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RUNNIN' VEGAS - The John McNamara Podcast
Talking local sports, business and real estate.
RUNNIN' VEGAS - The John McNamara Podcast
From Chicago to Vegas: Building a Modern Veterinary Practice with Dr. Brian Rokos
hey guys, john mcnamara, host running vegas. We're talking local sports, business, real estate. If you guys like me, see you today, today subscribe, follow us on Ron and Vegas podcast. Today I got my co-host in the house, mr George Hernandez.
Speaker 2:What's going on everyone? Happy Thursday. I got to catch my breath. It's all about walking, All about walking. I already got my 10,000 steps, thank you. There you go.
Speaker 1:This is a good pod so I had to be hyped for it. Good, I'm excited we got a special guest, dr brian rocos, owner medical director, vegas valley pet hospital, in the house.
Speaker 3:thanks for being here, man, thanks for having me for today. Guys, I'm just really excited. This is gonna be my first podcast, so I'm really excited to dive in and, uh, have this conversation.
Speaker 1:It's gonna be a lot of fun it's gonna be fun, yeah, so we want to learn more about you. Where are you from your story? Definitely.
Speaker 3:So born and raised in the southwest suburb of Chicago Illinois, pretty much have loved animals my whole life and just kind of followed down that path. I did my undergraduate studies at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana. It was a great four years of undergrad. Decided to further my studies into veterinary medicine and kind of went a non-conventional route. I did my uh dvm school in the caribbean, in the island of grenada. That was probably one of the best three years of my life.
Speaker 3:Yeah, living on a little 12 mile wide by 20 mile long island in the middle of the ocean, right before you hit venezuela does that help you focus too you know, I wouldn't say it helped me focus.
Speaker 3:It helped me kind of embrace like a whole new culture and be able to, you know, see the different aspects of how people live and understand kind of everybody's situation. Yeah, so it is actually cool because down in the island of Grenada the veterinary field they don't have a lot of veterinary medicine like we have out here and their outlook of animals is a lot different. A lot of you know animals roaming, wild, things like that. So it was a great three years down there had met a bunch of my classmates that I have a really close vet family with now that we keep in contact every day. And then followed my studies to my last year doing my clinicals at University of Tennessee in Knoxville, so a little bit all over the place and then went and started my veterinary career back in the Chicagoland area before I meant or ventured out to here in Vegas about eight years ago and I've been out here ever since awesome yeah so it's been quite the journey.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm kind of a little bit of a non-conventional route, a little bit here in the Midwest, a little bit down in the Caribbean, a little bit in the non-conventional route a little bit here in the midwest a little bit down in the caribbean a little bit in the southern states.
Speaker 3:So we like unconventional yeah, yeah, people call us but yeah, it's been quite the journey and that's kind of where it kind of got me to start my career, uh, eight years ago, and kept me on my feet cool yeah so I'm curious, because you're from the midwest.
Speaker 1:You had a little uh time in like tennessee too, so sure is a big culture shift. Moving to vegas, how, how is that?
Speaker 2:and why vegas? Why do you have it?
Speaker 3:yeah, great question um, so why vegas? Um, you know, when I went back to illinois I didn't really think I was going to be there. You know, for the rest of my career, you know, when I've been out there and then lived in the Caribbean, your blood starts to boil fast. And so when you go back to Chicago, where they have, you know, extremely hot summers with the humidity and then, you know, pretty much below freezing winters, you know the winters were not fun for me anymore, freezing winters, you know the winters were not fun for me anymore.
Speaker 3:So it was just time that my contract ended at the end of the year, where it gave me the opportunity to venture to a new place, kind of was thinking, feeling out the Florida, texas and Nevada kind of areas. Nevada has a big veterinary conference every year called Western Veterinary Conference, down at Mandalay Bay. So we went to that for a couple of years and just kind of fell in love with the town and just decided I needed something to change and there's a huge veterinary community out here. So that's why I decided to, you know, venture out this way and try something new. And I haven't left since.
Speaker 2:Yeah, once you like, come to Vegas. I feel like the reality is different.
Speaker 1:It is no longer.
Speaker 2:Yeah the strip and you're like okay cool.
