Animal Welfare Professionals

Hi all,

I'm hoping to hear from people that have purchased Mobile Veterinary Spay/Neuter or Wellness truck or trailers.  We are considering everything from a short little 22' Cargo Van for Wellness/Vaccinations only) to a 30' one that includes a surgical suite.

We we will cover a large region: parking in a city, and also driving long distances to rural areas. 

What I hope anyone out there with a van can take the time to comment on is what size you chose, and whether or not it turned out to be the right size. 

What configurations and what you would change about it or anything. 

Thank you everyone!

Teresa

#AccesstoCare
#Medicine,SurgeryandSterilization
#OrganizationalManagement

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Teresa McKernan
Senior Direction, Veterinary Services
BC SPCA
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Hi Teresa,

We do not have a mobile clinic, but worked directly with an organization who had a statewide mobile clinic service and would come to our site regularly.  Having been in their truck, it was a 30' purpose built clinic truck with a surgical table and recovery area.  You would walk in at the front of truck through a side door, then heading back on the left was cabinets and countertop storage, on the right were more storage and some shor-line style stacked cages, then through to the back was the surgical table with a light and accessibility on 3 sides.

From the short amount of time I spent in there:

• It was incredibly cramped, to accommodate the cages and clinic storage, you had to walk through the center of the truck sideways to fit
• The surgical area was still pretty small and hard to manoeuver around with a vet and support staff
• They had small recovery cages but we provided a whole room for pre/post surgical holding and pet recovery because there was only enough room in the truck for 1-2 dogs and 2-4 cats at a time.
• They generally had the vet with a tech in the truck doing surgeries and another assistant in the holding room for dealing with the public and animal prep.

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Jeff Okazaki
Humane Society of Jefferson County
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Hi Jeff,

thank you for that information. How did you provide the additional room for the pre/post surgical holding and pet recovery? and for the assistant? Did you park next to a brick and mortar location? 

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Teresa McKernan
Senior Direction, Veterinary Services
BC SPCA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 02-14-2023 11:30 AM
From: Jeff Okazaki
Subject: Feedback on Mobile Spay/Neuter or Wellness clinics truck size and configuration

Hi Teresa,

We do not have a mobile clinic, but worked directly with an organization who had a statewide mobile clinic service and would come to our site regularly.  Having been in their truck, it was a 30' purpose built clinic truck with a surgical table and recovery area.  You would walk in at the front of truck through a side door, then heading back on the left was cabinets and countertop storage, on the right were more storage and some shor-line style stacked cages, then through to the back was the surgical table with a light and accessibility on 3 sides.

From the short amount of time I spent in there:

• It was incredibly cramped, to accommodate the cages and clinic storage, you had to walk through the center of the truck sideways to fit
• The surgical area was still pretty small and hard to manoeuver around with a vet and support staff
• They had small recovery cages but we provided a whole room for pre/post surgical holding and pet recovery because there was only enough room in the truck for 1-2 dogs and 2-4 cats at a time.
• They generally had the vet with a tech in the truck doing surgeries and another assistant in the holding room for dealing with the public and animal prep.

------------------------------
Jeff Okazaki
Humane Society of Jefferson County
------------------------------

Thanks Teresa,

I have looked online and found some virtual tours given of units that are owned by various practices.   They will post them on their websites for their clients.  I found them helpful for visualizing how using one would look as far as workflow and understanding mobile units in a little more real way.  I have never used one or even been inside one other than a recreational RV so it was challenging for me to be planning for one without user  experience.   I have plans to get inside some and see them first hand but the virtual tours helped me.  Also, I got a tape measure and put the dimensions on the ground to see what the spacing is for movement when we got to the first set of schematics.  Inches really start to matter in a space like this so I would be as precise as you can.  Good Luck!  How exciting for your organization!

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Kirsten White, DVM
Clinical Assistant Professor, Shelter Medicine
School of Veterinary Medicine of Rowan University
Mullica Hill, NJ 08062
856-256-5986
whitekk@rowan.edu
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Hi Kirsten,

Thank you for that! Yes, I found some on youtube too - some are good and some use the fish eye lens LOL. that is a great idea to tape out everything and try to manoeuvre in that space. Thanks for the advice. Teresa

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Teresa McKernan
Senior Direction, Veterinary Services
BC SPCA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 02-15-2023 06:30 AM
From: Kirsten White
Subject: Feedback on Mobile Spay/Neuter or Wellness clinics truck size and configuration

Thanks Teresa,

I have looked online and found some virtual tours given of units that are owned by various practices.   They will post them on their websites for their clients.  I found them helpful for visualizing how using one would look as far as workflow and understanding mobile units in a little more real way.  I have never used one or even been inside one other than a recreational RV so it was challenging for me to be planning for one without user  experience.   I have plans to get inside some and see them first hand but the virtual tours helped me.  Also, I got a tape measure and put the dimensions on the ground to see what the spacing is for movement when we got to the first set of schematics.  Inches really start to matter in a space like this so I would be as precise as you can.  Good Luck!  How exciting for your organization!

------------------------------
Kirsten White, DVM
Clinical Assistant Professor, Shelter Medicine
School of Veterinary Medicine of Rowan University
Mullica Hill, NJ 08062
856-256-5986
whitekk@rowan.edu
------------------------------

Hi Teresa,

We have purchased a mobile clinic. We purchased a LaBoit 33' vehicle. We helped plan how the interior was created.  We have an autoclave, prep table and a surgery suite. I would suggest having 1 surgery table instead of the 2 we have. This will help you have a bit more storage for surgical packs in the surgical suite vs in containers on top of the cages. For spay and neuter clinics, we found it was difficult to fit a dog over 45 pounds on the shorter surgery tables that were placed in the surgical suite. 

I have included a few photos to get the idea of our mobile clinic. I can provide more photos of how we organized our supplies if you would like, but you can get an idea of what our clinic looks like. You don't need to walk sideways to get through the area, so that is a plus. We tend to only have 5 team members schedule on the vehicle, but can be more for people sharing information outside of the vehicle. 

jpeabody@arflife.org for any questions you may have

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Jennifer Peabody
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Your van is beautiful!! thank you so much for the pictures. Yes, I would love to talk to you more. Would it be OK if I contacted you via email? 

Thanks

teresa

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Teresa McKernan
Senior Direction, Veterinary Services
BC SPCA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 02-16-2023 12:55 PM
From: Jennifer Peabody
Subject: Feedback on Mobile Spay/Neuter or Wellness clinics truck size and configuration

Hi Teresa,

We have purchased a mobile clinic. We purchased a LaBoit 33' vehicle. We helped plan how the interior was created.  We have an autoclave, prep table and a surgery suite. I would suggest having 1 surgery table instead of the 2 we have. This will help you have a bit more storage for surgical packs in the surgical suite vs in containers on top of the cages. For spay and neuter clinics, we found it was difficult to fit a dog over 45 pounds on the shorter surgery tables that were placed in the surgical suite. 

I have included a few photos to get the idea of our mobile clinic. I can provide more photos of how we organized our supplies if you would like, but you can get an idea of what our clinic looks like. You don't need to walk sideways to get through the area, so that is a plus. We tend to only have 5 team members schedule on the vehicle, but can be more for people sharing information outside of the vehicle. 

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Jennifer Peabody
------------------------------