An Iowa City veterinary hospital is seeing a big increase in patients. KCRG-TV9 reports Bright Eyes and Bushy Tails Veterinary Hospital has seen four times the workload since last week's derecho.
The hospital says its work load initially doubled due to the coronavirus pandemic. “It has been ‘bonkers,’ is the easiest way for me to say,” Jessica Martens, the Hospital Manager at Bright Eyes and Bushy Tails Veterinary Hospital in Iowa City tells KCRG-TV 9.
“We’re all in the same boat,” Martens says. No matter what size of practice, what type of medicine you’re experiencing, the client load, the patient cases, they’re just out of control.”
Since the pandemic, she says the staff was handling twice the workload. Now with the aftermath from the derecho, as people look for options to treat their pets, it’s four times as busy.
“Even the Eastern Iowa Emergency Clinic and then the Quad Cities was closed for a period of time,” Martens said. “And so all of those emergencies and critical patients were filtered to us.”
She says just like any emergency facility they start with the most critical patients. “And we have a dedicated ICU that runs 24/7, so we also had patients within the hospital that needed extensive care.”
For the loving pet owners who have to wait outside the hospital Martens says stay calm and know that the staff is working through the times, like everyone else.
(Photo by KCRG-TV 9)