The Veterinary industry in our country is experiencing an unprecedented shortage of Veterinarians. There are currently tens of thousands of unfilled Veterinarian job openings all over the country. In Sweetwater County alone we have lost about 50% of the Veterinarians needed to take care of the pets and horses in our area. This is making it very challenging to take care of all our patients and clients. Compound this with the large number of people moving into our area and we have the perfect storm for burnout and fatigue of our local Veterinarians along with frustration for our clients.
Our Veterinarians are currently seeing patients full time during the day for normal business hours and are trying to be available after hours for emergencies. As you can imagine, this is creating a severe work-life imbalance and we are all struggling with burnout and fatigue. As you can imagine, anyone would have trouble focusing after working all day, being called in for emergencies all night, and then having to work all day the next day, especially if this continues over several days.
In an effort to continue to provide quality care and not burn out our remaining Veterinarians and staff members, Desert View Animal Hospital, Mountainaire Animal Clinic, and Rural Veterinary Practices (formerly Castle Rock Veterinary Hospital located in Green River and Uinta Veterinary Hospital located in Fort Bridger) have teamed up to create shared after-hours emergency services. The three practices will now be rotating after-hours emergency calls. While we understand that this could be inconvenient and frustrating for you, our clients, we feel that it is extremely important to not exhaust our Veterinarians and still be able to provide emergency veterinary care for the pets of Sweetwater County. This is the best option we currently have available is to continue to provide after-hours emergency services for your pets and still provide the best service we can during the day.
During normal business hours, we are trying to ensure that our sick and injured patients are given priority. Because of this, you will find that it may take longer than you are used to in order to get an appointment for routine vaccines and elective surgeries. You may also be asked to reschedule a vaccine appointment if there is an emergency that requires our immediate attention. Walk-in appointments will not be offered, which makes scheduling appointments a requirement, with the exception of emergency cases. We do offer several drop-off appointments each day, but these will be reserved for urgently sick and injured patients. If you are unsure if your pet is having an urgent or emergent problem, please call. We can help you triage and determine the urgency of the problem.
We are working hard to provide quality medical care for your pet and we really appreciate your patience and understanding. We want to assure you that all the clinics in the county are trying to find replacement Veterinarians but given the current Veterinarian shortage emergency in the country, we are not having much success. In the meantime, please understand that we are doing our best to accommodate the needs of our patients and clients and provide the level of service you have come to expect from each of us. Please feel free to call if you have questions or concerns.
