EllenD
New member
- Aug 20, 2016
- 3,979
- 68
- Parrots
- Senegal Parrot named "Kane"; Yellow-Sided Green Cheek Conure named "Bowie"; Blue Quaker Parrot named "Lita Ford"; Cockatiel named "Duff"; 8 American/English Budgie Hybrids; Ringneck Dove named "Dylan"
So I thought I would write a quick post about the new TV show on Animal Planet (new to me I mean, apparently it's been on for 5 seasons already, I just saw it for the first time yesterday, lol)...It's called "Dr. Jeff: Rocky Mountain Vet", and is about a Veterinary Clinic in Denver, CO called "Planned Pethood" that is run by a General Veterinarian name Dr. Jeff (I didn't catch his last name)...They have 10 Veterinarians on-staff and 30 employees total, and are pretty much open 365 days a year (including Christmas and other holidays, as Dr. Jeff lives upstairs in an apartment above the clinic)...I guess he's had this clinic there in the same place for over 30 years, so people in the Denver area are probably aware of it...
The reason I wanted to write a post about this guy and his Vet clinic/surgical center is not because they specialize in birds (though they do have an Avian Vet on-staff, though it's not Dr. Jeff, he's a General dog/cat/large-animal and livestock Vet and great General and Orthopedic Surgeon), but because of what this guy and the rest of his Vets, Vet Techs, and the rest of his staff do every single day...I was absolutely blown-away with this guy and his staff and what they do for people, and the reason why they have over 70,000 regular, long-time patients and treat over 200,000 patients every year...
This clinic purposely does not make much of a profit at all on anything, and Dr. Jeff lives above the clinic in a tiny, dingy little apartment by-choice for a reason...The average overall-cost of any major surgery to any type of animal, such as Orthopedic-repairs with screws, pins, plates, etc., major open-Abdominal surgeries to remove a Bowel-obstruction or to repair internal bleeding, etc. is between $300-$800 total...That's TOTAL, for EVERYTHING, including the Vet's/Surgeon's fee, the supplies used during the surgery, all of the medications, IV's and fluids, and even the General Anesthesia costs...along with the total hospital stay that on-average is 3-4 days...That's it, that's what they typically charge someone, IF THEY CHARGE THAT! One of the Vet-Techs came on and was talking about the cost of most major surgeries that they do, and he made a statement of "We don't feel it's necessary to charge between $2,500-$5,000 for a surgery like they charge insurance companies for human surgeries. We choose not to make a profit and our Vets make the decision when they take a job here that they will not be making any individual Vet fees, they just get a flat monthly salary, and it's not much. But that's why they choose to come here, because they'd rather help animals and their owners than to make six-figures in most Veterinary Clinics who regularly either send people who can't pay away, or that are euthanizing people's pets that could be saved but the people can't afford the surgery or treatments. That's not what Jeff is about."...
I watched the entire first season yesterday while Bowie slept on my chest (he's still recovering from his horrible accident, he looks like he was scalped, but he's okay)...During the entire first season, I think it was 12 episodes, there had to be AT LEAST 10 different sets of people who came into this clinic with their dogs, cats, and one rabbit and who were completely homeless and either living in their cars with their pets or living on the streets/backpacking and camping in the woods. There pets were either seriously injured (lots of dogs and cats hit by cars, or attacked by other animals) or suddenly became seriously ill, and that had already been turned away by multiple other Vet clinics/offices in the Denver area (one said they wouldn't even euthanize their dog for free for them, they wanted $200 to do that and just sent them away with the dog suffering)...And Dr. Jeff treated every single one ENTIRELY FOR FREE...Didn't charge any of these people a cent, he only asked that if they could pay $5 then they paid $5...Most of them needed major surgeries, lots of medications, and stayed in the clinic hospital for at least a few days to over a week in some cases...These people would have had to pay anywhere between $2,000 up to $6,500 (that's the range they were all quoted at the other clinics all around Denver), and this place didn't charge them a cent...Why? Well according to Dr. Jeff, he said "I love helping all animals, and I will always help a person that I can tell loves their animal. And these people who are homeless, or have lost their job, or have suffered some serious health issue themselves and lost everything because they couldn't work, their animals are what is getting them through this hard patch in their lives. So if I can help their animals, then I can help them."...
