Traffic flow, admissions and MRIs take on a whole new meaning when patients have four legs, especially when the hospital is the Dr. W. Eugene and Linda Lloyd Veterinary Teaching Hospital.

The new vet teaching hospital has been under construction on the veterinary college campus since October 2006. The facility is replacing an outdated hospital and will improve the college’s ability to treat, diagnose and care for large animals.

In addition to veterinary technology, medical knowledge and research demands have changed dramatically since the facility opened in 1976.

“The new facilities will enhance operations in essentially every aspect of hospital and instructional operation,” said Eldon Uhlenhopp, interim associate dean of veterinary diagnostic and production animal medicine.

“Teaching hospitals across the country are being challenged by the cost of new technologies, the costs of education and the extreme competition for clinical specialists who are being drawn away from the academic community to the specialty practice community.”

Those needs prompted the 55,000 square foot addition to the current facility, the first since the building’s opening.

Thomas Ligouri, veterinary medicine administration program coordinator, said the project is on track to be completed in fall 2008, increasing the overall college space by 25 percent.

Uhlenhopp expressed the powerful effect this project will have. The flow of clients, patients, staff and medical records, including communications with clients and referring veterinarians will be greatly enhanced. Safety for doctors, students, clients and patients will be improved and medical inventory control will be modernized. Patient care in almost every category including animals who are neonatal, postsurgical, immunocompromised or diagnosed with highly communicable diseases, will be greatly improved, as will the movement of patients through the processes of outpatient, diagnosis, treatment and surgery.

Construction and remodeling of public facilities always requires some rerouting and temporary shifting of service locations. Students and staff often see signs for temporary route changes on campus for the two-legged inhabitants. It takes considerable planning to continue services for the four-legged patients.

“We developed an operations plan before construction began to address the obvious difficulties and inconveniences that the project could be anticipated to have on students, faculty, staff and the teaching hospital and diagnostic laboratory referring doctors, clients and patients,” Uhlenhopp said. “We have also attempted to be very transparent and as timely as possible with our communications to these stakeholders. We feel we have gotten extremely good cooperation from the ISU offices that have been involved and the construction companies.”

Ligouri said there are several advantages to the new building.

“The new large animal and equine hospital will include new client and patient reception, receiving, exam and consultation areas, an isolation area for animals with infectious diseases, advanced imaging area surgery suites, treatment wards, intensive care unit and offices,” Ligouri said.

Sally Prickett, veterinary teaching hospital clinician, has been named the hospital’s director and assumed her duties Feb. 1.

Prickett, originally from Glenwood, has worked at the Prickett Veterinary Clinic as a business manager and practitioner and also as the manager of Prickett Quarter Horses and Thurston Farms.

The veterinary hospital treats more than 18,500 cases annually. Prickett will oversee the operations of the new hospital, as well as lead the planning of a second phase of hospital modernization and the outreach, development and strategic planning activities for future expansion of the hospital’s clinical services.

“This new facility will make delivery of modern animal health care a more contemporary, expedient and pleasant experience for human beings associated with the care being provided, and we believe will enhance outcomes for the patients being treated,” Uhlenhopp said.