Vision and Mission Statement

Who Are We?

Besides the existential crisis you may find yourself in when really scrutinizing the core meaning of title of this blurb, you're in the right place if you want to get to know what VIP is all about. 

Although every story has a beginning, VIP's origins were not necessarily all positive.  However, the resulting fact is that the decision to create VIP from nothing was ultimately, like... the best idea ever.  

Our combined vision was to create a "Concierge" style small animal veterinary hospital providing an efficient and professional, yet laid-back atmosphere while also providing the best modern medicine as we can muster...and we can muster A. LOT.  

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BUT!  We also believe that in order to provide the experience you expect, we have to create an environment where our employees are treated with the utmost respect, compassion, and kindness.  Working in the veterinary industry in a support staff role, whether that be a nurse, receptionist, or assistant, is REALLY hard work.   Physically and emotionally.  Not to mention dealing with all the stinky, hot, hairy, sweaty, bloody, poopy, dirty, and/or contagious stuff.  And that's just the clients!  But all joking aside all the staff at VIP is a team of hardworking, smart, and amazing individuals that are here to help you and your pets.  However, we just as strongly believe that one's place of work does not equate to one's whole life.  VIP expects hard work but also respects our employee's lives outside of VIP.  Part of our mission is to make sure everyone is taken care of in many different aspects of their lives, and getting that mental break and separation from your work is just one of the commitments VIP ensures are extended to all employees.  Furthermore, our first and current long-term financial goal is to ensure all long-term employees have healthcare coverage and basic retirement matching.  Until we can meet this goal and still succeed in keeping the business afloat, all of our extra resources will be placed towards this goal.

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In close relation to this goal, is VIP's philosophy on pricing.  We will be the first to admit we are not the cheapest small animal hospital in town.  However, on-average, we are very competitively priced.  That being said, in order to provide our clients the best experience possible, and to keep that experience consistently elevated throughout the year and into the future, we provide all employees significant salaries which is reflected in our pricing.  As a small business, salaries account for the largest monthly expense, by far.  We can promise we are not gouging anyone and no-one will be taken advantage of, but, in order to bring you VIP, we took on a large amount of debt that has to be paid back, plus everyone has their own financial needs and bills to pay and we stand behind our pricing methodology 100%.  We genuinely ask if you have any questions about our pricing or our commitment to ensuring financial security for our employees, let us know and we would love to be able spread the word about our pricing and monetary philosophy.  

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Just as passionately as we feel about empowering and providing for our employees, we feel YOU, our clients deserve just as much compassion and respect!  We promise to strive to deliver a consistent, thorough experience, as well as being efficient and respectful of your time.  We promise to treat everyone with understanding, and, to the best of our ability, explain our findings, treatment plans, and recommendations so that as a team, we can make the best decision for you and your pet in all aspects of their health, well-being, and during times of illness.  We will strive to keep track of your pet's yearly and annual needs so that you can take that item off of your plate.  Our thorough and advanced digital record keeping software allows us to track and remind you of your pet's needs personally and through automation.  We will do everything in our power to see critically sick patients the same day or within 24 hours for urgent illnesses as well as asking for understanding if an emergency occurs during one of your scheduled appointments.  

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The following section is sure to create some level of controversy but the status quo is not working and VIP is all about plowing into the future of Veterinary Medicine with some hardline stances on the work/life balance.  Unfortunately, though most of the general public is unaware, veterinarians are the most likely professional group to commit suicide, and that is by a significant margin.  Dr. Jones has already had two classmates commit suicide since graduating in 2013.  There are many contributing factors to this epidemic which is a discussion for another time, but a work/life balance is a key player.  We know it is unrealistic to think ANY person must be available to any other person 24/7, 365, much less a general medical practitioner being available to respond to each and every client and emergency is just as unrealistic.  There are no other single-practitioner businesses in the various medical professions in which the overwhelming public opinion is that the practitioner is generally expected to be available to every client and patient 24/7, 365.....besides veterinarians.  In human medicine, the vast majority of doctors do not see ANY emergencies at all and ALL of their clients have to use emergency facilities for daytime and after-hours emergencies.  That goes for dentists, chiropractors, dermatologists, etc.  However, veterinarians are held to a different, more extreme standard. It is extremely unfortunate that the closest critical care facilities are in Clarksville, Tennessee and St. Louis, Missouri and emergency veterinary services are limited like that nationwide.  But, a two hour drive is not that far if the situation is serious and many people make the trip from Paducah to Vanderbilt for their own human emergencies without feeling slighted that their primary physician was unavailable to see their emergency personally.  We just need to adapt that sentiment to veterinary medicine as well.  While the distance situation is not ideal, VIP is aiming to change both problems and knocking out two birds with one very large, complicated stone.  Through one of our major goals in our Greater-Than-Five-Year plan is to evolve into the first 24/7, 365 emergency and critical care hospital in Paducah and Western Kentucky.  VIP WANTS to be able to provide those services as they are desperately needed.  VIP wants to have a fleet of well rested and spirited doctors that have great hours and combined, are available to you all of the time.  However, we cannot break our backs or spirit to provide that level of service and care before we're able to provide that service fully in line with our mission of patient, client, and employee care.  VIP does promise to see as many emergencies after-hours as possible, but we are proudly stating that we will not be available to discuss or see emergencies 24/7, 365.  Currently, VIP will see any emergency until 10 PM, Monday through Thursday.  That equals a 50 hour work week for our solo doctor and 78 total hours of promised time to our clients or almost 50% of the total hours in a week.  That amount of time is guaranteed, plus much of the unguaranteed time after 10 PM and on weekends will still be covered by our doctor which ultimately is more than an adequate commitment to VIP's clients and patients until we can provide more.  While generally available, late-night and weekends emergencies are completely at the on-call doctor's discrecion. All critical cases will likely be referred to critical care facilities during these times as VIP is not staffed nor prepared to adequately handle after-hours critical cases.  VIP is currently seeking inclusion in a local veterinary emergency co-op but that option is not available as of yet.  If you would like to discuss our emergency policy further, please reach out so we can help reach an understanding of our operating procedure in relation to emergencies. 

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