Dr. Kirsten Ness hopes renovations will be done by the fall.
One business that did not suffer during the pandemic was the animal industry.
Dr. Kirsten Ness, owner and veterinarian at the Glenridge Animal Hospital, said they’ve always been busy, but they noticed a boom during the pandemic.
“When COVID hit, there was a mass retirement, plus there is a lot of women in the workforce in veterinary medicine who have a conflict a lot of times with raising a young family,” she said. “At the same time, people were home with their pets because they had nowhere to go. So they were observing things that they hadn’t maybe seen before. But now it’s kind of in your face when you have to look at it all the time with your cat or your dog or whatever, and now you’ve got the time to come and actually see the vet, which you never had before.”
That, coupled with people getting new animals during the pandemic, created the perfect situation for local clinics to be completely booked.
Soon, Ness found their 1,200-square-foot space in the Glenridge Plaza to be too small for the expanding business.
When Modo Yoga, a 6,000-square-foot space just a few doors down closed, Ness saw the opportunity for expansion.
But what would she do with all that extra space? Ness said she wants to use it to become a referral hospital, so pet owners don’t have to go to Mississauga or Guelph for specialized care.
“The Niagara region in general is growing dramatically population wise, and there’s absolutely no referral service available to us,” she said. “We will we have advanced diagnostic imaging capabilities which are not available in the region. I plan to hire for specialists, I’m looking for internal medicine, probably a surgical specialist, a cardiologist and dermatologist, if I can find them.”
While Ness admits she’s built the cart before she has the horse, she believes that once it’s all built and ready to go, the specialists will come.
“At the very least, we can do the imaging, even before I have specialists in there,” she said. “But the point is to have Glenridge Animal Hospital and Referral Centre, so that we have our own clients, but other clinics in the area can refer to the referral practice part of it and get imaging done.”
In addition to adding the referral centre, Ness said they have an exotic animal veterinarian starting in the clinic as well.
She will be able to see almost any animal, not just cats and dogs.
Oddly enough, practice manager Amanda Dalgleish said they get a lot of calls from people hoping they’ll see their backyard chickens.
Although the new exotic vet hasn’t even started yet, the practice said her first couple of weeks are already filling up.
While there are some exotic veterinarians in the city, Ness said the problem is they are spread too thin.
“Unless you have one already, getting an exotics (vet) can be very difficult, and they’re full because they’re just spread so thin,” she said. “So even though this doctor will be coming to us to do dogs and cats, she’s also doing exotics, and word has already gotten around.”
Personally, Ness said the expansion is a big step for her.
“I know lots and lots about managing regular practice and a lot about urgent care and emergencies … managing is something I really like to do and have taken extra business courses (for). I’m starting on my MBA, actually,” she said. “It’s an exciting challenge going forward. I’m 57 now. I want to work at least another ten years, but not necessarily doing the daily appointments. I would really like to continue to manage a really happy, nontoxic, functional referral centre and general practice here in St. Catharines. That’s the goal.”
Ideally, Ness is hoping the new centre will be ready to go by September.
