A recent effort to bring back emergency veterinary care to the Rochester area is taking another step forward.
A nonprofit veterinary hospital opened last January on University Avenue, to help pet owners who had not had access to overnight emergency services for months after the previous local emergency vet practice closed.
But now organizers on Monday said that they have outgrown that space, and with the help of a $500,000 grant from the Klingenstein Family Foundation, they are moving and renovating a facility at 445 West Commercial Street in East Rochester.
Dr. Bruce Ingersoll, one of the co-founders of Rochester Emergency Veterinary Services (REVS), said the lack of space and certain kinds of equipment have not allowed them to help as many pets as the demand called for this year.
“For a variety of reasons, overcapacity, (or) not having the correct facilities or correct equipment for certain types of emergencies,” said Ingersoll. “So there's been a variety of reasons that we've unfortunately had to send (some) patients to Buffalo or Cornell or Syracuse.”
Ingersoll said that with the help of the new grant, when they move to East Rochester, the new space will greatly increase the number of animals that can be housed overnight.
“Additionally, we'll have state of the art ultrasound, digital X-ray capabilities, a myriad of necessary in-hospital laboratory equipment, a dedicated feline ward and a dedicated isolation ward,” Ingersoll said. “There's also an educational space that will allow us to train our staff and hold community educational events.”
And with a significant increase in staffing, going from having three full time veterinarians to seven, Ingersoll said that should help REVS meet its goal of being able to provide service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, when the new facility opens in late fall.
That kind of goal is one reason that Suzanne Hess, president of the Klingenstein Foundation, said was behind the foundation’s substantial contribution.
“I can’t say I look forward to the first time we need them, because I certainly don’t, that will be a bad day when something happens to my pet, but when I need them, knowing they will be here means everything,” said Hess. “It makes pet ownership possible in this town.”
Irene Hess, Suzanne Hess’s mother who is also Executive Director of the Foundation, was also motivated to support the half-million dollar gift after a close friend’s dog suffered a critical injury in June after being attacked by another dog. A statement from REVS said that the dog was rushed to that emergency animal hospital for treatment, and is thriving today.
Officials with the emergency veterinary practice say they are still seeking additional financial support, but still sound confident about the expansion of services happening before the end of the year.
