ANN ARBOR – The Ann Arbor Animal Hospital announced on Friday it will be soon be ceasing its Emergency Service.
The decision to close its ER was due to high staff turnover, according to an update posted to its website and sent to clients.
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“Unfortunately, employee turnover in veterinary medicine is already much higher than in other health care professions,” reads the post. “When our ER lost a few key veterinarians last year, a shortage of doctors meant we were not able to replace them—even though we were constantly recruiting.
“The loss of these doctors meant that we weren’t able to cover shifts, and we had to reduce our open nights to around half. This put us in a very difficult position. It was slim consolation that we had a lot of company as the shortage of ER DVMs and technicians is national, and there’s no sign of the demand being met any time soon.”
Officials said that fewer people are entering veterinary professions and those who do often burn out and switch fields altogether.
Founded in the 1930s, the Ann Arbor Animal Hospital has been serving the area for nearly a century. In 2004, it opened its Emergency Service.
The final operating hours for its Emergency Room will be overnight Monday, March 13 to Tuesday, March 14 at 8 a.m.
The clinic will continue to offer primary care and urgent/critical care from 8 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m.-2 p.m. on the weekends.
The Ann Arbor Animal Hospital is located at 2150 W. Liberty St.