Coastal Care Veterinary Emergency & Referral Hospital

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Coastal Care Veterinary Emergency & Referral Hospital

Coastal Care Veterinary Emergency & Referral Hospital is coming soon to Halifax!
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01/10/2024

EDIT*** We are back online! Please phone (902) 703-2323. Thank you for your patience.

We are experiencing technical difficulties. Unfortunately, our phonelines are currently down but we are working to correct the problem.

If you are experiencing a veterinary medical emergency, please proceed to the hospital at 168 Hobson Lake Dr. In Bayers Lake. Our staff would be happy to help you upon your arrival.

We apologize for the inconvenience and we will update when it is fixed.

01/08/2024

We are very excited to announce that Coastal Care Veterinary Emergency & Referral Hospital is now open! As Nova Scotia`s first emergency & referral hospital we are incredibly proud of the hard work from our team that has lead to this moment.

We are located at 168 Hobson Lake Dr. in Bayers Lake.

Our 24 hour emergency department is now accepting patients. If your pet is experiencing concerning symptoms, is unwell or experiencing an emergency, please phone (902) 703-2323 - extension 9, to speak with one of our Customer Care Representatives.

Our specialty referral services also get underway today, with their pre-booked referral appointments. All initial specialty cases must come by referral from your family veterinarian, we cannot accept self-referrals. If you have already had an initial consult with one of our specialists and require a recheck from your last appointment, please phone (902) 703-2323 extension 2, to speak with our Referral Coordinator to arrange your booking.

We are excited to be able to help provide emergency and referral medicine to the pets of Nova Scotia and surrounding provinces.

01/02/2024

Coastal Care is thrilled to announce another member of our exotics department.

Dr. Noëlle Webb earned her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from the Atlantic Veterinary College, University of Prince Edward Island in 2018. Like many veterinarians, she dreamed of working with animals from a very young age. Her curiosity and enthusiasm for the diversity of the animal kingdom fuelled a strong interest in exotic and zoological medicine. After vet school graduation, she swapped coasts to complete an internship in exotic companion animal medicine and emergency care at the Center for Bird and Exotic Animal Medicine, a 24-hour intensive care and emergency facility in Bothell, Washington. From there she returned to Canada and worked as an Associate Veterinarian in a busy small animal and exotic practice in Nanaimo, British Columbia. Despite her deep love for the mountains and wildlife of BC, Dr. Webb felt Halifax calling her home, and made the move back in November of 2021. She is excited to be closer to her family and her East Coast roots.

Dr. Webb is a Fear-free™ certified veterinarian, dedicated to minimizing fear and anxiety for her patients when visiting the hospital. She is also a member of the Association of Exotic Small Mammal Veterinarians, Association of Avian Veterinarians, and Association of Amphibian and Reptile Veterinarians. Her professional interests include small mammal dentistry, microsurgery, hematology, and evidence-based medicine.

Dr. Webb was also the recipient of this year’s NSVMA’s “Young Veterinarian Award”, received making significant contributions to the veterinary profession and local community through her work to expand exotic veterinary medicine in the province. She is very excited to join Coastal Care and continue to offer modern and quality care for this historically under-served patient group.

When not at work, Dr. Webb enjoys hiking, kayaking, and landscape photography. She has a passion for languages, having studied French, Spanish, and German. During her undergraduate degree, she spent a semester abroad attending the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

01/01/2024

Happy New Year!

The final weeks of 2023 have been a busy time on site for our Coastal Care team. From construction progress to receiving and sorting supply orders, our entire team has been working hard to get things together for opening.

The preparations for opening have also included our ER doctors and support staff training with each of our hospital departments and their specialists. Ultrasound, transfusion medicine, cardiac emergencies, and exotic handling and assessment, everyone has been busy learning. Coastal Care encourages collaboration between departments and within the vet community to be able to provide better patient care.

12/30/2023

Things at the hospital are coming along nicely and we are in the home stretch. Although we are currently not open, we are preparing for the moment we can start seeing patients, and we need your help! We require gently used bedding and towels to be able to provide comfort and cleaning for our patients during their stay.

