Milwaukee Emergency Center for Animals - Case Study Example

Introduction According to Quimby, Most people do not consider the aspect of animal health as significant (Quimby, p 5). For this reason, Milwaukee Emergency Center for Animals developed to help the neighborhood in treatment and education regarding the importance of animal health. This is a short report on the Milwaukee Emergency Center for Animals, its inception, progress and importance to the community. Milwaukee Emergency Center for Animals Located on 3670 S 108th Street, Greenfield, Wisconsin, this is an emergence response clinic and referral hospital for animals of all kinds that are open all the 24 hours of the 7 days of the week. It is open for emergencies, critical care for animals and surgery. The hospital endeavors in serving the critical health needs of animals with time as of the essence. Previously, the center served as an overnight emergency clinic for pet owners and veterinarians in the local area of Milwaukee and became the first 24 hour emergence and critical care referral center in the state in 1984. 1991 came with the addition of emergency and critical care specialists, surgery and internal medicine doctors to the care givers (Marla, 4). The center moved to another building facility in West Silver Spring Business District in 1999. The building covers more than 13, 800 feet squared with a large waiting room plus four examination rooms. The building has three surgical suites and 41 cage intensive care units and many other functional rooms like isolation units’ laboratories and imaging rooms. Most of the rooms, officially opened in June, 2009 have transparent glass walls to let their customers and veterinarians to keep their eyes on the procedural treatment of their pets and animals. The emergency care hospital has well over 35 staff, which includes an emergency and critical care specialist. In addition, it has an experienced emergence medicine surgeon, internal medicine specialist in veterinary medical oncology, an avian medicine specialist, a number of nurses and exotic animal handlers. Most of the staff came from other veterinary centers and; therefore, they have experience in their work. The owner of the business is Marla Lichtenberger. The success of the facility in animal health care provision saw it reach gross sales of up to $5 million dollars in the year 2010. Information research The team had to submit a questionnaire containing only questions relevant to study in the efforts to get information on the company. This served as a pre-visit to the company which helped the owner and the administrator to prepare in advance. This also helped to avoid any inconveniences that would come in because the team would have interfered with the programs at the center. Some of the questions that we submitted were to find out some of the challenges incurred in running such a large facility, the response of the immediate community towards the establishment of the facility in the area, the revenues, their products and services and other operating processes. The group planned for the interview to be conducted by two of the members and to ask open ended questions to different people in the company in order to get their views. The best resource on this area was Dr. Lichtenberger who is the owner of the facility and the administrator, Frank Mahler. They answered the questions both directly and expressing their views about the hospital in general. Since we organized the interviews in a way that each group comprised of two members, one member of each group asked questions, while the other one did the recording of the answers through taking notes. We had two groups each interviewing the owner of the hospital and the hospital administrator independently, after which we compared the responses. The members were to be principally sensitive to the kind of job that goes on in the hospital and use their observatory instincts in partly collecting information. The members had to look at other areas to get other information about the hospital, including the hospital website, where they were to consider annual reports and other background information. The group also had to contact the external relations to the hospital to get additional investor information and other relevant information. Information about significant issues in the hospital was in the hospital newsletter where the owner and the administrator express their views of the hospital, like the future and the undertakings of the hospital. To carry out this interview and finding all the information about the hospital, the members took the whole week from 26th to 31st of October, 2011. In order to achieve its vision and mission, the hospital has strategic goals, which include deliverance of excellent pet care and expansion to other specialty services to their customers, plus working in conjunction with referral veterinarians in helping them in their practice (Marla,3). In order to reach the goals, the hospital values proper communications with their clients and within the staff to boost faster and better understanding of changes in care implications. This allows the hospital to come up with programs and procedures reflecting their values. The hospital emphasizes learning for excellence in all the undertakings to become a significant resource in the community, in animal health. Teamwork is a chief value in the hospital through recognition of the working staff as the main mast. Retention and attraction to the hospital is through motivational rewards and programs that