Speaker 3:I can see me like everybody when they think about vegas. They're like okay, sin city, you're gonna be on the strip, you're gonna be a gambler you know you're gonna get in trouble and it has been totally opposite, just like you said like as a local, you try not to go to the strip too often unless you have friends or family in town, because everything is, you know, in the outskirts of the of the strip.
Speaker 3:so, um, it's been great because you know what in the outskirts of the of the strip. So, um, it's been great because you know what's great with Vegas about the business opportunities that they have a lot of variety. Um, as you can see, there's just, you know, businesses everywhere around here, and so it was a great place for me to potentially, you know, start a business and get to where I am today.
Speaker 1:Yeah, cool, yeah. Yeah, I'm originally from upstate New York, which is not too different for the Midwest. I moved out here and it's funny because I went to a real estate conference seminar out here and I'm like I think I want to move to Vegas.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and it's kind of funny though, because, uh, what you're from upstate New York, I'm from kind of a southwest suburb about 30 minutes outside Chicago, okay, and then doing my clinical year in Tennessee. You know we were kind of in the south and so it was funny when I was in my clinics the a lot of the local students that were in my class for clinical year you know my nickname was the Yankee because I was from the Midwest- oh, that's when you say Yankee you know they associate that with kind of New York, new York Yankee.
Speaker 3:So apparently in Tennessee if you're from the Midwest you're considered a Yankee too as well. But that was fine. I embraced it and took it with a lot of fun yeah, yeah, I'm from california.
Speaker 2:What would they call them? Well we're on the roads.
Speaker 1:We call you guys a lot of things right california driver yeah, we don't have patients so you've been out eight years now here and you know tell us a little bit more uh about the hospital. Your the growth moments in your career.
Speaker 3:Definitely definitely so. Vegas Valley Pet Hospital. We're located just right off of Summerlin, off of Charleston and Indigo. Can I?
Speaker 2:say how excited I am for you to be here. So just so you guys know, Luna, you're Luna's doctor.
Speaker 3:I am.
Speaker 2:So anybody that knows me, I'll just share this really quick.
Speaker 3:I'm sorry to interrupt my ADD kick-in. No, go ahead, this is a great way.
Speaker 2:So yeah, so anybody that knows me well, john, knows I read reviews and believe it or not, the reason why I ask about the interior. If you guys haven't checked out this vet hospital, you guys need to, because everything inside is like very spa-like, I would say, a little monochromatic maybe a little monochromatic, a little bit more modern than I love it, though it's like it's not it doesn't? It feels fancy, it feels like I'm gonna like it, like where I go get my botox done.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know what I mean. I feel like I want to go and have a spa day now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's really cool.
Speaker 3:It's sliding doors with the like light wood, not the dark wood yeah, you know, and it's a little industrial, tell us more about that, and then I'm sorry. Yeah, yeah, so we got a little because I like all these things.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we got a very warm I would say hospital, like the ambience right when you walk in is a very warm feeling, kind of the light wood, lighter colors. Yeah, um, you know, we do have the sliding doors so we're not kind of open into hallways trying to take care of our, our space. And, yeah, we, we try to make it a an efficient hospital, but one that is, you know, very warm, little chaos and, uh, in the lobby, as you know, some hospitals can be very chaotic with everybody checking in, and so we try to keep that warm atmosphere, so that way it's less stressful on the owners and the patients too as well.
Speaker 2:That's very smart. Yeah, it's very minimalistic. It's not like a whole bunch of dog food everywhere, like you see, at all these other places. I literally scouted out, I read yelp reviews. I'm like just going and I'm like, okay, cool. And then I saw you guys, because we go to that cairo and to the red light therapy in that same location and I'm like I need to check this out. And the minute I saw the pictures on instagram like this is where Luna's going.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then I read your guys's yeah yeah, and I think that's smart too, because if you ever go to a hospital, it's very sterile and you're already like when you're walking in, you're already stressed, right right. Obviously, if you're going there, it can be sometimes a stressful situation, sure, the fact that you thought of that ahead of time you don't see that very rarely, so that's, that's savvy on your end. It's also too.