We are located at: 168 Hobson Lake Drive in Bayers Lake. We are situated on the righthand side of the building, suite 101.

As the hospital is currently closed we would appreciate any donations being dropped off from Tuesday through Friday, between the hours of 8am and 3pm. If you have a donation but are unable to make it to the hospital within that timeframe, please reach out and we can make arrangements to have a staff member collect at a more convenient time.

Items we would appreciate as donation:
Comforters
Throw blankets
Bath towels
Hand towels
Facecloths
Small to Medium Dog/ Cat washable beds

Items to avoid:
Blankets with strings and/or buttons
Duvets
Clothing
Ripped or torn items

12/26/2023

Auggie is here to share some pretty big news!

Coastal Care Veterinary Emergency & Referral Hospital is thrilled to announce that we are now booking appointments for cardiology, internal medicine, and non-critical surgery cases.

Your family veterinarian can now refer your pets to our available specialists for advanced diagnostics and treatment of complex cases. Our services can be accessed through the referral portal located on our website;
www.coastalcarevet.ca

All patient cases must come through as a referral from your family veterinary clinic. We would be happy to assist in answering any questions you or your veterinarian may have about our services.

We have even more referral services on the horizon. So follow along to hear about more exciting news!

12/17/2023

There's a lot of work that goes into building a veterinary hospital. It takes a whole team of very dedicated people in the background, putting in long days, including weekends.

Standing behind them is another team of family members and friends. They support our Coastal Care leadership as they work hard to get things done. They too, sometimes have to put in a little time over the weekend with us. Luckily, Madison was up for the task of some temporary signage in our storage space while her mom went through inventory. All that packing material can spark the imagination.

We are always so thankful for our teammates who have been working hard to make this happen and for the families that support them. Keep up the great work, everyone!

12/09/2023

"Great leaders build great organizations." - Dr. Gerald Bell

Over this past week, Coastal Care had the pleasure of hosting speakers from the Bell Leadership Institute of North Carolina. Our team participated in their Achievers Program to help strengthen our personal leadership skills and learn how each of us as individuals can help create a team that operates at its fullest potential.

We were fortunate to also be joined by our P3 Veterinary Partners co-founders; Dr. Nicole Judge, Chief Medical Officer and Bruce Campbell, CEO who participated alongside us throughout the program. They took this time to learn more about our team and to discuss our leadership goals while sharing insight of their own.

Thank you to the Bell Leadership Institute for the beautiful plaque they gifted us for our hospital and to P3 for supporting our team on its journey to be leaders within the industry. We look forward to enjoying more opportunities together as we continue to invest in our team.

www.coastalcarevet.ca

11/29/2023

As part of our mission to help provide more thorough and complete care for pets across Nova Scotia and the Atlantic Region, we are thrilled to announce a partnership with the Canadian Animal Blood Bank. Coastal Care Veterinary Emergency and Referral Hospital will proudly house Atlantic Canada’s newest emergency distribution depot. Learn more about our partnership here: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/November2023/23/c3829.html

We are proud to partner with CABB to support their mission to save the lives of pets in our communities by leading the forefront in education and transfusion medicine and by producing the highest quality blood products available to Veterinarians, dogs, and their families.

If you are looking for more information on donor criteria or how you can have your dog screened to become a donor, you can learn more on the Canadian Animal Blood Bank’s website https://canadiananimalbloodbank.ca/pet-owners/

11/26/2023

We had a wonderful evening at the Halifax Parade of Lights last night. Thank you to the organizers and sponsors. A lot of work goes into making these events happen, and our staff and their pups were so happy to be part of it. It was a great beginning to the holiday season! 🎄

11/25/2023

It might be a day with sub-zero temperatures, but our hearts are warm with holiday cheer!

This evening, you can find us kicking off the holiday season at Saltwire's Parade of Lights in downtown Halifax. Come on out to join the festivities. The parade starts at 6pm and will follow the route shown below.

11/15/2023

Although we are still several weeks away from being able to open the doors of our hospital to clients and their pets, we recognize the significant need for advanced care within the province. Because of this, we have begun some of our specialty services as quickly as we could organize them.

