When people say, “My family,” they often mean parents, kids and siblings. But for some, that family includes the furry guy sitting under the dining room table waiting for something to be dropped.
The staff at Grand Avenue Veterinary Center know pets are family, and those family members deserve the best care. The center was founded in 1985 by Dr. Nancy Balto and Dr. Diane Borreson (then Zurcher), who wanted to open an innovative center capable of performing services such as X-rays and surgeries.
They pitched the idea of a vet clinic to the neighbors and city, and opened their doors on February 11, 1985. Their clients were nearly all family members and friends, and for the first five years, it was just Balto and Borreson running the shop, prepping for surgeries and hoping the phone didn’t ring too often.
But in 1990, they got some part-time help from Dr. Ann Brownlee, who had just graduated from veterinary school in 1989. Slowly her one-day-a-week turned into two days, then three, and in 1995, Borreson retired and Brownlee started on the track to become a partner. Balto, meanwhile, was working in some capacity, doing house calls until 2006 when she officially left the clinic, though she still brings her own animals in.
In 30 years, apart from Brownlee taking the reins after Balto left, what has changed at the Grand Avenue Veterinary Center is not the level to which the doctors care, but the type of care they are able to give. As soon as they were able, Balto and Borreson brought vet students into the practice to assist the staff; the clinic now has a formal mentoring program for vet and pre-vet students with Macalester, St. Thomas, St. Catherine’s, Hamline and the University of Minnesota.
“As far as medicine goes, standard of care has changed dramatically in 30 years,” Brownlee says. The clinic keeps up with modern technology and is now American Animal Hospital Association-certified, which is bestowed upon only 15 percent of practices in the United States. The clinic offers digital radiology and dentistry, and works with specialists in dermatology, cardiology and ophthalmology. For Gloria Raheja and her golden retrievers, the primary treatment makes clients feel like part of the family. “Somehow the doctors and vet techs there have a way of convincing their canine visitors that the most special dog in the world has just walked in the door,” Raheja says.
Part of owning a pet, however, is the knowledge that their lives are usually shorter than ours. When Raheja’s previous golden, Cooper, developed lymphoma in January 2010, the staff was there to help her through the process. “The Grand Avenue vets guided us through every phase of his illness with great skill and compassion: the initial testing, the referrals to the University of Minnesota veterinary hospital for chemotherapy… I always trusted their counsel in everything.” When Cooper passed away, Raheja received a letter signed with personal notes from everyone in the office. “Even after he left us, they were still making us feel that he was the most special dog in the world.”
Whether Brownlee and the other vets are dealing with emotional cases such as Raheja’s, performing surgeries like spays and neuters, or working on routine appointments for puppies, kittens, or sick and geriatric animals, every day is different for these vets. “They love what they do,” Brownlee says. “I’ve been doing this for 26 years and every day – I’m never not happy to be here.”
