Penn's Large Animal Hospital Accepts Emergency Cases Again
Friday, August 27, 2004
KENNETT SQUARE, PA -- Penn's George
D. Widener Hospital for Large Animals will accept equine emergency
patients, beginning on Monday, August 30. "We have completed the
cleaning and refurbishing of additional barns and can now care for
emergency cases," said Bruce Rappoport, director of the Widener
Hospital. The hospital reopened on August 2 for outpatients and
scheduled elective surgeries. Rappoport said that the food animal
barn should be ready by Labor Day; then those patients can be seen
and treated again at the facility.
The Widener Hospital, located at New
Bolton Center in Kennett Square, Pa., closed May 10, 2004 to new
patients because of an outbreak of multidrug resistant Salmonella
infection among some of the hospital's patients. Since the closing,
the entire hospital complex has been sandblasted, disinfected, and
repainted. Dirt barn floors have been removed and a new drainage
system and concrete floors have been installed. These floors are
covered with a special cushioning material that can be disinfected
easily. More than 2,000 cultures were performed on the buildings and
the resident animals. It was found that only a limited area of the
hospital cultured positive for the organism. None of the resident
animals cultured positive.
Additional biosecurity measures have
been instituted at the Widener Hospital and on the New Bolton Center
campus to protect the animal patients and the staff and faculty.
Access to barns and treatment areas is limited, disinfectant
footbaths are mandatory when entering each area, and new traffic
patterns have been established.
"We hope to be fully operational by
Labor Day," said Rappoport. "It has been an incredible effort to get
to this point. It would not have been possible without the great
dedication and hard work of the staff and faculty here. Everyone
pitched in and scrubbed, hosed, and fogged so we could open again.
Everyone here is committed to providing the best care for our
patients."
New Bolton Center is the large animal
campus of the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary
Medicine. The telephone number for the George D. Widener Hospital
for Large Animals is 610-444-5800.
August 9, 2004 Update
The Widener Hospital has reopened for appointments. Read the
news release.
July 19, 2004
Download a
Salmonella Advisory from New Bolton Center (.pdf file)
fact sheet.
June 16, 2004 Update
Read the
news release
May 27, 2004 Update
The
Georgia and Philip Hofmann Center for Animal Reproduction has
reopened. Read the
news release.
May 18, 2004 Update
The Center’s William B. Boucher Field Service has
relocated to a different part of the campus and continues to make
farm calls. The diagnostic laboratories are open and accepting samples
from practitioners.
May 14, 2004
The George D. Widener Hospital for Large Animals at New Bolton
Center, Penn's large animal facility, has been closed to new
patients for six to eight weeks, for decontamination of barn and
clinic buildings. Read the
news release.
Penn's School of Veterinary Medicine is one of the world's premier veterinary schools. Founded in 1884, the School was built on the concept of Many Species, One Medicine™. The birthplace of veterinary specialties, the School serves a distinctly diverse array of animal patients, from pets to horses to farm animals at our two campuses. In Philadelphia, on Penn's campus, are the Matthew J. Ryan Veterinary Hospital for companion animals, as well as classrooms, laboratories and the School's administrative offices. The large-animal facility, New Bolton Center, in Kennett Square, Pa., encompasses hospital facilities for the care of horses and food animals as well as diagnostic laboratories serving the agriculture industry. The School has successfully integrated scholarship and scientific discovery with all aspects of veterinary medical education.
Visit us on-line at www.vet.upenn.edu