It’s Official! Bishop Veterinary Hospital Graduates to New Facility
By Christina Reed
The Hired Pen
Eastern Sierra, CA—With a whoof and a bark, and everyone’s cheering! The Bishop Veterinary Hospital officially opened its new facility on April 1, 2024. What used to be the old Ford dealership, on US Highway 6, is now the “Graduated Bishop Veterinary Hospital.” The expanded version of the Bishop Veterinary Hospital, co-owned by Dr. Taylor Ludwick and Dr. Nicole Milici, is a “graduated” version of the older building and services, says Dr. Ludwick. The new facility will be the main hospital and services, with the older building providing an “ancillary” role, a “companion” for animals services, notes Dr. Ludwick. The “sister” building is being remodeled, and the services will include boarding, grooming, and other helpful animal resources, such as massage therapy.
Providing the “highest quality” service, and keeping it “local,” says Dr. Ludwick, are a couple of the main goals of the expanded new facility, and the older building. Serving Inyo, Mono, Kern, and some parts of San Bernardino Counties, as well as going to Round Mountain, Fish Lake Valley, and Tonopah, Nevada, the Bishop Veterinary Hospital was becoming a “bottleneck business,” Dr. Ludwick explains. And, as the numbers of animal “companions” increased, the number of needed services did also. The expanded business(es) will provide ongoing access to specialists, says Dr. Ludwick, including visiting doctors in neurology, cardiology, and advanced imaging. Dr. Ludwick adds, the experience for the pets, customers, doctors, and staff will be “more comfortable,” too.
The older Bishop Veterinary Hospital building has been around since the 1960s, and at one time, in the 1940s, the veterinary hospital was in the Amerigas building. However, today’s expanded version of the animal veterinary hospital will feature some unique aspects to veterinary care and medicine. The new facility has the only crematorium in Inyo County, for people or pets, notes Dr. Ludwick, and they’ve been operating this element of the new facility for a year. While it’s a sad part of our relationship with our pets, the final endings, the crematorium allows for our pets to be remembered in special ways. There are also “Externships,” which are usually given to seniors in college / university veterinary medicine coursework, who are doing “clinical rotations” through the Bishop Veterinary Hospital. And, Dr. Ludwick notes, all of the nurses and technicians at Bishop Veterinary Hospital are “training for degrees,” as Registered Veterinary Technicians. There are opportunities for employment with the new facility also. The staff at the hospital work with veterinarians Dr. Ludwick, Dr. Milici, Dr. Talbot, Dr. Runley, Dr. Figueroa, and Dr. Kowaleski.
The Bishop Veterinary Hospital serves about 35,000 people, and their pets, Dr. Ludwick notes. Their patients are 65 percent small animals, 30 percent equine, and five percent exotics. These vets work in four communities (Mammoth Lakes, Bishop, Ridgecrest, CA and Tonopah, NV), and provide on-call emergency services every day of the year. The Bishop Veterinary Hospital provides vaccination clinics, spay and neuter services (Inyo and Mono Counties), and animal services in nearly every community, throughout the year, and they come to the communities, so it’s convenient for the pet owners.
¡Enhorabuena!