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Date: 8/16/2021
WEST SPRINGFIELD – The Veterinary Emergency and Specialty Hospital located in South Deerfield will soon expand their facilities to Hampden County – more specifically, Capital Drive in West Springfield.
The reason for this development is to “fill a void,” said Hospital Administrator Keri Gardent.
Across New England, there is a lack of facilities that offer 24 hour veterinary emergency and specialty care, besides a handful in Western Massachusetts, Northern Connecticut, Southern Vermont and Northern New Hampshire. Gardent stated, “There are no others like ours.”
For people who may not live near these animal hospitals, Gardent explained that they have to drive several hours in order for their animals to receive proper attention. In an effort to prevent this, Gardent and her team spent a conducted considerable geographical analyses for an additional location.
During the surge of the coronavirus pandemic when everyone was forced to stay home, Gardent told Reminder Publishing, “There was a massive spike in pet ownership.” According to the American Pet Products Association, 11.38 million households in the United States got pets during the pandemic. Gardent explained, “That’s about 300,000 pets across each state.”
In an article written by the Philadelphia Inquirer, they claimed that although the pet population doubled, the veterinarian population did not. With this surge that is still ongoing, veterinarian’s have been “overwhelmed” and simply can’t keep up with everything these animals require.
“We’ve all been in a cyclone since COVID began,” said Gardent. “We were busy before that, but now it’s just a weird result of COVID … it’s had a very interesting impact.”
At first, she claimed that not only veterinarians were unaware of what caused this sudden surge, but also animal food suppliers such as Petco. Once the data came out, “it all made sense,” said Gardent. “People at home can train and be there for their pets.”
While the pandemic affected many businesses, Gardent and her team asked themselves, “What’s going to be the scale back plan? Would there still be a demand?” Come to find out, the veterinary business slingshotted in the exact opposite direction – a trend happening nationwide.
As of now, Gardent shared they are hopeful to open the West Springfield location in spring of 2022. All of the floor and site plans have been finalized.
“Right now, our plan is emergency services and specialty services. There’s potential for expanding surgery services and possibly internal medicine,” said Gardent.
Gardent will oversee both facilities once the West Springfield location opens.
This new location will also have all new employees. For about three quarters of the year, Gardent will be bringing people to their South Deerfield location for training and to learn the workplace culture.
Gardent reiterated her excitement for the West Springfield location. “We are excited to support a void – that’s what this is driven from. We are happy to be doing this.”
For additional information on the Veterinary Emergency and Specialty Hospital, visit https://www.veshdeerfield.com.