We are quickly
approaching The VCC’s second year of being open in our new building! It has
been a very exciting ride, with lots of amazing advances and many opportunities
still being pursued.
This time of year
always brings back memories of the construction phase of the hospital, when we
had to ask ourselves a lot of important questions. Some of the more interesting
ones where: What is the local impact of our veterinary center on the community?
How long would it take from planning to operation to launch our new hospital? What
do we think the future holds for veterinary oncology in general?
These are all good questions and I feel compelled to
share the answers with you because they helped to shape not only the physical presence
of the building, but they have become the guiding principles by which The VCC
operates.
What is the local impact of our veterinary center on
the community?
Interestingly enough the impact on the local community involves
not only Norwalk, but all of Fairfield County - if not the entire state of
Connecticut and Westchester County in New York. The VCC is after all, the
largest standalone veterinary cancer center in the World! Since all we do is
oncology, all of our focus and all of our resources go towards finding better
and more effective ways to both diagnose and treat cancer in animals. We now
have so many more radiation therapy options-- Strontium-90 superficial probe, stereotactic
radiation, IMRT, and full and half body radiation.. We also have access to the
latest cutting edge clinical trials. This means there is now a truly
comprehensive cancer center to the pet owners and veterinarians of the
surrounding area. ()
How long did it take from planning to operation to
launch your new hospital?
Anyone that has had any type of construction knows that
nothing ever goes as planned. We started looking for the appropriate space back
in 2007. Since our needs are very particular this process proved to be far more
difficult than we had thought. It was not until December 31, 2011 that we had a
signed lease and began creating a floor plan. The upside is that this gave us
plenty of time to refine our plan into something that fit our needs perfectly.
It was on February 15th 2012 that all of our planning and hard work bore fruit-
we created something truly special in the veterinary oncology world – a
facility that is truly world class.
What do you think the future holds for veterinary
oncology?
I think the future is now; what we have built will
revolutionize the industry, from our cutting edge technology to our new and
innovated branding. I think the biggest change in veterinary oncology will come
from partnerships like the ones we have with Animal Cancer Foundation, The
Riedel & Cody Fund, and Animal Clinical Investigation. We believe this will
facilitate a collaborative approach among pharmaceutical companies, cancer
researchers, human oncologists and veterinary oncologists. This collaborative
approach is the cornerstone of Comparative Oncology – studying spontaneous
cances in cats and dogs as a model for cancers in people. Comparative oncology
will likely yield amazing results for both pets and people over the next 5 to
10 years. Cancers in dogs and cats are
similar in both biology and type to cancers in people. Remember, dogs and cats
share the same environment as people: they breathe the same air, drink the same
water, and in some cases eat the same food. This new comparative oncology approach
will not only bring new and exciting changes to the veterinary community, but
to the human medical field as well.
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