.00
Sunday 11/10/24 Only -  Includes lectures by ACVBM Sponsored Speaker Brendan Kelly, L.Ac. $175.00
Both Saturday and Sunday - Includes lectures by VBMA Sponsored Speaker Jody Noe, MS, ND and ACVBM Sponsored Speaker Brendan Kelly, L.Ac. $325.00

Happy Spring! 

I have been enjoying the wildflowers this week with sightings of Bloodroot, Wild Iris, Teaberry, and Trillium. It’s a great time of year to practice identifying plants! 
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Is your 2024 calendar filling up with webinars and so many things you want to do? Yes, me too! I have to keep a physical calendar by my desk so I don’t miss something I wanted to attend! I am thankful there are so many learning opportunities today. 

What has your VBMA been up to? All kinds of planning has been going on to provide educational opportunities for our members! We sponsor the herb walk and a speaker at the AHVMA in the fall. In November we are excited to have Dr. Jody Noe speaking on Cherokee medicine and cancer therapy at the 2024 ACVBM/VBMA virtual conference. Registration is open - CLICK HERE to sign up.

Join us for the bi-monthly free roundtable discussions on various subjects. The last one was pancreatitis, and the next one is “What to do about Frenchies?” on Tuesday June 11th. 

Be sure to put this one on your calendar: the Annual Membership Meeting of VBMA is scheduled by zoom on June 12th! We really need members to attend and give their important feedback on how the association can be of value to you! Additional details and the Zoom link will be emailed to you and posted on the member site as well.

Our next webinar, “Turning over a New Leaf”, is in on June 26th at 8 PM ET. The subject is Introduction to Herbal Medicine and how begin using herbs in your practice. This would be a great opportunity for a new associate or a technician who loves herbal medicine. I'm happy to be presenting this for everyone, and I'll explain the many uses for botanical veterinary medicines and provide a practical approach to getting started. Registration is open, and we're offering a discount for folks who join the VBMA and sign up for the webinar at the same time. Please spread the word among your colleagues, friends, staff, and anyone else you think might be interested in joining the VBMA. 

The event I am really looking forward to is the Eugene Mushroom Festival and VBMA Ecotour at Belknap Hot Springs, Oregon. This takes place in October and you must register by August 1st. We are hoping to see many of our Pacific Northwest members at this one! There is camping at the hot springs, or you can share a cabin or room at the lodge. Register early on the website to secure your place! You must make your own lodging reservations. 

Did you know that Vet Techs can be members of VBMA? We have plenty of non-veterinarian members who have studied herbs extensively. 

Do you wish to be on our speaker’s list? Please contact [email protected]. 

Sincerely,
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Marge Lewter, DVM, VBMA President

Wednesday, June 26th 2024 at 8 PM ETJoin our  VBMA president Marge Lewter, DMV as she presents our next VBMA webinar "Turn Over a New Leaf - get started with Veterinary Botanical Medicine".  Marge will include practical tips on how to get started and how to incorporate botanicals in your practice to improve patient care. Adding phytomedicinals provides a new array of safe and effective therapies! This webinar is especially useful for vet techs and vets who are just starting the practice of herbal medicine. So even if you're already a very accomplished herbalist, this will also be great for other clinic members to listen to, it will give them that solid foundation of what you are doing!