Our cardiologist, Dr. Jeremy Orr is seen here with his cardio RVTs; Ashley & Candis. They are currently operating as a mobile service, for the time being, to help treat cardiac patients around the province. Here they are performing an echocardiogram, commonly known as an echo, on little Simon. Echos are tests that use ultrasound to monitor the blood flow through the heart, allowing us to see how well the heart operates with every beat. Simon has hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, or thickening of the heart muscle. This thickening does not allow the heart to beat in the proper manner and if untreated can become life threatening. But, Simon did great for his check-up and will continue to be monitored regularly by Dr. Orr for his ongoing care. Great job Simon!

We look forward to being able to provide our specialty services for cardiology, internal medicine and surgery when our hospital opens. But our team will continue to do everything we can to get the patients of Nova Scotia the help they need in the meantime. If you would like to know more about our team and the services our hospital will be able to offer, follow us on our socials (Instagram & Facebook).

11/12/2023

Today was our first official Coastal Care CE (continued education) event with veterinarians and RVTs from around the province. Our Internal Medicine doctors, Dr. Susan Carr and Dr. Aleksandra Milaszewska spoke on diseases of the endocrine system, their diagnosis, and management tips.

Thank you to all those who attended today, and please contact us if you are a veterinary professional who would like to know when our next event will be.

11/07/2023

At Coastal Care Veterinary Emergency & Referral Hospital we look forward to being able to provide opportunities for many others within the industry; to learn and grow professionally. We are looking forward to creating partnerships within the veterinary community that will help foster our value of collaborative medicine. Being part of the journey for up and coming veterinarian students through the Atlantic Veterinary College, is something our ER doctors and specialists are very excited about.

Read about our newest partnership that we are eager to begin.

https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/coastal-care-veterinary-emergency-and-referral-hospital-the-atlantic-veterinary-college-and-p3-veterinary-partners-announce-a-strategic-partnership-to-advance-veterinary-education-in-atlantic-canada-869237691.html

10/30/2023

We are so happy to welcome our next RVT to our team! She is no stranger to fast-paced environments and will bring her enthusiasm for medicine to our Emergency & ICU departments.

Dana grew up in Nova Scotia. After completing her registered veterinary technician program at Dalhousie University in 2018 she moved to Newfoundland to being her journey into emergency medicine. She eventually moved to Ontario where she continued to advance her technician skills within a busy general practice clinic. She comes to Coastal Care with a special interest in dentistry - but ultimately loves all aspects of medicine.

In her free time, when she is not chasing after her toddler, she enjoys experiencing the English language. From reading and writing to performing rap! She has also been working on writing her own novel for quite some time now. Dana also loves humor in the form of bad jokes, dad jokes and puns. The more it makes people groan, the more she tends to enjoy them. She shares her home with her toddler and their cat.

We are looking forward to sharing our time with Dana as she helps us provide emergency care for the pets of Nova Scotia.

10/28/2023

Our next hard-working registered veterinary technician (RVT) is excited to be joining Coastal Care's ER and ICU departments.

Hailey grew up in Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia. She has worked with animals from a very young age, as she grew up horseback riding. She now lives on a family beef farm with her partner and their border collie pup, Case.

Hailey has been a registered veterinary technician since 2020, after graduating from Maritime Business College. Since that time, she has been working in general practice clinics. But, her drive to grow, learn, and advance her skills have led her to our team at Coastal Care. She is thrilled to embark on a new adventure to help care for your pets while working alongside our ER doctors and board-certified specialists.

When not in the hospital or tending to the farm, Hailey enjoys going on hikes, spending time with friends and family, horseback riding, and four-wheeling. We are happy to have Hailey join our team!

10/23/2023

Emergency medicine can be a high intensity field to take on, requiring a cool head and a strong heart. With long shifts that often contain more critical moments than they do breaks, we really appreciate any support staff that dedicates themselves to this department. At Coastal Care we will offer 24/7 emergency care and our next RVT is someone who will help provide a level of expertise within our ER and ICU departments.

