Ethos Veterinary Health Opens New Urgent Care Clinics
April 25, 2022Providing Alternative Care Options to California Communities
WOBURN, MA – April 19, 2022: Ethos Veterinary Health is excited to announce the launch of a new service starting in southern California. Three new purpose-built Veterinary Urgent Care clinics will be located in San Diego, in Rancho Peñasquitos, Oceanside and Irvine in Orange County. They will be the first Veterinary Urgent Care by Ethos facilities dedicated to providing urgent care services for dogs and cats. Ethos has five emergency and specialty hospitals in California. The new Veterinary Urgent Care clinics are located close to two of our southern California hospitals to enable them to support the same pet owner communities, providing some measure relief for busy emergency and GP veterinarians in the San Diego and San Marcos areas.
The COVID-19 pandemic added to an already strained veterinary industry; implementing safety protocols and curb-side care for patients prevented many family veterinarians from being able to support the same number of appointments as was possible pre-pandemic. In the absence of an available appointment at their family veterinarian, many pet owners chose to seek care at emergency clinics, this caused the emergency hospital teams to become overwhelmed with non-critical patients. As a result, pet owners sometimes waited many hours to have their pet seen since in an emergency hospital setting more life-threatening patients are triaged ahead of those in stable condition.
“We have seen a tremendous increase in demand for services, and we didn’t want to have to turn patients who needed medical attention away,” said Rich Boland, Chief Operating Officer of Ethos Veterinary Health.
Responding to this need, Ethos decided to open urgent care clinics to help alleviate the pressure on family veterinarians and emergency hospitals. These facilities will be open from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekends, to provide care for pets experiencing health issues that need attention but do not require emergency care.
“Most general practices get a busy rush at the end of the day when owners get home from work, and emergency practices also tend to see a bump in cases between 5 and 8 p.m. Our urgent care clinics are designed to overlap that time. If a pet owner with a limping dog can’t get an appointment that afternoon with their family veterinarian, they can go to our urgent care facility to get treatment, as opposed to waiting hours at the emergency clinic, which will help the emergency hospitals and general practices alike. That’s the void we are hoping to fill. Those cases that don’t need to be seen by emergency care can go to the urgent care, and the cases that do need emergency care will be seen quicker and more efficiently because of the lower case load,” said Tim Smith, DVM, MBA, Ethos Chief Medical Officer.
Veterinary Urgent Care by Ethos clinics are scheduled to start opening on April 19, 2022, with the Rancho Peñasquitos clinic opening first. Additional locations in Irvine and Oceanside, CA are scheduled to open later this summer. The clinics will initially be staffed with two veterinarians and a full support team. Veterinarians and technicians are being hired for their experience, training and skill in all aspects of emergency medicine. Veterinary Urgent Care clinics will be equipped with point of care ultrasound, digital radiography (digital x-rays), in house lab equipment, blood analyzers and more. Pet owners will be able to make same-day and next-day appointments, and have access to their pet’s results directly through our online client portal. Referring veterinarians will be able to provide medical records and review near-real time results as well, through a dedicated online veterinary portal.
“We have taken the lessons learned in navigating the pandemic and intend to build a service founded on digital access and patient support tools. This gives us the opportunity to provide an alternative option that aligns with the type of care that is required in an environment that is designed to see patients in stable condition, thus allowing clients to avoid potential long wait periods that can often occur at emergency practices,” Boland said.
“Ethos already has a relationship with veterinarians in these areas, making us a known entity. We will offer the same attention and care that they have come to expect from us to provide support for local veterinary practices and emergency hospitals,” Dr. Smith said.
The team at Ethos Veterinary Health believes these urgent care clinics will provide some relief to veterinarians and increase medical care options for pet owners in these communities.
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MEDIA CONTACT:
Nadja Torling
Director of Marketing | Ethos Veterinary Health
[email protected]
ABOUT ETHOS VETERINARY HEALTH
Ethos is a veterinary health company with hospitals across the U.S. providing advanced medical care for pets. Our approach includes a focus on transformative science, continuous learning, growth for team members, and the development of collaborative relationships. For more information, visit ethosvet.com. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn
ABOUT VETERINARY URGENT CARE BY ETHOS
Veterinary Urgent Care by Ethos clinics provide medical care for non-life-threatening illness or injury in cats and dogs. We treat pets who are in stable condition, but still need same-day or next-day veterinary medical attention. Veterinary Urgent Care by Ethos clinics are staffed with veterinarians and technicians experienced in all aspects of emergency medicine, and are equipped with digital x-ray machines, point of care ultrasound and in-house labs. Our service is designed to diagnose and treat your pet, so you can get back home and return to the fun and games. For more information, visit urgentpetdoc.com. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn.