Auburn dedicates new small animal teaching hospital

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Auburn University dedicated the new Wilford and Kate Bailey Small Animal Teaching Hospital at the College of Veterinary Medicine on April 11 with a ceremonial ribbon cutting and tours of the 208,000-square-foot facility.

Dean Calvin Johnson said, “In dedicating this beautiful facility, this college pledges to cultivate the skills, knowledge, and attitudes that promote career success for students, to serve the public by offering the most advanced standards of veterinary medical care, and to expand veterinary biomedical knowledge through innovative and impactful research.”

The hospital is named for the late Dr. Wilford and Cratus “Kate” Bailey. Dr. Wilford Bailey, a 1942 graduate of the veterinary college, devoted 50 years of continuous academic and administrative service to Auburn, including serving as the university’s 13th president.

The $47 million facility handles about 15,000 cases annually. The hospital encompasses 12 clinical services: cardiology, critical care, neurology and neurosurgery, oncology, radiology, orthopedics, physical therapy and rehabilitation, internal medicine, general surgery, ophthalmology, dermatology, and theriogenology.

The new building also houses a pharmacy serving both the small and large animal teaching hospitals; a clinical pathology department; an 82-seat, high-tech conference room as well as smaller meeting spaces to expand the college’s instructional and outreach capabilities; and the Auburn University Veterinary Clinic. The clinic, which is open to the public, provides veterinary students with experience in operating a small animal practice.

The teaching hospital can accommodate 150 fourth-year clinical students in addition to residents, interns, faculty, and staff. The surgery complex has areas for anesthesia, surgical preparation, operating rooms, nurses’ stations, patient recovery, and central sterile supply. Two state-of-the-art radiology machines, at a cost of nearly $1 million, complement the Holland M. Ware Imaging Facility.