The article notes that Burns, who is not a veterinarian, overcame a childhood fear of dogs to become the leader of a company that helps provide care for animals, all while becoming a dog owner herself. Evette Staffing, the gushing copy offers, has 70 internal employees and works with more than 300 veterinarians to staff clinics across the country.
The D CEO piece ends with an impassioned quote from Burns about her company’s mission. Being a relief veterinarian isn’t easy and can be a mentally and emotionally taxing job. Burns said Evette is focused on helping be a part of the solution.
“They need more support,” Burns says of veterinarians. “They need more options. The suicide rate tells you that, and the mental health issues tell you that. I’m an entrepreneur and want us to be the best and the biggest, but by other companies copying what we’re doing, it means vets across the board getting more of what they need.”
This week, however, Burns issued a very different type of quote for reasons that completely fly in the face of what she said in her magazine profile. In an email dated Wednesday, Nov. 20 and sent by Burns to “members of the Evette community,” including the relief vets who work with Evette, the CEO admitted to creating a fake Facebook profile and using the name of a real veterinarian so she could participate in private Facebook groups. Those groups are dedicated to various veterinary interests, including at least one group devoted to the mental health and well-being of vets.
“We did this with only the intention of gaining a better understanding of the issues and frustrations plaguing the industry — with the ultimate goal of better serving the community,” the email reads. Burns noted in the email that the fake Facebook account was made eight years ago when the company was started, and she apologized to the person whose identity was used for the fake profile.
“While the account was not created or used with malicious intent, we understand that what we did was wrong,” the email continued.
“While the account was not created or used with malicious intent, we understand that what we did was wrong.” – Elise Burns, CEO Evette Staffing
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By using “we,” Burns didn’t specify in the email whether she had personally set up or used the fake profile. Also in the email, Burns mentions “a” Facebook group, but screenshots provided to us by Facebook group moderators and other veterinarians show the fake profile was a member of multiple private groups, not just one, designated for vets only.
We called Evette Staffing and were told to email the company's human resources manager with our questions. We didn't hear back from them. We visited Evette’s Dallas office on Friday and were told Burns was not in for the day. We eventually heard back from a PR representative for Evette Staffing, who declined to comment on Burns' statement but offered to link us up with some of its doctors who are happy with the firm.
Although the doctor whose identity was used for the fake profile is named in the email and is referred to in various social media posts, we're not including the name in this report after multiple unsuccessful attempts to reach them.
The online reaction from the veterinarian community online across Facebook, Reddit and Instagram and even Google reviews has been swift and passionate. That a staffing company with a stated goal of providing relief to often overwhelmed clinics acted in an underhanded manner for so long has fueled negative reviews and comments for the past few days.
Greg Echols, a veterinarian from Charlotte, North Carolina, has been a relief vet for Evette for more than two years. On Thursday, Echols posted a video to his Instagram account apologizing to the doctor who was impersonated and expressing his disappointment in a company he had advocated for.
In the video, Echols says that he heard from other veterinarians that the fake profile had been used to “get information on contract agreements” and other financial and business information.
In an email to the Observer, Echols said he would not be working for Evette Staffing anymore. He added that he had not spoken to Burns or anyone else with the company, outside of receiving the email with the company’s admission and apology.
Over the previous 24 hours, we’ve received a number of emails from veterinarians from different parts of the United States who were Facebook friends with the fake profile or were in the same private group as the fake profile. In several instances, we received screenshots of Evette marketing and recruiting emails and text messages received by veterinarians who otherwise had no contact with the staffing company.
We were told that, in their view, the only way they think Evette Staffing would know to reach out to them offering their services was by getting the information shared in a private Facebook group. In these cases, the Facebook groups were only for vets, not for people with businesses that may be associated with veterinary practices, such as a staffing company.
Carrie Jurney, a veterinarian from California, provided us with a screenshot that shows the fake Facebook account that Evette admitted to in a posting in the Relief Veterinarians private Facebook group. According to the screenshot, the false account posted on several occasions from 2018 to 2021 seeking advice on clinics in various cities that might be looking for relief vet help. Short-staffed or overworked veterinary clinics would be prime candidates for doing business with Burns and Evette Staffing.
But for many what rankles most is the breach of trust and the invasion of privacy in the context of a close-knit professional community that sees a great deal of problems with mental illness and suicide in its ranks.
One of the fake veterinarian's profiles set up by Evette Staff and used to gain entry to social media groups for vets only.
Screenshot/Facebook
“This profession is filled with really empathic and smart people in very tough scenarios trying to help very sick animals and their owners,” said Ezra Ameis, the CEO of Vet’d Veterinary Relief, a California-based online platform that connects relief vets with clinics in need of help. “There is a true mental health crisis in veterinary with a resultant high suicide rate… There is an invite only/credentialed veterinary group only for veterinarians called ‘Not One More Vet’ where veterinarians speak about their darkest times, thoughts and worries. The fake account had been a member of that group for quite some time and was privy to very sensitive private information.”
Jamie Perkins of DVMoms, a private Facebook group with more than 20,000 members, echoes the notion that what the fake Facebook profile represents is more than your run of the mill trust-breaking aimed at the relief veterinary doctor profession. The fake profile created by Evette was a member of the DVMoms group, and at least on one occasion in 2018, that account made a post seeking advice on some sort of employment program that had allegedly been offered to the person writing from the fake account .(Note: the description of the services offered to this person looked similar to the way Evette lists its services, according to the screenshot provided to us.)
What Elise Burns has admitted to is the opposite of the support that’s needed for relief vets, and it’s nowhere near what Burns might tell a local magazine she is in this business for.
“When someone impersonates a veterinarian and infiltrates this community, it’s not just a personal betrayal — it’s an affront to the progress we’ve made as women in this field,” Perkins wrote in an email to the Observer. “In the case of Evette, this act of deception was compounded by an effort to exploit our community for financial gain. Whether through accessing opportunities, leveraging the trust of members, or benefiting from resources meant for licensed veterinarians, this behavior is not just unethical — it is predatory. It devalues the safe space we’ve built for authentic connection and mutual growth, and it undermines the trust essential to the functioning of a supportive community.”
