On May 1, Bend Veterinary Specialty and Emergency Clinic cut back its hours in response to a staffing shortage, leaving Central Oregon without a 24-hour emergency veterinary clinic. The new hours are 2 pm to midnight on weekdays and 8 am to midnight on weekends. Without this critical service, some vets are stepping up and treating patients when an emergency arises. Courtesy Marco Verch There are regular vets in town that have stepped up and are seeing their patients in the middle of the night, said Dr. Shalet Abraham, a vet at Bend Specialty and Emergency Clinic. There are several practices in town that are doing on-call emergencies in the night until we re able to step back up and hire and have full 24/7 service again.
Veterinarian shortage forcing Bend emergency clinic to stop 24-hour service
Animal hospital to step up with on-call overnight service for clients
(Update: Adding video, comments from emergency clinic and animal hospital)
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) Veterinarians in Central Oregon are facing a serious problem and as a result, so are their patients, and the people who care for them. Too many people and not enough staff,” Dr. Shalet Abraham, the medical director at Bend Veterinary Specialty and Emergency Center, said Wednesday.
The emergency clinic has operated 24/7 for the past three years. However, starting May 1st, the clinic will no longer be operating overnight.