Lake Road Animal Hospital, a privately owned companion animal practice in Horseheads, New York, is looking to add a full time associate veterinarian. We are looking for someone who will join us in continuing to make veterinary medicine a sustainable and rewarding career for everyone in the practice from doctors to assistants. Your addition to our practice will allow us to grow to three full time doctors and two part time doctors.
Our practice focuses on preventative care and client education to strengthen the bond between pet parent and pet. In addition, our medical team thirsts for knowledge and has a strong desire to continue improving skills and treatment options with progressive therapies. Appointments are scheduled to facilitate optimal time to meet the needs of the patient and accommodate doctor work style, and currently range from 30 to 40 minutes. We are utilizing a modified curbside model, and allow a single client with proof of COVID vaccine to enter with their pet. Face masks are required for all staff and clients. We do not utilize a “waiting room” any longer, and will never return to that model of care as it is stressful for patients. Our team and clients have adjusted beautifully to this model of care after being fully curbside for over a year. We are regularly praised by our clients for maintaining our standard of care and compassion for clients all while keeping our team safe and healthy.
Our practice offers all the “bells and whistles” with regard to equipment, including Idexx DR digital radiography, Idexx in-house laboratory equipment, ultrasound, digital dental radiography, regenerative therapy, and therapeutic laser. We have partnered with TeleTails to offer streaming and remote telehealth services for our clients. We are a Cat Friendly certified practice, and have a dedicated feline only examination room. Many of our team members are Fear Free Certified, and low stress handling is practiced. We are a paper light practice and utilize Cornerstone practice management software to maintain electronic medical records.
We recently partnered with Guardian Vets to provide after hour triage of calls. They have NYS licensed veterinarians and veterinary technicians to assist our clients in determining if their pet’s issue needs immediate care with an emergency provider or if they can wait and call us for an appointment the next morning. We offer no after hour, emergency care. We do hold appointments for same day scheduling so urgent care can be provided as needed without adding hours to our work day.
Our standard of care is not inexpensive for clients. We do not apologize for our fees or the care we recommend. Instead, we have pulled in a multitude of tools, including VetBilling, to help make our care affordable for clients. Our support team excels with managing all financial conversations so that doctors are not in the position of “bargaining” with clients to provide minimal level care. Our team can find a path to treatment in almost every case utilizing our payment options.
Our hospital is located just a short distance from the beautiful Finger Lakes Region of New York. With its thriving agribusiness, the Finger Lakes region has become a vibrant area offering a quality of life not easily found, and very little traffic! Ithaca (a small city offering cultural sophistication many large cities can not rival) and Watkins Glen are both located within 45 minutes from the practice. If you enjoy wine or craft beers, the Finger Lakes area is for you! Those are just a bonus to all the recreational activities provided by the area year-round. A few of the popular outdoor activities in this region include: boating, hiking, biking, waterfall viewing, skiing, sledding, and snowmobiling. The city of Corning is also just a short distance from the practice and offers its own quaint sophistication.
We employ a full-time practice manager, and four licensed veterinary technicians (this number will increase with the addition of another veterinarian). Our veterinary assistants and customer service representatives are well trained, long-term staff members. In the year prior to COVID, our practice experienced ZERO turnover. That fact has been a source of great pride for us. Leadership at Lake Road Animal Hospital firmly believes that the key to a successful veterinary practice lies within the team. We work hard to ensure our team is happy, learning, engaged, excited, and cohesive. Drama does NOT fill our days! Our current staff to doctor ratio is 5:1. We have multiple tools in place to facilitate communication, team-building, and reinforcement of our core values. Our team is empowered and supported by leadership. We have a strong commitment to CE for all team members. Our team culture is strong and supportive.
Doctors are provided with two exam room assistants. One assistant enters notes into the EMR while exams are performed, as well as create estimates and invoices. The second assistant provides patient handling, which allows clients to remain seated and focused on your discussion.
We keep a refrigerator stocked with the team’s requested drinks and have a shelving unit filled their favorite snacks. We encourage a healthy lifestyle, ensure that our team has lunch breaks, and offer everyone a generous amount of Paid Time Off. We work quarterly with Compassion Fatigue Specialist, Julie Squires, to help all team members maintain a positive, healthy attitude. We have a break room inside with comfy furniture, and a Serenity Garden outside that has a table and chairs for lunching al fresco. We provided paid time off to allow our team to get their COVID vaccines and recover the day after. We hold an influenza vaccine clinic on-site each fall. We always ensure that our team has time off to vote. We take care of our people so our people can take care of our clients and patients.
We recently closed our boarding kennel and are developing plans to renovate that building to allow us to increase our number of exam rooms, including additional cat only space, a comfort room (with private entrance/exit), and potentially a canine rehabilitation facility.
We offer Saturday appointments from 8:30 am until 2 pm. Each veterinarian is scheduled to cover one Saturday per month. We do not “short staff” weekend hours and have a full staff of 5 scheduled to support our doctor. Saturdays are no one’s favorite, but with dwindling veterinarian numbers over the years in the area, we feel this is an important day to offer service to our clients. Our clients are grateful that we are available to them on Saturdays.
For a peek into our practice and culture, please watch the video in this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwLicHif_sw
We encourage applicants of any experience level to apply. We are more interested in your enthusiasm for your chosen profession and your ability to assimilate into our practice culture, than we are in your current veterinary skill set. Our current doctors are experienced, talented, collaborative, and take pride in mentoring.
We offer a blended production/salary based compensation (with NO negative accrual), medical insurance, vacation, continuing education time and budget, Simple IRA (with match), professional licenses and dues, malpractice insurance, employee assistance program, and reduced cost pet care. We are open to creating a weekly schedule that will allow you to enjoy practicing veterinary medicine and your personal time. NYS is an expensive state in which to live. But, we do have some great programs to go along with the increased cost of living. NYS has a Family Medical Leave Program that all employers, regardless of size, offer. This program offers 12 weeks of paid bonding time after the birth or adoption of a child for both mom and dad. Lake Road Animal Hospital also carries short term disability insurance, primarily so new moms can be paid a portion of their wages while recovering from child birth. The bonding leave can be utilized right after the disability time so new moms have a total of 18 to 20 weeks to spend with a new baby. While this is still not enough time, it is far greater than many other states. Lake Road Animal Hospital feels strongly that family comes first, and demonstrates that commitment to our team daily. Ownership opportunity in the future will be available, and an interest in ownership is a plus.
Please note that all compensation and benefits are negotiable to create the package that meets doctor and business needs and desires. We’re open to discussion of any benefit or compensation model that is desirable to applicants. The practice is progressive in all matters from the medicine we practice to the manner in which we partner with our team members.
To learn more about us visit our website www.lakeroadanimalhospital.com, connect with us on social media (https://www.facebook.com/lakeroadanimalhospital and https://www.instagram.com/lakeroadanimalhospital/), and watch our recruitment video (link above).
If you are interested in applying for this position, please forward your resume and cover letter to Carrie Bowgren, Practice Manager.
Must be licensed, or eligible for licensing, as a veterinarian in NYS.
