Save the Chimps Mail - Clarity on my resignation Page 1 of 3 Clarity on my resignation 1 message Sat, Aug 18, 2018 at 3:43 PM Io: I do not want to belabor my resignation but I do want you to know that Tiffany's care is the ?nal incident over the last several months that has lead to my decision to resign. ljoined leadership in January with high hopes for departmental coordination. This is sadly not possibly since? have complete different consideration and ideas of management. This resulted in every trilateral meeting (which are 2 hours a week) ending without any plans or actions being taken to improve or meet welfare needs. More over, when in these two hour long meeting if there was any contention - would actually fuel the tension and was never able to offer any guidance or mediation. The end of every meeting resulted in and agreement to discuss this at the next meeting. With the complex management system that_ has set up, there is a trickle down of information from management to the tiers of staff. This frequently results in dilution or misunderstandings without the ability of the goal to be clari?ed. Additionally, Andrew is quite reactive and in many circumstances increased tension with his staff and other departments. have had several conversations with about_ causing increasing tension with the staff and my department. Wheds in Africa for a month, Bobby was having a relapse of his severe self mutilation and he was being intensely cared for daily with medication and monitoring. I was not contacting me for updates on Bobby's status. There was a day when a newer care tech who was training at the building was very nervous and her anxiety was increasing Bobby's stress. This was at the time_ was at the building. stated maybe this is not a good time to train her here since her anxiety may be making him more anxious. One of the care staff noti?ed- what was said and instead of reaching out to_ or me to see what was occurring he sent in?ammatory emails. I am also not aware what he said to his staff but tension between the staff and were maxed out and very dif?cult to manage my patient. It got to the point that the staff tried to have the behavior department tell the veterinary department not to even see Bobby. I had several meetings with- during this time, all she did was read me what- texted her and did no remediation. Since there were several episodes of me raising concerns to about care staff and_ handling of welfare issues. recounts of these episodes to Ivere not entirely accurate. I had told - that I will not attend meetings or have email contact that she is not copied on. There was a time was told by_ that "Andrew is out to get you". Additionally, when Andrew was in Africa was offering his medical opinion on cases that he never contacted me or the vet department about. What I really wanted you to know is that over the past two months I have had several ethical concerns. Starting, when in a leadership meeting we had a code STAT (a chimp was dying). I left the meeting and arrived to provide CPR, unfortunately the chimp died because her roommate would not leave her. I returned to let the leadership team know what happened and that I had to excuse my self because I needed to return to tend to the chimp and staff. What was disheartening was, - had continued the meeting knowing what was happening and did not adjourn the meeting for the rest of leadership to be there for the staff. The next week there was a bleeding chimp and I again had to miss a meeting to perform surgery. Then, the next day was reminded by- that I had missed two leadership meetings. When I reminded her of why, she said well maybe we need to have better coverage. Better coverage would not have changed my need to be present for my patients and staff. I want to be open that I do work four days .. 2/2 8/ 20 1 9 Save the Chimps Mail - Clarity on my resignation Page 2 of 3 a week, this was recommended by (b) and on several occasions she encouraged my ability to have time with my new baby. There is not a month that I have not changed my schedule to make sure there is veterinary coverage every day. I can count on on hand the number of days that (b) (6), (b) and I required the same day off. Getting to this last month. First, Garrey was in declining health and it was time to euthanize him. It was decided that he should be euthanized on a Thursday. Typically, we do euthanasia after human lunch so the staff can be present since they are all so close with the chimps. When I said that was my plan, I was reminded that it was a leadership meeting day and that I needed to do it as soon as my other procedures were done. This meant that staff would be caring for the other chimps and not able to attend, (b) (6), said has to be done at that time. That evening I had crying staff members who were distraught because they could not be with him. The same week I had a different staff member crying in my office because the cleanliness in the buildings over the last two years has worsened. She was cleaning in a building that she worked at previously and said there was staining and stool stuck on the walls. The previously grey benches are stained with dirt and she was told she was "cleaning to much". Then we get to Tiffany. I am sure you have heard lots about her case so I merely want to tell you the points of contention. Since their arrival Andrew was very clear that the Veterinary department was not to be involved. He was going to manage their care, including their feedings. He did not believe in giving them human foods and was adamant about him controlling the feedings. Their two primary care givers started to log what they were eating because they were inconsistent and not eating much. Since their arrival the staff was very open with the concerns for lack of communication between (b) (6), and (b) (6), on how to manage these chimps. I did speak to (b) (6), and (b) (6), on a few occasions to let them know the staff need guidance on how to manage Tuffy and Tiffany. When Tiffany became ill I attempted for 3 days to improve her environmental conditions. Since Tiffany only stays in her enclosure and outside room, I got her extra fans, portable air conditioner and spent each feeding with her. The additional ground fans were needed since despite my weekly to bi-weekly conversation with (b) (6), (b) , it