Sam graduated from Dalhousie University's RVT program in 2018. She immediately focused on which field of medicine she wanted to pursue. She has been working in emergency and critical care ever since. Sam has spent the last three years working as the Critical Care team lead in Calgary, AB and is currently working to specialize in Emergency & Critical Care (ECC) certification. She loves mentoring new techs and training advanced skills like central line placements and blood donations. She has always loved managing respiratory cases and is passionate about transfusion medicine.

When she isn't in the hospital saving lives, Sam can be found off on adventures with her Shih Tzu named River or at home with her cat named Milo. We are excited to welcome Sam to our ER and ICU teams, where she will help provide emergency medicine to the patients of Nova Scotia.

10/20/2023

RVT's often find avenues within medicine that spark an interest and then continue to pursue education and training to advance their knowledge. Their innate sense of dedication to their trade and their skills is what helps provide exceptional care to our patients. Some RVT's then begin focusing their career on those particular interests. When we met Ashley, we knew in a heartbeat that she would be the perfect fit for Coastal Care's cardiology department!

Ashley has been an RVT since graduating in 2018 from Northern College in Haileybury, Ontario. For the past 5 years she has worked within general practice but has a special interest in cardiology. Which is why she will be joining our cardiologist, Dr. Jeremy Orr to provide diagnostics and treatment for the patients of Coastal Care.
When she is not in clinic, Ashley enjoys spending time with her three cats, Leo, Sophia, and LooLoo, who are all full of beans, and love cuddling. She can also be found being active and getting out to do some hiking and kayaking, or settling in to do some reading, or refurbishing furniture.

We look forward to having Ashley on our team at Coastal Care, helping to provide cardiology services for the pets of Nova Scotia.

10/18/2023

Today's RVT highlight is Kiley! She will be joining Coastal Care's Emergency and ICU departments to help care for the pets of Nova Scotia. Here is a little more about Kiley.

Kiley graduated from Dalhousie University’s Veterinary Technology program in 2019. Her special interests consist of animal behavior and emergency medicine. Outside of the clinic, she is currently working towards becoming a certified professional dog trainer! Although her lessons are directed towards our canine companions, in her spare time she enjoys working towards trick titles with her kitten Sebastian; seen here. She also loves spending time with her senior dilute calico, Kim. Much like other Haligonians, Kiley also likes enjoying her free time by heading out to a trail for some hiking or setting off on road trips with friends.

We are looking forward to having Kiley as part of our dedicated ER and ICU team at Coastal Care. We also look forward to having Sebastian come by to show off some tricks for treats! 🎃

10/16/2023

Our next RVT that we are happy to introduce is, Hannah!

Hannah is an RVT of 4.5 years, graduating in 2019 from Maritime Business College. She brings a special interest in veterinary emergency and critical care, which is why you will find her in the ER and ICU department! She is definitely a cat person and has 2 cats at home. She tends to love every cat she meets, even if they aren't as happy to meet her. She doesn't take offense.

Even when she isn't in a clinic practicing her tech skills, she seems to always be doing something animal or veterinary related. When not in hospital you will find her painting pet portraits or working on education materials to help fellow technicians improve their standards of care; which she shares through her own Etsy shop!

Here she can be seen after successfully resuscitating an unresponsive neonate after a C-section birth. A lot of happy tears were shed before this moment was captured.

We are thrilled to have Hannah joining our Coastal Care team!

10/13/2023

Our first RVT that we are highlighting for RVT Month, is a little extra exciting for us. This is because, she is also our first announcement of our Coastal Care Exotics Department! More information will follow about our whole exotics team and how you can access their care, but we couldn't wait to share our wonderful RVTs.

RVTs work hard to continue their education throughout their career and Christina is a prime example of how extensive that can be.

Christina has been working as a veterinary technician since 2004. She began her journey working full-time in a general/emergency practice. During that time she took on side contracts in zoological collection management, teaching, and laboratory medicine. Christina then continued on to completed her Bachelor's of Environmental and Agricultural Science majoring in Applied Zoology from McGill University in 2011. After moving to Nova Scotia in 2014 she has since been working predominantly with exotic animals!

