Dear Colleagues:
We are excited to share news about upcoming changes at Advanced Veterinary Specialty Group (AVSG). Both Veterinary Surgical Specialists (VSSOC) and Advanced Veterinary Internal Medicine (AVIM) have experienced extraordinary growth over the last ten years and a substantial increase in caseload over the past eighteen months. This growth would not have been possible without your support, and we are deeply grateful for your confidence in our ability to care for your patients.
As you can imagine, the growth of our practices has also brought challenges – most notably insufficient clinical space and parking constraints. Over the years, many small adjustments and creative compromises have been made, and bigger solutions were explored, but in the end, the only viable answer was for AVIM to relocate to a larger space. In Fall 2020, AVIM formed a partnership with Compassion First Pets and embarked on the buildout of a 12,000 square feet multi-specialty hospital in Irvine. On September 3, AVIM will begin the move to the new hospital at 2572 White Road, in Irvine. To facilitate the relocation, AVIM will NOT be receiving any patients from 6:00pm, Friday, 9/3 through 8:00am, Monday, 9/6. With the departure of AVIM from AVSG, the jointly-owned emergency practice AVSG After Hours will be dissolved.
VSSOC will continue as they have since 2000, as a full-time surgery practice with three board-certified surgeons at the ready. The size and scope will expand over time in the newly available space at AVSG. Additionally, as of 6:00pm on September 7, they will open the doors to AVSG Urgent Care, replacing AVSG After Hours. The ultimate goal of AVSG UC is to provide urgent care services when primary care practices are at capacity or closed. The location and phone number will remain the same (949.653.9300), and a new website will be launched, avsgurgentcare.com. Many of the same faces (and some new ones) will be available to care for your patients. We are working hard to expand staff and solidify consistent daytime and overnight hours. Stay tuned for updates.
AVIM will be re-launched as a multi-specialty hospital named Pacific Care Pet Emergency & Specialty. The new name shines a spotlight on the great existing team of ER/critical care doctors and reflects the additional specialty services offered, including surgery and cardiology. As always, the dedicated team of internal medicine and emergency/critical care doctors that you know from AVIM will continue to provide these services as part of Pacific Care Veterinary Emergency & Specialty. The phone number for AVIM (949.653.2846) will remain the same. The new website can be viewed at PacificCareVets.com.
We look forward to continuing our collaborative relationship between our practices and doctors. Our shared goal of providing excellent care to your patients and clients remains foremost. To that end, arrangements have been made for sharing the medical records of our mutual patients. We are tremendously proud of the contribution our unique VSS/AVIM/AVSG24 relationship has provided to our referral community and the pet population of Orange County. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Rich at rpankowski@vssoc.com or Missy at missy@pacificcarevets.com.
With appreciation,