took him four months to correct the electrical issue in special needs. This left chimps and staff in the summer without air movement in the hot outside rooms. She was started on stomach medications and offered different foods. At the weekly tri-lateral meeting (that Molly was not present for because she was again traveling) both (b) (6), and Andrew stated we could move her back to yard one where she was happiest. I said great lets get it done, and both of them refused to offer a reasonable was to shift them, and every offer I suggested was declined. I told them both that I don't want to have to sedate them to move them to another yard. The meeting ended with all my recommendations for Tiffany (and Tuffy) being refused. Once we had sedated Tiffany and found that she had an Ileus (her intestines had stopped moving) and started to work her up for her illness there was a complete lack of involvement from (b) (6), (b) (7) and (b . (b) (6), (b) (7)(C) and I spoke with(b) (6), about the concerns for her not eating and his response was "well sometimes chimps just starve themselves to death", followed with "this has happened before". Driving home with a feeling that there was a lack of concern, and knowing the severity of the case I sent an email to the three of them. In the email I was asking for husbandry and behavior help to lift her spirit in case there was a behavioral component to her anorexia. (b) organized a late night phone call (because again she was in California with her family). Instead of the phone call addressing my concerns of husbandry ( I even asked to informally contact owner to find out her favorite things), (b) proceeded to critique her assessment of her medical treatment and offer her opinions on what we should tube feed her and I was even told to just "give her Flintstone vitamins and gatoraide." When I voice concern hearing that chimps have previously died (b) (6), offered to reach out to those facilities. I left the phone conversation of 2 hours with no additional help, but instead medical recommendations from non medical professionals. This was followed the next week by another 2 hour long late night phone call (because (b) was again in California) where (b) aggressively grilled me and kept asking why we were "handling her case internally", I explained we were coordinating with 10 different human specialists she continued undermining all that was done for Tiffany. By this time she had already had several sedations, fluid therapy, electrolyte therapy, three differed sets of radiographs (all read by radiologist) and an MRI. This phone call was so aggressive and hostile that I broke down in tears because (b) was implying that we were not doing enough. I want to clarify that (b) (6), (b) had already been there for four 12 hour days on top of her normal file:///C:/Users/cjmckinnie/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/INetCache/Content.Outloo... 2/28/2019 Save the Chimps Mail - Clarity on my resignation Page 3 of 3 schedule, and I had been on for 5 straight 9-10 hour days and at one point had not seen my son for 24 hours. This is when I had to stop allowing myself to be open to (b) (6), (b) (7)(C) critiques on Tiffany since there was nothing productive coming from these interactions. (b) asked (b) (6), to arrange a consultation with a pediatrician she knows from GFAS. (b) (6), (b) was very clear that he was willing to help but has been in academic medicine for 10 years. He was very nice but did not offer any new information to help with her management because we had already done all the diagnostics he recommended, and we had done all the basic treatments. Our plan for the next step with Tiffany was exactly what (b) (6), (b) described. The next day (b) called called the Trilateral to discuss the plan for Tiffany. She proceeded to tell me that she spoke with (b) (6), (b) and that she has grave concerns about what the plan was for Tiffany's care. She read a list of recommendations that (b) (6), (b) spoke with her about. She was very hostile towards me and made it clear that she was upset and angered by what she felt was us not following recommendations. After 40 minutes of her telling me what she felt we were doing, I clarified that every single thing that (b) (6), (b) recommended we were doing. The only thing we do not do is hourly potassium levels because the literature that is published and followed by human hospitals recommends every 4 hours. At this time she told me that she had spoken to you and that you had said "if we don't do exactly what is recommended then what happens to Tiffany is on us." I again asked her to voice her concerns because we are literally doing everything under the guidance of numerous medical professionals. She again stated hourly potassium and feeding her. I told her that we run our blood work at the emergency clinic down the street at the times recommended to us by the consulting clinicians. Feeding is only be done once she is stable and when recommended. She then became cold and short and I voiced I have to take care of my patients that barring lack of any differing information we need to proceed with the directed care for Tiffany. This is when I had to call (b) (6), (b) and tell her that I was again attacked by (b) over medical procedures that she clearly does not understand. I had no choice but to share that (b) threatened me/us yet again. By this time when I went to check on Tiffany her condition was worsening and I was afraid we would lose her right then. I called (b) (6), (b) (7) and (b) over so they know how grave she is. Fortunately, (b) (6), (b) was able to gather supplies from the pharmacy (that were prescribed by the gastroenterologist) and we were able to attempt to stabilize her. This is when (b) became aware of my intention to leave Save the Chimps. I cannot continue to watch the ethical and welfare issues with the staff and chimps. STC has been a 24/7 job for me, I am always on call, I was flexible for what the chimps need, and I was always there for the chimps and staff. I cannot be the only member of management that is. Most importantly, I do not deserve hostility for putting the chimps first. (b) (6), (b) (7)(C) 772-429-2225 (b) (6), file:///C:/Users/cjmckinnie/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/INetCache/Content.Outloo... 2/28/2019