Have you heard the news? Essington Road Animal Hospital is taking it up a notch — we’ll be operating by appointment only starting April 3, 2021!
After decades of operating as a walk-in hospital, we’ve finally made the decision to offer appointments. The Essington Road Animal Hospital community has grown beyond our wildest dreams; with that growth we have seen wait times lengthen and found ourselves saying “no” more than we like.
Something had to give, and after reviewing many options, Dr. Adam made the decision to implement an appointment system starting in April, 2021. This will allow us to schedule your visit and avoid unnecessary waiting (we know it’s a joy to sit in your car with a cat singing the song of his people beside you, and we are so sorry to deprive you of this experience). It will also leave room for us to see emergencies without compromising the care you’ve come to expect from the best veterinary team in Joliet. (We might be biased, but our team is pretty badass.)
What does this mean for me?
The most obvious change will be that you need to get in touch with us to schedule an appointment ahead of time. We’ll be spacing out preventative care visits (checkups and similar appointments) and can set you up to come in on a day and at a time that is best for your family. We’ll also be sure to schedule any follow up required for your pet in advance, avoiding any delay in care.
What if my pet can’t wait for an appointment?
Never fear! We know pets don’t always conveniently wait for their appointment time to have an issue. Sometimes they steal your kids’ pizza and get diarrhea, or wake up with a swollen eye, or jump off the couch and start limping, or.. well, you get the idea. Pets do silly things and sometimes just need to see their vet.
We will have time set aside for emergencies and urgent issues. Call us and we’ll triage what is your pet’s best option. That might mean we schedule a same-day appointment or a day admission for Fluffy to get some one-on-one TLC with our team. Being here for your pets when they need us is our #1 priority, and we’re not going to let that change.
Final thoughts
Change is hard. This is going to be a learning curve for all of us. We’ve put a lot of careful thought and planning into the shift, but there’s no way we’ve cracked the code on providing a perfect system on the first try. Please feel free to let us know about your experience as we move forward; we want to improve veterinary care and your continued feedback will be invaluable in that effort.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. We really lucked out being a part of the Joliet community, and none of this would be possible without our fantastic clients.