clinic tour

In the end, we think we've achieved something that hasn't been done in a veterinary clinic before - a lot of clients are amazed at how welcoming the space is, while still maintaining all the important necessities of a high-quality medical facility. The patients have also responded - a lot of them don't even seem to know they're at the vet!

• If you'd like to read about the process of designing and building the clinic - the challenges, the frustrations, and the rewards - you can read about it on Dr. Sulis' blog, Ready, Vet, Go!.

• For an article specifically detailing all of the environmental considerations we built into the clinic, you can read Michael's article on the topic.

Fishtail Palm in Waiting Area This is a fishtail palm my Aunt Jean bought for us, and our friend Michelle helped pick out at the wholesale market on Swan Island. The furnishings, color, and feel throughout the clinic were put together by Cheryl Janis - who we're lucky to have both as a friend and as a gifted designer.			Waiting area chandelier This is Kristin's proudest find - a reclaimed old chandelier she found heaped in a corner at Hippo Hardware. The countertops (barely visible) are PaperStone, an incredibly cool recycled product. The guys out at Crosscut Hardwoods really pulled some strings to get us the sizes and colors we needed in a short time, and the finish work (edging and joining) was done beautifully by Ted from Solidcraft.
Waiting area The shelves are split railroad ties made from California Redwood, reclaimed from a goldrush-era railroad in Northern California by the great people at Eco PDX on Interstate Ave. We put a lot of thought into making this practice sustainable both in physical construction as well as in our business model. For a little info on some of the eco-friendly construction features, you can read the blog post.			Entry wall and lights All of our lights (except the chandelier) are from Schoolhouse Electric - an awesome Portland company that makes beautiful shades and fixtures. All the framing, and most of the finish work (like the cabinets shown here) were done by Derek from DK Team construction. He and Jessie put a lot of hard work into this place, and were a great team to work with. Also note that if you look closely, you can see plaster handprints on the bricks from the original workers who built this place in the 1920's!
Main hallway The hallway is nice and open, and really doesn't attempt to "hide" the private functions of the clinic - we like people to feel like they're welcome throughout, and hope that providing transparency both literally and figuratively will engender trust. The concrete floors throughout the clinic were ground, repaired, sealed and polished by Alan Smith and his crew from Your Floor Guy here in Portland. Those guys (and gals) put in some crazy hours to fit our hectic schedule.			Handwash station Located in the hallway just outside the exam rooms, this provides a convenient (and stylish!) place for staff to wash their hands between appointments. All our plumbing was done by Terry Massey Plumbing, as well as the medical gas delivery and evacuation systems, which were tricky and precise. Terry and his team did a great job getting the system built to standards and codes we didn't even know existed.
Exam Room 1 The exam rooms are carpeted, and feature wood furniture (Mango wood, salvaged from plantation trees at the end of their productive lifespan). The exam platform on top of the table is a nice handcrafted wooden box created by Billy Kahn from Holdfast Wood Shop, fitted with a custom cushion. During exams, the top is covered with a fleece pad sewn by Kristin's parents Ev and Kathy Amundson. We're trying to present a more comfortable welcoming environment in the exam rooms - more of a consultation room than a medical experience. Clients and patients have really responded!			Comfort Room The Comfort Room is a quiet room used for many purposes. It is used as an extra exam room, a quiet place for clients to wait while their pets have surgery, a comfortable space to discuss medical options or procedures, and also for euthanasia.
Kitchen Our break room is simple, but pretty functional. In this tiny space, we've got a refrigerator, dishwasher, garbage disposal, microwave oven, and filtered water. The Ikea cabinetry was put together under extreme duress by our friends Barb and Dan, and installed by myself and our Dads, Ev and Jim.			Washtub The washtub is a custom unit, made by Tri-Star metals in Texas. They were a great group to work with, and also created our semi-custom wet tables (next photo). The back wall was covered in plywood, and due to a few constraints ended up with some serious hardware attached to the surface (electrical junctions, hard conduit, copper pipe, network cables). So we let the location of the things on the surface dictate the design, and built up these boxes around them. The colors are a repeat of the palette found throughout the clinic, and were painstakingly painted by Jim Sulis, my dad.
Treatment Area Maybe it's just me, but I love exposed HVAC. The guys at Eastside Heating and Air Conditioning were awesome, and we really came up with some precise placement for the HVAC elements to keep them aesthetically clean. They also used threaded rod to hang the ducts instead of metal straps, so the end result looks much more precise and straight. The tall wall was painted by Gerardo and his crew from Luxury Painting in Portland, after Kristin and I (and her parents) gave up trying maneuver the electric lift around to reach it. It became apparent that we were going to spend days trying to paint it - but the painters came in with scaffolding and ladders and had that wall primed and painted with two coats before we even knew it.			Treatment Area and Wet Tables The wall-mounted cabinets and counters in this picture and the next were all customized from a cool modular series by MidMark - working with them, we were able to get some really nice storage, customized exactly how we needed it.
Lab The lab area here features more cabinets and counters from MidMark, and our whole lab setup from Idexx. Omar, our rep, came in repeatedly to help us organize and rewire it as the place got rearranged.			Surgery Our surgery room is small, but packed with quality features. The Midmark lights are nicely counterbalanced and very versatile, the surgery table is heated to help keep patients warm during surgery. The anesthesia system uses Sevoflurane - the same thing that's used in pediatrics. It allows patients to wake up more quickly and easily than other products. Our anesthesia machines and the supply and gas scavenging systems were designed by Brian Lawson from LEI Medical. He even came in as we were testing the system to help fine-tune it, and made some custom modifications so it would be perfect.
Digital Radiography Room This room holds our Fovea Digital Radiography system, which is the most affordable system out there, is really easy to use, and produces *excellent* digital images. The company and the sales rep were great to work with, and the system is a really valuable addition to the practice - it saves time on reshoots for animals under sedation, allows more views with less work, takes up less space than a traditional film system, and allows us to send clients home with a CD-ROM of their xrays!			Digital Radiography System Our complete system, along with the computer, and protective gear. This room was specially constructed based on a shielding plan by Health Physics Northwest, and has lead-lined drywall on two sides. The electrical work here, as in the rest of the clinic, was done by Dave and Eric at Anderson Integrity Electric - electrical work can get pretty particular and tricky, especially with specific uses like this, and Dave expertly and diligently worked out all the strange issues that popped up.