Forthcoming emergency veterinary clinic in Rochester explains the path forward. What pet owners need to know

A new emergency veterinary clinic that plans to open Feb. 1 in Rochester is getting a large and needed cash infusion.

At a Wednesday morning press conference, Monroe County Executive Adam Bello and Congressman Joe Morelle announced that the County of Monroe Industrial Development Agency (COMIDA) just approved $100,000 in funding to help get Rochester Emergency Veterinary Services up and running at 1150 University Ave.

Veterinary Specialists & Emergency Services, for more than two decades the area’s only 24/7 animal hospital, closed its Brighton office in late November, forcing people with pets in crisis to drive to Buffalo, Syracuse or Ithaca for after-hours care.

Public investment in Rochester Emergency Veterinary Services “will address this critical gap in emergency care for animals and improve the quality of life for pets and the families who love them,” Bello said.

During the press conference, Dr. Bruce Ingersoll said the practice will start out with four full-time equivalent vets, including himself and Dr. Brenda Buck, and ultimately, he expects the staff will include 30 to 35 other workers, such as veterinary technicians. (The COMIDA agreement requires the creation of 20 new jobs.)

The plan is to open at 7 p.m. Feb. 1.

“Our receiving hours — hours that we will actually be taking in emergencies — are going to be 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Monday through Thursday and then 7 p.m. all the way through 7 a.m. Monday, so the full weekend,” he said.

Pets won’t have to leave the hospital from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., he explained, because Buck and other veterinarians will be there to monitor them.

However, the practice won’t receive emergency cases from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., “since that’s the time when your day practitioners will be open and the urgent cares who have sort of tried to fill the gap as well will be open to take those,” he said. “We just don’t have the staff and will not have the staff by Feb. 1.”

In addition, he said, “The community is still going to have to exercise a lot of patience with us. We are going to be taking the most critical, the most in-need patients. Some patients we may be turning away and saying, ‘You have to go to an urgent care tomorrow,’ or ‘You’re going to have to go to one of the other facilities still.’”

The center will operate as a nonprofit, which Ingersoll said increases its chances of success.

Beyond the industry upheaval caused by COVID, a lot of veterinarians and veterinary technicians carry heavy student debt, he said.

“In working for a nonprofit, they can apply for (student) loan forgiveness,” he said. “So, we’re hoping that will be a huge attracting feature for the hospital.”

In fact, the practice already is receiving resumes, he said.

Once the facility is open, “We’re going to develop programs that volunteers can help us with, not working with animals but doing behind-the-scenes things for us,” from cleaning to office work to fundraisers.

So far, the nonprofit has raised $175,000, which represents donations from community members and the COMIDA grant. That total is about $75,000 less than the optimal target amount to get started, Ingersoll said.

“But we will be able to do it,” he said. “It just means we’re going to have to run short on things for a while.”

Said Morelle, credited with bringing together the involved parties, “We’re committed to continue to look for public dollars,” including at the federal level.

Donations are being accepted at rocemergencyvet.com.

In a previous interview with WXXI, Ingersoll said that even though Rochester Emergency Veterinary Services will operate as a nonprofit, it will charge market rates for care.

In a statement issued by the county Wednesday, Alice Calabrese, president and CEO of Lollypop Farm, said the new hospital will ensure health and safety for local pets and give peace of mind to families: “Rochester Emergency Veterinary Services brings hope!”

Reporter Marcia Greenwood covers general assignments. Send story tips to mgreenwo@rocheste.gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @MarciaGreenwood.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Rochester Emergency Veterinary Services plans to open in February