Fall is a time for reflection, for sinking our roots deep and allowing them to settle so that we can survive all that winter brings. It’s also a time for planning, and a time for transition. I’m a gardener, and for us gardeners fall is a delightful time. Fall is when we plant many things that we hope will surprise and delight us when next spring and summer come. We gardeners plant bulbs, and shrubs, and trees in the fall; we prune some plants; and we divide our lovely perennials and replant them, to encourage the growth of strong new plants in our gardens next year. We watch over our fall root crops, knowing that some will be harvestable well into the winter. Other fall crops are gathered now, and carefully stored, to sustain us until spring. But mostly, we dream of what marvelous new things we will see as winter inevitable segues into spring - all as a result of the efforts we’ve put in now.
We’ve done much of the same at Knollwood this fall. The economic changes that have caused many of you to hunker down, pull in, and simplify your lives have affected us, too. While I’m proud to say that, unlike many small businesses, we have never had to let any staff members go nor have we cut anyone’s hours, we have not replaced some of those who have moved on to new jobs or who have left to continue their schooling. And we’ve definitely had to be more creative in utilizing the people we have and the computer equipment and other medical tools we use on a day-to-day basis.
We’re still getting used to our new computer software and we sincerely appreciate your patience as we wind through the inevitable months it takes to learn how to fully utilize a new system. We just started working with our Cornerstone system in late July. Once we’re fully operational, we’ll be able to serve you so much better than we were able to with our old system! E-mailing medical records (even x-rays and blood tests), developing an e-mail system of communication with all of you, and being able to offer immediate alerts to all of our clients simultaneously in the event of a pet food crisis like we had several years ago will be a reality soon!
We’ve made some necessary changes to the days and hours that our hospital is open, based on a careful and thorough assessment of client visits per day over the past two years. While we’ve remained busy on most weekdays, with many of you asking for both earlier and later hours each day, we’ve seen Saturday visits decline to the point where we’ve had only one to three patients visiting the hospital on Saturdays in the past 6 months. So, we’ve modified our hours by extending our weekday hours and eliminating the Saturday hours.
We are now available to you every weekday from 8 in the morning until 8 in the evening. This makes our first appointment of the day available at 8am, and the last at 7:30 pm. Each Doctor works four days a week, and on three of those days, one of us starts early and one of us starts later and stays until the hospital closes. Dr. Bhatt is available to you on all weekdays except Tuesday, and I am available all weekdays except Wednesday. I am the late evening Doctor on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays; Dr. Bhatt is the late evening Doctor on Wednesday and Fridays. Already, we’ve seen a surge of early morning and late evening appointments, and we welcome these!
We've made some staff changes at Knollwood that we think will please you. We’ve been searching for a long time for another well qualified veterinary Nurse, and we recently hired Leslie, who has worked since the early 80’s at some of the same day and emergency hospitals in the past as Dr. Mitchell. She and Dr. Mitchell share a similar practice philosophy and practice style, and her job skills complement those of our existing Nursing staff very well. Leslie will be pinch-hitting until after Thanksgiving, covering as many hours as she can while Nurse Jill enjoys the new baby boy that she and her husband welcomed into the world this past weekend. You can read more about Leslie on our staff page. Former Knollwood Nurse Ashley L. has settled nicely into her new class schedule as a freshman student at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine. Ashley L. gained admittance into this veterinary program after a stellar undergraduate career that she completed while working with us, and we couldn’t be prouder of her!
Many of you will also remember Nurse Assistant Ashley J., who was scheduled to depart for an Army tour of duty in Afghanistan. We recently heard from Ashley that her tour had been cancelled and that she was anxious to re-join the Knollwood team. I was delighted and of course, I hired her back as soon as I found out that she was available! Ashley is here to greet you some days at the front desk as a Receptionist; other days she’ll be assisting our Doctors. She has also begun coursework at a local college.
Nurse Assistant Lea and Hospital Support Staff member Kelsey have also stepped up to the plate to take on some front desk duties while we train our newest Reception team members. Lea will continue a busy working schedule with us while she completes her associate degree locally, preparatory to seeking admission into the Joliet Veterinary Technician program. Kelsey has so enjoyed her front desk duties that she’s asked to join our staff full time, with as many Reception hours as possible - we were delighted to say yes! Deanna also recently joined us at the reception desk, full time. She’s worked both in medical offices and veterinary offices, and she’s excited to be part of our team. You can read more about Deanna, Kelsey, Lea, and Ashley on our staff page.
Hospital Support Staff member Kiri Li comes to us after years of experience as a riding instructor - she’s also a volunteer at Anderson Animal Shelter. Have you been impressed with the cleanliness of our hospital? How it doesn’t smell - well, like an animal hospital? That’s all due to the work that Kiri Li (as well as Kelsey, on some days) invests. Both Kiri Li and Kelsey also assist with treatments for hospitalized pets, and they administer a large share of the TLC that your pet receives while staying with us. You can read more about the work that our Hospital Support Staff does on our staff page.
Lastly, we have created one new job at Knollwood (and will be retaining another). Why? Because we want to make sure that you always receive good value for the hard-earned dollars that you spend with us. Part of that is doing our best to obtain our supplies at the best cost possible and pay those suppliers promptly and fairly. We have hired a part-time, in-hospital accountant so that our own Quickbooks accounts can finally be properly and professionally maintained. We will also have Lea continue the excellent job she’s been doing of reviewing each and every client transaction (to make sure that you have received good value for your time spent with us), and each and every laboratory transaction (to make sure that you were charged fairly and not over charged).
Together as a team, we’ve worked hard since Labor Day weekend to do a thorough “fall cleaning” at Knollwood. That covers both the physical top-to-bottom cleaning and de-cluttering of our hospital, some serious soul-searching on the part of each and every team member about their purpose at Knollwood, and a thorough weekend smudging/saging of the hospital (with our smoke detectors temporarily de-activated, of course!). We’ve eliminated a lot of physical and mental junk, some “stuck” energy, and I’m delighted to say that we now have a team of workers who are all 100% glad to be at Knollwood, and who are focused on YOU and the needs of your pet.
I’m particularly invested in the fall garden metaphor with which I started this message, because I’m both a gardener and a fall baby. In this month of my birth, I reflect on how we started here at Knollwood in 1993, when I opened Knollwood as my 40th birthday present to myself - it was a dream fulfilled! And now, close to 20 years later, I smile as I remember that we now have a number of staff members who weren’t even born yet when I graduated from the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine in 1983, the same one that Ashley L. just entered this fall.
We’ve done our fall garden work here at Knollwood: the necessary planning, collecting, storing, pruning, dividing, and replanting. I think we’ll be in great shape as we move forward. I hope you’ll think so, too.