Speaker 3:The biggest thing is about the customer experience you know, it's all about the customer and the patient experience and have them. You know these animals are coming in feeling ill, sometimes they're stressed out of their, you know, normal situation to allow to kind of minimize that as much as possible makes their job easier and makes it easier on the owners too as well, right, and all in all just enhances their experience, especially with, you know, stressful situations where you're worried about your family member or your pet. You know we want to set that, that, that tone and that experience, right from the get-go, right when you open the door, and uh, want to make sure that our clients are leaving with the warm experience and know and wanting to come back and, you know, and us providing the best medicine for our clients and our patients for sure.
Speaker 2:But how?
Speaker 3:Vegas Valley. We're just coming up on our second year now. Believe it or not, We've opened up the end of November of last year, no 2023. So it'll be two years come November. You know we've just been gotten great receptability by the community. You know, we just kind of really got a lot of clients out really fast just because the community has been really so great and the location is great, too as well, and we just been having a great customer experience.
Speaker 3:And you know, one thing that I took pride on you know of you know, starting this hospital is you know we wanted to win and we've just been having a great customer experience. And one thing that I took pride on of starting this hospital is we wanted to win that Best of Las Vegas award every single year to kind of set ourselves up from the rest. And one thing that I take really good pride in in myself and my employees is we actually won that award. We got the gold award our very first year in business, so that's like a huge accomplishment for us, and we're looking to go for a year or two in a row and so, yeah, we just started this hospital just because we wanted to provide the best medicine for the community In veterinary medicine.
Speaker 3:A lot of these corporations are coming in and buying out these private practices. A lot of it, too, has to be with. These corporations are hiking the prices, and we wanted to stay private and be able to provide the best medicine at an affordable price for the community, and I think we've done a really good job at doing that, and I think our clients in the community would agree with that too. That's great.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a big shift for yourself, because now you're yeah, you started your own hospital and everything. So tell us more about that. I mean that that seems like there's probably a lot of challenges that have come over the last couple of years.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Well, I mean, there's still always challenges too. You know when and start a new practice from the ground up. It starts with the infrastructure finding out the flow of things, obviously, construction, having to train your employees, trying to have them have the same vision that you do for providing the best customer service, and so a big challenge is just trying to get everybody on board, trying to get through the realm of things, continuing to train, trying to see how we can always adapt and do better to make sure that we, you know, remain, you know, kind of the one of the top. You know hospitals in the Las Vegas community, and so there's always going to be those challenges, especially when you work with a bunch of employees that you know are new to the field or have worked at other hospitals that might have done things differently, because every hospital, every business runs, you runs different. But you know what we want to focus on is the medicine and what the is best for the patient and best for the client too as well. So that's definitely a challenge.
Speaker 3:You know, another challenge and I think that this is in veterinary medicine as a whole is, um, you know the, the, how do I put it?
Speaker 3:The aspect of you know the, the how do I put it the aspect of.
Speaker 3:You know how cost is associated with it, cause we're medicine, you know, and when we talk about medicine, medicine for veterinary medicine is the same as human medicine, where a lot of the challenges comes along with the pricing and things like that.
Speaker 3:And a lot of that we don't have to dictate, because you know a lot of this is. You know drug companies. You know dictating their price. You know that's a big thing in the world right now. You know we hear it on the news about the cost of some of these drugs and unfortunately we just don't have that opportunity to have a say in what our costs are. Equipment's the same, and a big thing that's a big challenge in veterinary medicine is having our clients understand that unfortunately we, we don't set these prices. You know this is what the drug company and this is what we have to do to replenish it. And a big thing is that a lot of people don't have insurance for their pets, which is a huge thing that is now coming about and that a lot of us in veterinary medicine are advocating for it because it's a.
Speaker 2:It's a big thing. Like what does it cover it?
Speaker 3:just depends on the insurance company of your plan, just like car insurance okay, so you would recommend it though. Yeah, I always recommend insurance and the reason being is that you never know when an emergency is gonna happen. You know, a big thing is in human medicine is we're kind of obligated to have health insurance right in veterinary medicine.
Speaker 2:The big challenge is in human medicine is we're?
