North Cascades Veterinary Hospital

SKAGIT COUNTY BUSINESS PULSE 2006 & 2007 PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARDS WINNER: BEST VETERINARY HOSPITAL

Keeping pets healthy is the mainstay of most veterinarian offices, clinics or hospitals. But the 24 employees at the North Cascade Veterinary Hospital in Sedro-Woolley may have a step up on the rest because of its deep-rooted compassion for their patients.

"All of the staff absolutely loves animals," exclaims Andrew Porter, hospital administrator. "They truly care about the animal. You can't fake it — you either love animals or you don't."

Dr. Tim Howland, owner and one of four veterinarians at the hospital, agrees the staff's attitude makes a world of difference. "Everyone is really committed to taking care of the animals," he says.

Howland bought in as a partner at the hospital in 1978 with George "Bud" Jones. He bought out Jones' share in the mid 1980s. He hired Porter to help manage the hospital two years ago and believes that's one of the reasons people selected their veterinarian hospital as the best.

Porter, who also runs a side business as a customer service consultant, has helped the staff come together as a team of professionals. His tough, no-nonsense attitude also has helped weed out staff members who didn't mesh well with their co-workers. "We've been able to put together a team that works well with each other," Howland says.

During the hospital's weekly staff meeting, Porter says the main focus is to "always do what's best for the animal." Staff members feel welcome to express their thoughts and make suggestions on how to make certain processes run smoother. "We've also been working hard on customer service," Porter says.

The hospital actually keeps a customer service log, including positive and negative comments made by their clientele. The log is reviewed during the staff meeting each week. Staff members work together to figure out how to fix most problems so the same thing doesn't happen again.  

The hospital also gets between 20 and 25 new clients each week. To make sure those customers will be repeat visitors, the hospital staff calls every single client after the first visit and asks them about their visit. The comments are written down and the staff works on improving their customer service for new clients based on the feedback they've received.

The focus on customer service has helped give the hospital an extra boost — as proven by the many votes cast in their favor.  

2006 Business of the Year

The Exchange A Monthly Publication of the Sedro-Woolley Chamber of Commerce awarded North Cascade Veterinary Hospital 2006 Business of the Year.

Every year the US Small Business Administration, in conjunction with the local Chamber of Commerce, awards a business as the Business of the Year. These awards are given to businesses that have not only expanded, but have been active in giving back to their local community. Each local Chamber has an award winner. In Skagit County there are awards given out for Anacortes, Burlington, Conway, Concrete, La Conner, Mount Vernon and Sedro-Woolley. The local winners are announced and from these one business is chosen for the most prestigious award, Business of the Year for all of Skagit County. 

This year's winner for both Sedro-Woolley AND Skagit County is Dr. Timothy Howland of the North Cascade Veterinary Hospital.  

Dr. Howland has been in business since 1978 and the North Cascade Veterinary Hospital employs 22 people. He serves on the Sedro-Woolley school board. Many times he has opened his office as a location for calls to be made during school levy times. He has spent many days on the road to Olympia to help raise funds for the district.   

North Cascade Veterinary Hospital (NCVH) has seen a steady increase in all areas of business in the past three years since opening their new state-of-the-art hospital on Murdock Street. Every year the hospital participates with PAWS in National Spay and Neuter Day where they provide cost-only spay and neuter services for local pets. His staff constantly spends time seeking out homes for unwanted pets. NCVH is a participant in SPOT (Saving Pets One at a Time).  

When we asked "What successful actions led to your expansion?" we were told:   

"Our main thrust over the last two years has been in the area of improving our customer service. Our goal is to make sure that every client leaves our hospital feeling that they received better than expected service."  

"An animal hospital is unique in that we have both clients and patients. Of course the patients are the pets that come to see us and the clients are the pet owners. We have always delivered the highest level of medical care to our patients. Over the last two years we have started to focus more on the pet owners, our clients. We started by adding a new staff person as a Room Technician. This person is a fully licensed veterinary technician. The Room Technician prepares for each patients arrival by studying the patients records and spends time with the pet owner collecting pertinent information for the veterinarian and answering questions about their pets health needs. We also provide a pet report card with every visit. This details how the pet is doing and what is recommended. The doctor, assistant and the room technician make sure that all client questions are answered and that we recommend the medical services your pet needs to be in the best possible health."  

 "Another important procedure we implemented is to log ALL compliments and complaints that we receive from our clients, no matter how big or small. Every week we hold a staff meeting and we go through all of them. If there is any client dissatisfaction we discover what went wrong and what we need to change so that it doesn't happen again. We leave no stone unturned when it comes to doing everything possible to make our clients and patients more comfortable. All of the staff from the doctors to the kennel staff work together as a team. We have a fun place to work!"  

Congratulations to the Doctors and Staff of North Cascade Veterinary Hospital!

Hours, Location and Phone

We are open Monday through Friday from 8 am to 5:30 pm
Saturday we are open from 8 am to 5 pm

NORTH CASCADE VETERINARY HOSPITAL
200 MURDOCK STREET
SEDRO WOOLLEY, WA 98284
MAP to clinic

Phone: 360-856-1809
Fax: 360-856-2102

Mountain photograph courtesy of Andy Porter. Click here to see more of his local photographs