AUSTIN, Texas, Dec. 22, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dr. Scott I. Johnson, a Diplomate American College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care (DACVECC), of the Emergency Animal Hospital of NW Austin was elected President Elect of the Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Society (VECCS) and will become President in September of 2014. The VECCS was founded in 1974 and currently has over four thousand members in 25 countries. The objective of the VECCS is to raise the level of patient care for seriously ill or injured animals through quality education and communication programs. It provides the opportunity for high quality emergency and critical care continuing education for veterinarians and veterinary technicians, has established minimum standards and guidelines for equipment and supplies for emergency and critical care facilities, and has just recently introduced the VECCS Facility Certification program.
Dr. Johnson explains that veterinary facilities can vary widely in their capability to handle emergency situations. Urgent care cases can be life-threatening conditions or problems where choosing the appropriate hospital with the equipment and personnel can be critical. "Emergencies place special demands on veterinary clinics because the practitioners must have immediate access to the proper tools, equipment and experience to perform life-saving procedures, sometimes at all hours of the day or night. After the initial urgent response, days or weeks of state-of-the-art monitoring and/or treatment may be required to pull a pet through an emergency," he says. The vet notes that it will be helpful to pet owners to have a verifiable way of knowing that their practitioners maintain a certain minimum standard of care and support for such urgent cases.
The VECCS certification program is designed to provide pet owners an easy way to find out. The purpose of this certification is to recognize those hospitals that meet and exceed the minimum standards and guidelines published by the VECCS. This process is designed to raise the standard of care while also increasing public and professional awareness in the area of veterinary emergency and critical patient care.
The Austin veterinarian states that the certification program identifies 3 levels. "For example, the VECCS Level I Certification is required to provide emergency and critical care 24 hours a day, have the ability to perform certain advanced diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, and have a specialist on staff," Dr. Johnson says.
Dr. Johnson points out that a VECCS Certification is a boost for clinics as well as clients. Practitioners can display and promote their emergency care certification as an important reason for pet owners to choose their hospital as a trusted emergency and critical care provider. The ability to identify a certified facility can give owners the extra information they need to make informed choices for their pets' health.
Emergency Animal Hospital of Northwest Austin provides after-hours emergency, veterinary care for common emergencies including, trauma, poisonings, foreign object ingestion, vomiting or diarrhea, and many other situations requiring immediate care.