Speaker 3:kind of obligated to have health insurance right. Um, in veterinary medicine, the big challenge is that animals don't have the same, you know, legal rights and laws as we do as humans, and so pets are actually considered property, unfortunately, in the face of the law, and so a lot of people don't see the importance of pet insurance. But medicine is the same for human versus veterinary, so a lot of that comes out of pocket and it can be frustrating for owners with what the cost can be, because the one challenge that we have in veterinary medicine is we have patients that can't talk to us.
Speaker 3:You know, we have to base our decisions and our and our diagnostics based on thorough physical exams you know the owner's history on what they're seeing at home and what the presenting complaint is, and trying to guide our diagnostics based on their physical exam. Because they can't talk to us so we have to rely heavily on diagnostics and unfortunately diagnostics come with a cost and that can be frustrating to some owners because you know they're not cheap diagnostics across the board for any hospital whatsoever you know.
Speaker 3:So that's a challenge that we try to, you know, mitigate when we talk to our clients about the importance of why we want to run these tests, the importance of, you know, getting client education, explained to our clients, basically what we know, so that way they can have the same understanding as us as clinicians, so in that way they can make the best decision for their pets and their family members. Um, so, that's, that's been a big challenge. You know a lot of the challenge with new hospital is, you know, getting the name out there and, uh, you know, just continuing to put one foot forward and continuing to make sure that all of your clients and your staff has a positive experience, experience but still keeping up with, you know, your vision and keeping up with your policies and procedures to make sure that you continue to provide the best medicine for everybody.
Speaker 1:That's great. Obviously, you guys are off to like a super hot start and you've been winning these awards, which is really impressive. So I'm curious you're building this hospital from the ground up, so to speak. Like, how are you building this culture and developing this? Like, do you have any insights? Cause I know as I was building a team. We're all about culture, so clearly it sounds like you have that kind of figured out, so to speak.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I do. I do a lot of networking, to be honest with you. So I tried to um, network and try to bring my vision onto a lot of people that I meet in my day to day. So you know, just like what we're doing now with our podcast, this is one networking opportunity I like. In my free time I like to do some golfing, so I meet a lot of people on the golf course on my off days and you know, you know try to promote the clinic and then they're always looking for a new doctor, so I always keep my business card on hand. You know we're always just trying to get people in through the front door to say, hey, just come and check us out and give us a shot. You know any way that we can network. As far as you know, marketing or advertising or any also to new, starting, upcoming business, we try to support them too as well. We also do a lot of that, guys.
Speaker 3:This is for other businesses. Yeah, we also do a lot of uh, you know, things for, like, rescues. So we, we work with the animal foundation and show up and try to, you know, set a booth to help them out. We, uh, every year, set up a booth and bark in the park, you know, to help support the community what is that? I don't even know bark in the park is, uh is. I believe they have it once a year, where I don't know exactly the location of it because my employees go and work at it while I'm at work, you know seeing all my patients.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, somebody has to.
Speaker 3:But it's like a big meetup for dogs in the community and they have different vendors that are set up, different groomers, different type of other veterinary products and manufacturers, and we come in just to support the community and get our word out and try to make the the whole kind of bark in the park experience fun. We hand out little vegas valley swag, we have a little spin the wheel to win prizes and just try to get the word out that we're here for them in the community for anything that they need awesome.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think I've seen on social media before. Yeah, I haven't attended.
Speaker 3:We've only had to an opportunity because we're so new to work at once, but we got great, great experience. The employees loved working at it. The community really was receptive and really liked you know, the whole Bark in the Park experience and what we had to offer at our booth. So, you know, it's just any way that we try to get our name out and try to say that we're here for the community. That's how I try to network in order to, you know, just try to be there for everybody yeah, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's kind of like us with this platform. It's like you have to do it that way, I feel like, and then you actually get to yeah, know people on a personal level it's more fun way to do it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it is I mean we do send things out to like the community just to let them know about different you know newsletters and things that are going on in the hospital.