She is currently working towards earning her Veterinary Technician Specialty in Clinical Practice (Exotic Companion Animal), while continuing public and vet tech education efforts on social media. She is often very busy between the her exotics work, sitting on various committees and working as a conference chair. But, her precious free time is spent relaxing with her dogs, reptiles, and partner. Christina is thrilled to be working closely with the other teams at Coastal Care Veterinary Emergency & Referral Hospital to be able to offer more complete 24/7 care and advanced medicine to the exotic pets of the Maritimes.

We are thrilled to have Christina join us at Coastal Care and please follow Coastal Care Veterinary Emergency & Referral Hospital and Christina for more informative exotics content!

10/11/2023

October is RVT Month!

Registered Veterinary Technicans (RVTs) are a critical and hard-working component in every hospital. They take on many roles within their day and throughout their career, all while continuing to advance their education in their field.

We want to say thank you to all RVTs who contribute to the safe, quality medical care that they help to provide. We couldn't do it without you!

Stay tuned for the rest of this month as we share some of our own dedicated technicians who will be joining us at Coastal Care Veterinary Emergency & Referral Hospital later this year.

10/07/2023

It has been a very busy year so far for our Coastal Care team! Construction, recruitment and planning has been no small feat. From tradespeople, to team members and team leaders, everyone has been very dedicated to what we are building.

With a full ER team and several board-certified specialists on staff, we are excited to be able to bring more accessible emergency medicine and specialist services to the pets of Nova Scotia.

We have big things happening! So follow along as we share more of our journey with you.

09/30/2023

On National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, we honour and remember the children who never returned home from residential schools, the survivors, and their families and communities still dealing with the trauma today.

As Canadians, we recognize the importance of supporting Indigenous Communities across Canada and lifting up their voices to make a change for the future.

In honour of today, we’re highlighting charities in Canada that are Indigenous-led or guided by Indigenous cultures, values, and voices. If you’re interested in supporting these causes or learning more, you can visit
www.canadahelps.org/en/donate-to-indigenous-charities

09/21/2023

We are quite excited to introduce the next team member to be joining our growing list of specialists. Dr. Tamara MacDonald will be joining us as Coastal Care's first surgeon and will be a fantastic addition with great skill and experience.

Dr. Tamara MacDonald is a Board-Certified Small Animal Surgeon, hailing from Nova Scotia. Originally from Cape Breton, Dr. MacDonald grew up in Halifax. After earning both Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Physiology, she received her DVM from the Ontario Veterinary College in 2004. Following graduation, she completed an internship in small animal medicine and surgery at the OVC in 2005, and then relocated to British Columbia to practice general and emergency / critical care medicine for several years.

Dr. MacDonald completed a surgical internship in Vancouver, BC, followed by a three-year small animal surgery residency in Kansas in 2012. Since that time, Dr. MacDonald has practiced small animal surgery in both private specialty hospitals and as well as university referral hospitals in the US and Canada. While her home base is currently in Calgary, AB, Halifax will always be her true home. Thus, Dr. MacDonald is very excited to be returning to Nova Scotia as a part of the Coastal Care team, and helping to increase the breadth of specialty veterinary care available in the Maritimes.

Dr. MacDonald is extensively trained in orthopedic, soft tissue and neurosurgery! She holds special interests in joint replacement surgery, as well as minimally invasive orthopedic and soft tissue surgeries.

Dr. MacDonald, her husband and their menagerie of dogs and cats are always very excited to return to the east coast, and look forward to going on outdoor adventures and spending time with family and friends here at home as often as they can.

Welcome home Dr. MacDonald!

09/15/2023

Coastal Care is thrilled to announce a partnership with the Canadian Animal Blood Bank.

The Canadian Animal Blood Bank (CABB) is a not-for-profit organization that saves lives by leading the forefront in education and transfusion medicine and by producing the highest quality blood products available to Veterinarians, dogs, and their families.

Coastal Care Veterinary Emergency and Referral Hospital will proudly house Atlantic Canada's only Emergency distribution depot.

Emergency depots house transfusion products and act as a distribution center for canine blood products and transfusion supplies. They exist to help local veterinary clinics meet the emergency needs of their patients and are available 24/7 to increase ease and availability of obtaining products.

We look forward to working with CABB to provide to patients in need. Stay tuned as we look to share more information about this partnership and how you can have your dog screened to become a donor.