I couldn't believe this place, I really couldn't...His daughter is the office manager, and she said that at the end of every month her dad comes to her and asks "Did we make payroll and pay all the bills this month? Is the account on the positive side?" And she said that if the answer to both of those questions is yes, then he's thrilled and all is right with world...And he often doesn't take a paycheck himself at all, and there have been months where we weren't able to pay one or two of the Vets on-staff, and typically when that happens we have them all volunteering to give-up their paycheck that month or saying they can wait for it until next month. And they're fine with that because it means that they helped animals and their owners stay together and happy. And they always come back when things get better for them and give us money, some pay us $10 a month for years even though they don't have to, they want to pay it back. So we'll always get by as long as we have employees that are okay not driving Mercedes or BMW's and not living in huge, $500,000+ houses. It's not for everyone, but we have had the same staff of Vets and Vet Techs for years and years, and we keep getting resumes of new Vet School grads wanting to work here"...
The reason I wanted to write a post about this guy and his Vet clinic/surgical center is not because they specialize in birds (though they do have an Avian Vet on-staff, though it's not Dr. Jeff, he's a General dog/cat/large-animal and livestock Vet and great General and Orthopedic Surgeon), but because of what this guy and the rest of his Vets, Vet Techs, and the rest of his staff do every single day...I was absolutely blown-away with this guy and his staff and what they do for people, and the reason why they have over 70,000 regular, long-time patients and treat over 200,000 patients every year...
This clinic purposely does not make much of a profit at all on anything, and Dr. Jeff lives above the clinic in a tiny, dingy little apartment by-choice for a reason...The average overall-cost of any major surgery to any type of animal, such as Orthopedic-repairs with screws, pins, plates, etc., major open-Abdominal surgeries to remove a Bowel-obstruction or to repair internal bleeding, etc. is between $300-$800 total...That's TOTAL, for EVERYTHING, including the Vet's/Surgeon's fee, the supplies used during the surgery, all of the medications, IV's and fluids, and even the General Anesthesia costs...along with the total hospital stay that on-average is 3-4 days...That's it, that's what they typically charge someone, IF THEY CHARGE THAT! One of the Vet-Techs came on and was talking about the cost of most major surgeries that they do, and he made a statement of "We don't feel it's necessary to charge between $2,500-$5,000 for a surgery like they charge insurance companies for human surgeries. We choose not to make a profit and our Vets make the decision when they take a job here that they will not be making any individual Vet fees, they just get a flat monthly salary, and it's not much. But that's why they choose to come here, because they'd rather help animals and their owners than to make six-figures in most Veterinary Clinics who regularly either send people who can't pay away, or that are euthanizing people's pets that could be saved but the people can't afford the surgery or treatments. That's not what Jeff is about."...
I watched the entire first season yesterday while Bowie slept on my chest (he's still recovering from his horrible accident, he looks like he was scalped, but he's okay)...During the entire first season, I think it was 12 episodes, there had to be AT LEAST 10 different sets of people who came into this clinic with their dogs, cats, and one rabbit and who were completely homeless and either living in their cars with their pets or living on the streets/backpacking and camping in the woods. There pets were either seriously injured (lots of dogs and cats hit by cars, or attacked by other animals) or suddenly became seriously ill, and that had already been turned away by multiple other Vet clinics/offices in the Denver area (one said they wouldn't even euthanize their dog for free for them, they wanted $200 to do that and just sent them away with the dog suffering)...And Dr. Jeff treated every single one ENTIRELY FOR FREE...Didn't charge any of these people a cent, he only asked that if they could pay $5 then they paid $5...Most of them needed major surgeries, lots of medications, and stayed in the clinic hospital for at least a few days to over a week in some cases...These people would have had to pay anywhere between $2,000 up to $6,500 (that's the range they were all quoted at the other clinics all around Denver), and this place didn't charge them a cent...Why? Well according to Dr. Jeff, he said "I love helping all animals, and I will always help a person that I can tell loves their animal. And these people who are homeless, or have lost their job, or have suffered some serious health issue themselves and lost everything because they couldn't work, their animals are what is getting them through this hard patch in their lives. So if I can help their animals, then I can help them."...
I couldn't believe this place, I really couldn't...His daughter is the office manager, and she said that at the end of every month her dad comes to her and asks "Did we make payroll and pay all the bills this month? Is the account on the positive side?" And she said that if the answer to both of those questions is yes, then he's thrilled and all is right with world...And he often doesn't take a paycheck himself at all, and there have been months where we weren't able to pay one or two of the Vets on-staff, and typically when that happens we have them all volunteering to give-up their paycheck that month or saying they can wait for it until next month. And they're fine with that because it means that they helped animals and their owners stay together and happy. And they always come back when things get better for them and give us money, some pay us $10 a month for years even though they don't have to, they want to pay it back. So we'll always get by as long as we have employees that are okay not driving Mercedes or BMW's and not living in huge, $500,000+ houses. It's not for everyone, but we have had the same staff of Vets and Vet Techs for years and years, and we keep getting resumes of new Vet School grads wanting to work here"...
