History & Mission

History

A group of local veterinarians came together in late 1999 to form Veterinary Emergency Services (VES), a part-time veterinary emergency service for about twelve veterinary hospitals in the Greater Burlington region, which expanded into the mainstay emergency service on weekends for over twenty-five veterinary hospitals in the Champlain Valley. Initially operating only on weekends, VES rapidly expanded their client base to provide services not only to their founding members, but also to more than forty other practices who had referred cases to them over the years.

Over the first four years, the business outgrew the facility, the costs of operations changed dramatically, and the energy and resources to develop an independent facility was not available to the group, most of whom were already arduously practicing veterinary medicine or busy running their own practices. Thus, in the latter months of 2004, the new Burlington Emergency Veterinary Services (BEVS) was born.

The Burlington Emergency Veterinary Services moved into a new state-of-the-art facility and opened in July of 2005. BEVS has operated during all hours when local veterinarians are typically not available: weeknights from 5PM until 8AM and weekends from 5PM Friday until 8 AM Monday morning.

BEVS underwent a major evolution in the fall of 2007. In accordance with our goal to provide the highest standard of care for our patients, we welcomed board-certified specialists to join us during the daytime hours. Burlington Emergency Veterinary Service became Burlington Emergency and Veterinary Specialists, which includes Dr. Bryan Harnett, and Dr. Tanya Donovan, board-certified internal medicine specialists. We recently welcomed a surgeon from California, Dr. Josie Mallinckrodt.

Mission

Our goal is for the pet-owning community and their veterinarians to want to ‘Send it to BEVS’ because we have earned their confidence and respect through proper and timely care, compassion, and communication.