UC Davis expands hospital and opens new ER/ICU

DVM student Melissa Hernandez ’23 and Kate Farrell, DVM, DACVECC, examine a dog in the UC Davis veterinary hospital's Emergency Room. The new ER/ICU will open on May 3. (Photo courtesy of UC Davis)

The University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine is celebrating its 75^th year anniversary by opening a new emergency room (ER) and intensive care unit (ICU) within the university’s veterinary teaching hospital. According to a university release,¹ UC Davis has seen emergency cases double since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The university is hoping to combat this growing number of ER cases with the ER/ICU expansion opening May 3, 2023. The new expansion will also nearly double the size of the existing veterinary hospital first constructed in 1970.

UC Davis’s new ER/ICU expansion will offer more training opportunities for visiting veterinarians wanting to learn about emergency medicine and residents training to become critical care specialists. “Our ER’s caseload has increased tremendously since the pandemic,” said Mark Stetter, dean of the School of Veterinary Medicine, in the release. “This new space and expanded care teams will better allow us to meet our patients’ needs, as well as the profession’s need for more specialists. We’ll be able to see that all animals are treated in a timely and compassionate manner.”¹

UC Davis received a $2.1 million gift from an anonymous donor that supported the expansion and it plans to open the Dentistry, Oral, and Maxillofacial Surgery Center, as well as the outpatient Center for Advanced Veterinary Surgery to diminish wait times of non-emergent orthopedic surgeries. The university hopes to also build an Equine Performance and Rehabilitation Center, the Livestock and Field Service Center, and an entirely new Small Animal Hospital, all of which are planned to develop later in the decade.¹

“It’s my great honor to lead the veterinary school during such a vibrant, celebratory era,” Stetter said. “I look forward to the expansion of our first-class veterinary instruction, research, and clinical care, as we continue to position UC Davis at the top of veterinary education.”¹

Reference

Warren, R. Nation’s No. 1 veterinary school to ppen new ER/ICU. University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine. Published April 26, 2023. Accessed May 1, 2023. https://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/news/nations-no-1-veterinary-school-open-new-ericu