Speaker 3:But yeah that you know you can't send out to the whole valley. So any way that I get a chance to meet a new person and see you know we get that conversation and it's always brought up you know what do you do for a living and then that kind of brings into the rest of our conversation. As far as you know what we do, our location, you know things like that. You know the one thing that's nice about our hospital is that we have a little bit of a specialty and so we're able to do a little bit of you know, of everything for everybody. Um, surgery is a big thing for me, so we like to do a lot of like ACL repairs and fracture repairs and things that a lot of normal general practitioners uh, hips, uh, I do more management of hips. Hips surgery is not, uh, them, I can do. But as far as like total hip replacements, we leave that to the professionals and the board certified surgeons.
Speaker 2:That's what Arabella had right? Was that a total hip replacement? Yeah, like a total hip replacement.
Speaker 3:That's the one that you definitely want to have a board certified surgeon.
Speaker 2:Do you know anybody here in town? Because I think we were having a hard time when right they had to go to, like cali.
Speaker 3:Yeah, in town I don't know, but I know las vegas vet specialty center has a bunch of board certified surgeons, whether they do total hip replacements or not, I do not know to be honest with you, but that's something that we can find out and yeah, I thought it was weird.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm like because they had to drive what I mean and it was already yeah, lengthy yeah but it started with medical out here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because I feel, like the community is just starting to develop like great doctors like you finally coming out here. But when, yeah, I moved out 18 years ago, a lot of folks are going to california.
Speaker 3:We're still seeing that we still have some, you know, lack of a certain type of specialties out here, where california, unfortunately, is the only place that we're able to send them but what's's nice about Vegas Valley is that we're not only just your general practice, but there's other things that we can do too, and so currently right now my associate he's actually a resident trained oncologist, so we're actually doing kind of cancer treatments and chemotherapeutic procedures for dogs that have cancers.
Speaker 2:Do you guys do a holistic approach to how's your cause? I know he's holistic everything Do you have like holistic vets.
Speaker 3:Um there are holistic vets in this area. Approaches you take at times there are times that we do take holistic approach. Um, it just kind of depends on the case. So one thing you mentioned was red light therapy. Um, all of our orthopedic procedures actually have a a therapeutic red light therapy. That our orthopedic procedures actually have a therapeutic red light therapy that every orthopedic procedure gets. That's part of their procedure and red light therapy has so many benefits to it.
Speaker 3:So that's one holistic approach. We do have some other holistic things that we can use, but unfortunately with things like cancer, you know, and chemotherapies there's nothing holistic about chemotherapy, no, um, but there are certain things that we do um that are holistic, if we have that.
Speaker 2:But we also do what we think is best for the patient and we go best on evidence-based medicine and research, so do you see more pets nowadays, so I'm correlating this to I'm a firm believer that we have just crappy food us as humans.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So it's just with all these ingredients that we should not be eating. I don't even know how it's allowed between that and dyes and the microplastics and I know I always sound like a crazy person about all this the microplastics and I know I always sound like a crazy person about all this. But so, with animals, is there a route you take with your personal pets? Is it like? Because it's like so I read something and I don't know if this is true like, um, like raw chicken is okay for dogs. At times they're like the, the, the bones. It's only bad once they're actually cooked. It's real life for the big, big dogs the big, big dogs I'm like.
Speaker 2:What is your take on?
Speaker 3:that like what is the food.
Speaker 2:And then is there a brand. That is because I could see it when I started luna on certain things. And now the the food she she has is pretty much chicken, like with vegetables. I don't make it, it's just I buy it made already.
Speaker 3:But her skin does look a lot shinier sure so um, food is a very controversial I think an opinionated uh topic when it comes to veterinary medicine I think it's something that everybody is going to have an opinion on, based on what they feed their dogs and what they think is best and what they don't think is best.
Speaker 3:I I think one thing that I can't speak for every veterinarian, but I think I could speak for most veterinarians that most veterinarians will try to shy people away from raw diets just because of the uncooked meats. There's pathogens in them. I've had a couple cases of salmonella poisoning from you know uncooked meat Also too, just depending the transport, especially with some of these new kind of refrigerated foods too, as well, I've seen those.
Speaker 3:Does it get a little bit warm during transportation? Right, right and then, once we put it back in the fridge, does it unleash those unborn pathogens. So you know, raw diets are going to be kind of a little bit controversial in the sense that breeders love raw diets. But as vets, you know, with the schooling that we go through, we don't see a lot of benefits that come from it.
