11/26/2024
Whoop!
MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT!!! MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT!!! MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT!!!
THE HUMANE SOCIETY OF AMHERST COUNTY WILL BE ACQUIRING THE MONELISON CLINIC!!!
We’ve actually talked about starting a clinic for years but when Dr. Budzyn of Monelison Animal Clinic announced his retirement we knew we had to do something. The outcry we heard from the community was deafening. Monelison and Dr. Budzyn have been providing low cost high quality animal health care to Amherst County for many years. Many folks have come to depend on it. Add to that the Blue Ridge Animal League is also closing leaving the entire area with no truly affordable pet care. We knew we had to act for the sake of the pet owning community. We felt strongly that hundreds of pets would go without any veterinary care at all if we didn’t do something.
A catalyst to finally accomplishing our goal was the availability of the Monelison Clinic itself. A beautiful clinic, fully equipped and ready for business. Taking over a veterinary practice is a massive undertaking. With a capital M! There were many moments where I honestly didn’t think it was going to happen. With perseverance, a little luck and perhaps some divine providence we were able to succeed.
It is a very slow process to do this and it has been dragging on. Out of concern for his clients Dr. Budzyn will reopen the clinic himself on Dec 30th.
We will take over the clinic the following week on January 6th. Once the transition is complete the clinic will be owned and operated by the Humane Society of Amherst County. I will be the Practice Manager. It will remain The Monelison Clinic but the name could possibly change sometime in the future. The new head veterinarian will start on January 6th.
The new veterinarian in charge will be Dr. Morgan Eggleston formerly of Lovingston Veterinary Hospital. She is an excellent vet and a wonderful person and will take fantastic care of your animals. We consider ourselves very lucky to have found her and brought her on board. All of us at the HSAC are very glad and very excited to have her join our family! Your pets will love her!
Our goal is to have two vets on duty every day. We’re not quite there yet but for two days each week along with Dr. Eggleston we will have none other than Dr. Budzyn himself! He will probably be working more days in the beginning weeks. After thirty years of practice he has earned a well deserved retirement. The reality is though that he doesn’t want to give it up entirely. He would just like to enjoy treating your pets without all of the pressures of running an entire clinic. He is committed to us getting a solid start and will guide us to make sure we are able to run the clinic as well as he did. Lucky for us to have all of his experience to benefit from!
In addition to serving the public, the clinic will provide low cost spay/neuter services to local rescues. With the closure of Blue Ridge we see this as a necessity for our rescue and shelter friends. Of course the general public will have access to that as well. We will have an additional number of very experienced veterinarians working separately on our spay neuter program.
Speaking of affordable we will be starting the clinic with the same price list as the Monelison Clinic. For those of you who use them now, you know they have by far the lowest prices in the area. Even though costs are rising if there is any way possible we will lower the prices if we can! We just need to see how things go over time. We are not in this to make money. We are in it to service the community of pet owners and the shelter and rescue animals. The prices will be low but you will absolutely be receiving the very best pet healthcare in the area.
The clinic hours will remain the same as before.
And lastly a huge bid of thanks to Dr. Budzyn and his wife Heth. From the first day we contacted them about acquiring the practice their main concern was for their clients. They knew many of them couldn’t afford the cost of pet healthcare that has risen so dramatically over the last few years. Their cooperation and patience in making this work was truly remarkable. They also made a number of concessions in the interest of the community to help us make this acquisition. The HSAC and the community owes them a huge debt of gratitude.
If you have any questions feel free to ask in the comments.
If you are with a rescue in need of spay/neuter services, please message this page.
Tony Cerqua President Humane Society of Amherst County
