Ever since the first thoughts of opening Mt. Tabor Veterinary Care I started looking at Digital Radiography. Mostly it seemed like something to dream about, like my regular walks by the windows at Tiffany's just to see the nice displays. But in a way, being a progressive practice with little room for storage, DR really made sense. Not to mention that I have become extremely spoiled working at Murrayhill Veterinary Hospital since they were the first general practice in the Portland area to get digital radiography and I fell in love with the quick acquisition of the “films”, the ease of sending the images to the veterinary radiologists at VDIC, the ability to manipulate the images, show them to clients on the computer in the exam rooms and give access to images to the clients to show other family members.

I came across the Fovea system in an industry magazine and really liked the sleek, somewhat feminine design and something in the ad that said “affordable”. Who wouldn’t love a clean white machine with teal accents? So early on during the inception of the clinic I called to find out how much a system like that would run. I was lucky enough to be connected with Kirk Hartshorn who was so instrumental in helping me get started thinking about the clinic and what we needed. He was so kind to answer all of my questions and he was excited for us and our new clinic. He sent CDs of images, answered all of Michael’s difficult computer imaging questions and even set up a meeting with Dr. Jensen for me to go and see the installation of the lastest Fovea DR at Tiger Mountain Animal Hospital in Issiquah, Washington.

Wow... that machine was beautiful, easy to use, and the images were top notch! It was the feature of their treatment room and everyone was so excited about it. Dr. Jensen told me how the Radiology certification inspector was just there that morning and he had nothing but great things to say about it…he was impressed.

So now we are authorizing ½ payment for our beautiful machine and boy, if I thought business cards made it real, try spending more than we’ve ever even spent on a car…and that’s only half the payment! It feels very "grown up" to be dealing with that kind of money. And I can’t wait to get it installed and use it to better my clients’ understanding of what’s happening with their pets and to give them the opportunity to share those images with their families. It is a rare thing in veterinary medicine for clients to own the images of their pets and this is one more special thing that Mt. Tabor Veterinary Care will be proud to offer.

I picked up my business cards today. We did a short run for an event tomorrow, the Ladies Who Launch LIVE Event where women entrepreneurs get together for a day of speakers, networking and shopping, and I really wanted cards to hand out. The media will be there and it should be lots of fun to meet other women starting their own ventures. Rhino Digital Printing did a great job and had them for me the same day!

So the business cards are beautiful thanks to Lia Miternique owner of Avive Design. She did such a wonderful job on the business card layout, and not only that but on the design of the logo as well. She really took everything Michael (my husband, business partner, and so much more) and I had told her and came up with the most beautiful logo – a logo that neither of us had thought of and yet is so perfect for the practice.

When Michael and I were discussing logo ideas with Lia we knew we definitely did NOT want the common dog and cat silhouette. If you look online or through the yellowpages all you will see representing veterinary practices it the silhouette... actually that isn’t entirely true, you can also find the paw print. With our concept of this new and progressive practice, an old logo style just wouldn’t fit. So Lia came up with some great ideas – honestly all I could think of was the mountain itself or some Douglas Fir trees. But Lia found a flower that grows on Mt. Tabor in the springtime and is ubiquitous in the northwest forests – Trillium. It had the element of 3 that kept coming up in our discussions – representing the pet, the client and the practice. It is local – growing on Mt. Tabor and it has a natural element to it. Well, it was perfect! Then I started researching Trillium and found that it was also used by Native Americans to ease the pain of child birth and it is a flower that requires the community for it to grow – the shadow of the trees for protection and mice and ants to help the seeds grow, and there are laws in Oregon protecting the plant from being picked - which can seriously injure the plant. All seemed like great symbolism for the practice and honestly, it makes a beautiful logo.

So the cards are done. We didn’t print the phone number on them yet because it wasn’t official, although of course as soon as the printer called to let us know the cards were done, the phone service called to tell us the number was indeed official which has to make you laugh. Since there is no phone in the building yet, it’s just as well. But with the cards in my hands the business sure does feel official and even with the millions of tasks ahead to get this practice off the ground I am excited to have something concrete to give away representing our new venture.