Speaker 3:We learn about the you know the detriment that comes from raw diets. So, me personally, I never advocate for a raw diet and that's just because, um, you know of my experience that I've had with it. Uh, if there's a food that you know I or most vets, I think would recommend brand-wise, I think we tend to rely on three brands, and that would be either Royal Canin, hill's, science Diet or Purina, and by Purina it's mostly Purina ProPlan. Those are the three companies that they're just constantly putting lots of research and development into making their foods and and research as far as making sure that the safest have less additives and preservatives, and yeah, um, but also those are the things.
Speaker 2:I get the little caesars. It's not kibbles little caesars is fine.
Speaker 3:I mean for luna, you know that works. Yeah, she loves it.
Speaker 2:She loves it, yeah, well, because it looks like chicken, but I'm like I don't know, you know if it is, or Well, because it looks like chicken, but I'm like I don't know if it is, and a lot of it too.
Speaker 3:Just so, if you guys see me I think a lot of it too is that it's also only me. You know, we look at this food and you're like man, this looks boring. You know why do I want my dog to eat the same thing every single day? Well, then they start to go to the human formulations or some of these raw diets or freeze dry diets and like this looks more appetizing, like this is something that I would, you know, eat versus eating this hard kibble. But they have benefits, you know, with having dry food and wet food and you know I think a lot of it too.
Speaker 3:Again, when it comes to veterinary diets, a lot of it comes to other people's opinions. One thing that's been upcoming in veterinary medicine that a lot of research is coming into is these. What's also very controversial in some people is what's called grain-free diets, and right now we're exploring a lot of research into. We think that there might be a correlation with these grains and their grain or, excuse me, grain-free diets, potentially causing heart disease in dogs too as well, and that's a big controversies that has been going on decades where, you know, some owners will think that their dog is allergic to grains, or they think grains are bad, when really dogs have most allergies or food allergies due to the protein source in their food, and top three out food allergens are, you know, chicken, turkey and beef, and so when they switch to a different food, their dog does a lot better. But they see that it's a grain-free food.
Speaker 3:But we are starting to see that some of these grain-free diets- might have a correlation with you know causing heart disease, and we don't want to, you know, recommend a diet that's going to cause something that could be a permanent um health condition that can affect a dog's livelihood yeah so for me, all my dogs and cats will receive Hill science diet food.
Speaker 3:I think it's a great diet. They put a lot of development and research into it and also to these research articles and things that we see that some of these diets might be causing some issues. We see that those three brands of foods are the ones that have least amount of those issues that we see in these type of research um studies.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's good to know, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:So, um, yeah, I always tell everybody if your dog gets itchy. Chicken is the number one. But also too, with some of these human formulations or even homemade diets. Some of these calories and caloric intake, um, you know, it's just too much for them to metabolize. So sometimes I always warn everybody to be careful with some of these homemade formulations, because weight gain can also come with other expensive health conditions too right and a dog, just like in humans.
Speaker 3:A healthy human is, uh, you know, an in shape human is a healthy human. And keeping our dogs, you know, the top two conditions that we do with in veterinary medicine is, periodontal disease is number one my dog died of that followed by obesity, is number two.
Speaker 2:Yeah that's like us humans.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah and uh just like with doing, you know, acl disease and surgery on dogs, bones and joints. You know a lot of that comes with overweightness, and so we do a lot of weight loss plans too to get them back into shape.
Speaker 2:So I got luna for hiking and she does not want to go. She does not like to leave the house yeah yeah, I'm not sure what happened there she's just a little princess oh my god, oh my god. I told him oh my god, we got a little hiking dog. Yeah, oh, she's listen. I walk to the mailbox and this dog is like knows I'm, she's like no and runs back upstairs yeah, she's like I'm not going, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:So diet is a big thing. I always tell everybody you know, an in-shape dog is a healthy dog and then you can eliminate a lot of these other health problems that come with obesity, like diabetes, stuff like that.
Speaker 2:I have so many more questions. I'm like what?
