A hard act to follow.

In the Esther Honey Clinic, a facility staffed by a constantly changing crew of volunteers, the clinic director is the one constant. They are the recognizable face of the organization in the community; the chief administrator of the hospital; the guardian of the house pets; and the answer to all problems for the volunteers. Which makes it darned inconvenient when they run away to Canada for three weeks.

The (temporary) departure of our chieftain left us with some big shoes to fill (… or, more accurately, big jandals- such is pacific island life). And so this week I found myself the substitute director, with full responsibility for six volunteers, thirty-odd animals and the operations of only veterinary service in the Cook Islands. Rather ironic considering that until now I’d cleverly managed to dodge any other real form of responsibility (permanent employment, home ownership, children and the like).

My new role, I have discovered over the past seven days, involves an irritating amount of paperwork … something that, like most true vets, I don’t have a great  amount of patience for. Who wants to be sitting at a computer when you could be out with the animals after all? Sadly however, the work must be done. A myriad of minor details, necessary to the operation of any organization, conspired to fill my days. The errands and emails and a seemingly endless ‘to-do’ list … all those little facets of the foundation that I’d never really noticed until it became my job to attend to them.

I think I realized I was a little over management duties when the chance to attend to an after-hours emergency made my evening one night; or perhaps it was when I snuck out to go and wrestle a pig in the mud rather than wrestle with more paperwork. My background as a mixed practice vet fortunately provided an escape whenever farm animals arrived at the clinic … Bilbo the billy-goat even got me into surgery one day when a nasty dog attack necessitated a leg amputation. Happily Bilbo is now doing well and slowly destroying our hedges with his appetite.

So with one week down, I’m happy to report the clinic is still standing, the animals are still alive, the volunteers are still working hard, and with any luck our esteemed clinic director is enjoying his holiday. Fingers crossed for the next two weeks …