recognize hard work and achievement. Improvement of the hospital services and problem solving comes under the hospital value of accountability. The hospital takes feedbacks positively and welcomes discussions, debating and resolving conflicts to enable constant improvement in service provision. Finally, the main pillar in the hospital values is respect and balance among the employees. Recognition of the fact that every employee plays an integral part in service delivery to the clients gives each employee the pride of belonging. Employees have different dimensions in their lives, which include social, religion, emotional, financial among others, all of which the hospital respects to constitute wellness and job enjoyment. The mission of the hospital is to lead in the provision of high quality vital and specialty pet healthcare in Wisconsin. The hospital will take advantage of the professional excellence, dedication and compassion in medically treating each client and teach them to make them vibrant participants in their animal medical care. The vision of the hospital is to be a national model in Animal Emergency Health Care delivery offering both critical and referral services (Marla, 2). Besides excellent medicine, the hospital aims at customer retention through proper communication and the best case management in the nation. Easing this vision is the fact that all of the employees and stakeholders of the hospital share the values and commit themselves towards the hospital mission and aim at improvement of the services. All over Wisconsin, the uniqueness of the hospital facility is a standard for expertise in vet care. Besides, the hospital staff is compassionate and courteous with the anxiety of surpassing the expectations of their clients considering it a privilege to treat. For any business organization to be productive and inventive, competition is necessary. Analysis of the location of the hospital for completion, there are three main competitors, which include the animal emergency center, the Wisconsin Referral center and the Lakeshore medical. Further input in the Milwaukee Emergency Center for Animals is necessary in order to retain its customer base. This is because most of the competitors in the area and the same field offer identical 24 hour services just like the Milwaukee Emergency Center for Animals. The only advantage that Milwaukee Emergency Center for Animals has been that it does not specialize in cats and dogs only but diversifies its services to other animals including reptiles. Its staff is also advanced and knowledgeable in all areas that concern every animal since the research information reveals that the hospital has a record of never turning down any animal in whichever condition, including exotic animals. A business that values all aspects of its employees is likely to have a high percentage of employee retention than its competitors. Further, the hospital gives its employees three days to work with only 12 hours per shift and the rest of the week off duty as a boost and motivator. This gives the employees opportunities to explore other areas of their lives outside their formal work. Marla writes that the hospital has provisions for bonuses basing on performance by the employees (p 8). This is a motivational strategy for the employees of the hospital. It helps the employees to go an extra mile in delivering the best services to clients. It also puts the company at the top of their competitors in terms of employee retention and satisfaction. Further, it has a competitive pay/salary to its employees as a motivation for them to stay working at the hospital rather than looking for alternative sources. Future plans According to the hospital owner and administrator, the future plans include the addition of an internal specialist in recommending medicine dosages for animals (Marla, p 7). It also plans on addition of a rehabilitation centre for the clinic, add animal behaviorists and increase the building capacity to a second floor. With this in place, the hospital will become the best in the area and would surpass its competitors by far. Recommendations The future of the Milwaukee Emergency Center for Animals depends on the way the hospital utilizes its strengths and exploits its opportunities in the field of animal health to surpass its competitors. The hospital has strengths in the efficiency of its employees and the fact that it is very trendy in the nation. Having realized gross sales of $5 million in sales in 2010, and the fact that it is on a constant rise, the hospital can utilize this as strength to explore other opportunities like expansion to other areas, among others. Another weakness which the hospital can utilize as an opportunity is the fact that the hospital administrator does not have the education for running a business. He has a degree in biology, whereas he should have one in either business administration or business management. Conclusion Milwaukee Emergency Center for Animals has a great future since more and more populace is now aware of the importance of animal health (Quimby, p 5). The hospital is a giant in the area, and it will take long before its competitors reach its market standards. Work cited Quimby, J. “Latest News in Veterinary Practice." Veterinary Practice News. N.P., 14 Nov. 2011. Web. 2 Dec. 2011. . Marla, L. "About Us | Milwaukee Emergency Center for Animals." MECA: Emergency Pet Hospital and Veterinary Services, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. N.P., 18 July 2009. Web. 2 Dec. 2011. . Read More