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're definitely Before we let you go though, Eric, because I want to know a little bit more on your personal side. Sure, it's great information. I feel like we have like 12 more. We're going to have to do a whole other podcast.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely. Yeah, I can't believe. Yeah, I only asked two questions.
Speaker 3:Five is full of I. I was like we have so much more to talk about.
Speaker 2:I know me too. I'm like I only did two questions yeah.
Speaker 1:Besides work for fun, you know, because I you have a tough job. I imagine this is a very emotionally draining job, it is so. How do you keep your mindset strong? What do you do? For fun, let's know about you, the person yeah.
Speaker 3:So you know, being a clinician it is uh not for the faint of heart. It's definitely uh intensive, uh both on and off work. Uh, it's a lot of work uh, and so things that I do to kind of take myself away from you know, working all the time is I like to golf. I try to go golfing with my friends. Try to, at least once a week or every other week I do have.
Speaker 2:We need to get in that habit. Yeah, it's fun, it's just a great stress.
Speaker 1:I wouldn't say I'm good, but I do have a, we're reminded he's being modest.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, that's what's going on if he does it every week, I'm sure he's way better than we are I do? I do have a I do have a self-esteem, yeah, yeah I do have a client that's a pga pro golfer and uh, I'm trying to at the off season, maybe have him give me a little couple lessons to get a golf game. So, uh, to be continued. But, uh, I do like to ride motorcycles. I grew up, uh, you know, riding dirt bikes and things like that.
Speaker 2:So I do have a motorcycle at home.
Speaker 3:Uh, that I try to get to when the weather's nice. You know, in the peak of the summer it's just a little bit too hot. Um, like to get on the outdoors and go hiking and, honestly, just doing anything with friends and family is what I like to do. It gets me away from, you know, the back of my mind. What is going on at work or going on with my patients, and that's kind of how I like to decompress is just to put myself around a lot of positive people and just kind of stay active. But outside that, I grew up playing ice hockey my whole life.
Speaker 1:Um, so anytime, I get a chance to go to night's fan black hawks.
Speaker 3:First, from being from chicago, I get it. You know I had, I adopted the knights and I'm a full knight supporter. And even too, since right down the street is the National City Arena, that's where UNLV likes to play. Sometimes, when I get out of work on a long day, I head over across the street and I like to support the college UNLV hockey team.
Speaker 1:Oh, you like the National Champs? Huh yeah, we were there for a couple games and they did fantastic had a fantastic season. Yeah, that would be cool to see that it'd be nice if they can actually get a little.
Speaker 3:Uh, hockey's not a very big school sponsored sport, so it's expensive it's very expensive. So if unlv can, if we can, you know, get a couple championships and have unlv support our hockey team and become a, you know, school sponsored team. I mean, that's just going to drive them up. But the unlv games if you haven't been to one, they do a put on a great Show. They're a great group of guys. They. That's why.
Speaker 3:I love college out there there, there, there, you know in it for the heart, yeah, so they, they do a fantastic job. They had a great season last year.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and they play with a silver Knights play too.
Speaker 3:I think the silver Knights playing Henderson. If I'm not mistaken, they play up there and right next to Red Rock. Okay, yeah, we got to go to a game.
Speaker 1:I've been meaning to go to see them for years.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the $20 to get in and they put on its. I mean, it's a great physical game. Actually, I think I enjoy going there sometimes because these kids lot more heart and a lot more physicality than some of these nhl teams.
Speaker 2:So yeah, I mean it is a very like, very, yeah, very fast-paced high energy sport.
Speaker 3:But the community was nice. They loved the unlv team.
Speaker 1:So when they come out to support, they come out to support yeah, but we have a lot in common because I actually have raider season tickets. Never go to the games, they go to the unlv football and basketball, so for sure we'll go to the nights though.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we'll make sure we invite you. Yeah, yeah, nights. And then, yeah, we'll go to the nights, though we'll make sure we invite you, yeah nights, and then we'll go to.
Speaker 1:I'm down for Yuma V Hockey because I love. I went to Quinnipiac University so I love college hockey. It's fun, but we gotta wrap this up, ryan thank you, sir, for being on.
Speaker 2:We appreciate it. Thank you, I know co-host guys, it's Ron.
Speaker 1:Care of yourselves today.