Sunbury Animal Hospital pauses 24/7 emergency service due to staffing

Jan. 26—SUNBURY — The Sunbury Animal Hospital paused its 24/7 emergency services as it struggles to maintain a full staff.

The veterinary clinic, located at 3920 State Route 890, Sunbury, announced it will no longer provide emergency services to pet owners who are not established clients. Emergency services will also not be available for established clients between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. daily. Established clients are those with pets the hospital sees for annual checkups and routine care.

"We simply don't have enough staff," said Dr. James Temple, the senior veterinarian and CEO of Sunbury Animal Hospital. "We recently lost two of our doctors who typically worked a large percentage of our off-hour times. We can't be all things for all people for now."

The veterinary industry is projected to have a shortage of nearly 15,000 veterinarians by 2030, according to a 2022 study by Mars Veterinary Health, which has a network of 2,500 veterinary clinics, hospitals, and diagnostic labs across 21 countries.

"Like many others, Mars Veterinary Health believes the industry is facing a chronic shortage of veterinary professionals," according to Mars Veterinary Health. "To understand the scope, we enlisted the help of a researcher to quantify the shortage as it relates to companion animal veterinarians, veterinary technicians, and veterinary specialists — and begin to identify industry-wide solutions."

With pet ownership steadily on the rise, a 33 percent increase in pet health care service spending is expected over the next 10 years. Nearly 41,000 additional veterinarians will be needed to meet the needs of companion animal health care by 2030. It would take more than 30 years of graduates to meet the 10-year industry need for credentialed veterinary technicians, according to Mars Veterinary Health's study.

The Sunbury Animal Hospital has four full-time doctors and five part-time doctors. The majority of the doctors practice both small and large animal medicine.

The goal, said Temple, is to reopen emergency services to the whole community again once additional staff members are hired. Those vacant positions are posted, he said.

"There are many job openings right now on the Pennsylvania Veterinary Medical Association (PVMA) website," said Temple. "I've never seen so many job offers there."

Temple said the hospital has several thousand established clients. They see a wide variety of species from dogs, to horses, to guinea pigs, and even raccoons.

"We're trying to maintain services for established clients," said Temple. "We have tried for the last few years to be open for anyone. Not every practice is open 24/7. Typically we've had enough staff to be open all day and night, and be available to anyone who needs it. We can't do that now."

The hospital's new hours of operation are from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The new hours do not affect the farm animal clients.

Toni Arnold, of Richfield, said she used the hospital's emergency services for her 2-year-old dog named Luna after she got hit by a car. She said she wouldn't know where to go if she didn't have the Sunbury facility.

"It's reassuring to know you have someone to call and somewhere to go," said Arnold.

Nicolette Worobetz and Christian Dawson, of Trevorton, said they have been going to Sunbury Animal Hospital for 20 years.

"It's a shame," said Worebetz. "That means people have to go to Watsontown."

The Sunbury Animal Hospital provided contact information for other emergency veterinary clinics:

* Animal Emergency Center: 570-742-7400 — Watsontown

* Northeast Vet Referral Center: 570-208-8877 — Plains

* Plains Animal Hospital: 570-829-4030 — Plains

* Shore's Vet ER: 717-798-8500 — Harrisburg

* Rossmoyne Animal ER: 717-796-2334 — Mechanicsburg

* Ryan Vet Hospital (Penn Vet): 215-746-8911 — Philadelphia

* Blue Pearl: 215-750-2774 — Langhorne; 610-296-2099 — Malvern; 267-800-1950 — Philadelphia

* Valley Central Vet Referral Center: 610-435-1553 — Whitehall

* Metzger's Animal Hospital: 814-237-5333 — St. College

* CP Vets: 814-237-4670 — St. College