09/09/2023

Our team is at the IVECCS 2023 Conference in Denver, Colorado this week. They are taking in many great talks with leading veterinary professionals and learning the newest techniques and treatments in emergency medicine.

Thank you to everyone who came to say hello and speak with us at our Coastal Care booth at the Career Fair! If there are any additional questions about our hospital, opportunities, and our team, we are happy to answer them!

Our ER veterinarians are also still at the conference throughout the weekend with different speaking engagements, and we'd love to see you there!

08/26/2023

Our team is happy to have been part of Hope for Wildlife's open house today! Despite the rainy and windy conditions there has been no shortage of smiles from all the volunteers and visitors.

We are enjoying our afternoon at such a wonderful facility. If you couldn't make it out today, please visit Hope for Wildlife's website to see how you can help their efforts in rehabilitating our wildlife.

https://www.hopeforwildlife.net/support

08/18/2023

We are proud to introduce another one of our Internal Medicine veterinarians here at Coastal Care!

Dr. Susan Carr is originally from Australia, where she graduated from the University of Sydney in 2009. After which she worked in both general and emergency practices. She went on to complete a three-year medicine residency at Virginia Tech in the United States, and became board-certified in veterinary internal medicine in 2018.

She has since worked within university referral hospitals in both the USA and Canada, between 2018 and 2023. She is now returning to Atlantic Canada to settle into a coastal life. She is looking forward to exploring beautiful Nova Scotia and making it her home.

With her she brings a 17-year-old Siamese cat named Olive who has been her travelling companion for the last decade! She is very chatty and likes to meow loudly and share her opinion. Helping geriatric cats like Olive live their best life is Susan's passion, and she is looking forward to meeting new feline friends and their families through Coastal Care. She also has Lexi the beagle who recently joined her family. She is well-loved, despite her questionable food choices, because her enthusiastic zest for new places and people is contagious.

Susan would love to hear your favourite dog walking trails in the Halifax area! Feel free to welcome Susan and share your best trails in the comments!

08/09/2023

Meet Dr. Aleksandra Milaszewska, who is joining our Coastal Care team!

Dr. Aleksandra Milaszewska MSc, DVM, is residency-trained in Small Animal Internal Medicine. Originally from Poland, Dr. Milaszewska obtained a DVM degree from Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine in 2007. She also holds a MSc in Zoology. In 2008 she finished a rotating internship at a private practice in San Antonio, Texas and then she decided to move north, to Canada. She worked as an emergency vet in Toronto, before pursuing specialty training at Ontario Veterinary College in internal medicine. After finishing, she worked in Ottawa, and will now be moving to beautiful Halifax and joining our Coastal Care Team.

She has two cats, who were previous blood donors from her time at OVC and a 16-year-old rescue Cocker Spaniel. She enjoys hiking with her senior puppy and travelling to remote places in the world.

Address

168 Hobson Lake Drive
Halifax, NS
B3S0G4

Website

https://www.coastalcarevets.ca/site/home

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#coastalcarevet #saltwirehalifax #christmaslights #holidayseason

October is RVT Month! Registered Veterinary Technicans (RVTs) are a critical and hard-working component in every hospital. They take on many roles within their day and throughout their career, all while continuing to advance their education in their field. We want to say thank you to all RVTs who contribute to the safe, quality medical care that they help to provide. We couldn't do it without you! Stay tuned for the rest of this month as we share some of our own dedicated technicians who will be joining us at Coastal Care Veterinary Emergency & Referral Hospital later this year. #RVTMonth #coastalcarevet #halifax #teamwork

It has been a very busy year so far for our Coastal Care team! Construction, recruitment and planning has been no small feat. From tradespeople, to team members and team leaders, everyone has been very dedicated to what we are building. With a full ER team and several board-certified specialists on staff, we are excited to be able to bring more accessible emergency medicine and specialist services to the pets of Nova Scotia. We have big things happening! So follow along as we share more of our journey with you. #novascotiaveterinarians #coastalcarevet #novascotia #vetemergency #halifax #bayerslake #comingsoon #halifaxnoise #teamwork