09/14/2024
It is with a broken heart that the Avets team shares the unexpected passing of our beloved Hospital Director, Corey Korinko. Corey had been a part of our Avets family for over 19 years. He was first hired when the company opened on Golden Mile Highway. Corey began working as a veterinary assistant, a role that involved cleaning up kennels, performing patient labs, and keeping up with the endless laundry. As the company relocated to its Northern Pike address, Corey came along with it. His skill and strong work ethic soon led to training in more hands-on procedures and providing nursing care for the most emergent and critically ill patients. Over the years, Corey took on various roles, eventually transitioning into managerial positions. As Avets grew, Corey was instrumental in shaping the vision and creation of our current hospital. For the last seven years, he proudly served as our Hospital Director, a title he embraced with unwavering dedication and commitment.
But Corey was so much more than just a title, and he was much more to all of us than just being our boss. Simply put, Corey was "Always There." His door was always open, and he was always willing to carve time out of his busy day for any of his employees. Something that should take “two minutes” often turned into a “shut the door,” 20-minute therapy session. His level-headed advice guided many team members throughout their careers at Avets. He was more of a "big brother" type who genuinely cared about his employees’ well-being. Even if the world’s problems remained unsolved, more often than not, you felt better when you left his office because you knew he had your back. He wasn’t one of those “out-of-touch” bosses who stayed in his office, either. He was out on the clinical floor, always willing to be the muscle to help lift a large animal, move heavy equipment, or even fetch supplies for a critical patient. He even tackled random tasks—just last week, he donned old clothes and a backward baseball hat to help drywall the hallway. Corey loved walking around to the different departments, checking in to make sure everyone had what they needed for the day. He would share inside jokes and talk about his personal life. For those who knew Corey, it’s no surprise that his pride and joy was his son, Connor, and that he lived for enjoying baseball with him.
Corey was our leader, always looking ahead and planning for the future. No one will ever replace his whiteboard-drawn diagrams, complete with his chicken-scratch writing wrapped in little boxes to help us understand his visions, or his endless Excel sheets that he geeked out over. It is hard to imagine that anyone else will ever be able to sit with so many different, opinionated, head-butting personalities in a meeting and make it into constructive, forward-moving ideas that made us a better hospital. Corey’s dedication to Avets and the veterinary field is immeasurable and will never be forgotten. We will honor Corey’s legacy by continuing to work together, united in carrying forward his vision for Avets. His passion and dedication will guide us as we strive to build upon the foundation he created, ensuring that his influence and ideals remain at the heart of everything we do.
