News Photos by Diane Speer The staff at Switzer Veterinary Clinic includes, from left, Dr. Ryan Knight and Dr. Daniele Knight, owners; Dr. LeeAnne Kroll; Dani LaRoche, veterinary assistant; Ashley Corn, veterinary assistant; Alyseya Beaudoin, veterinary assistant; Danielle Roeske, licensed veterinary technician; Amanda Cumper, veterinary assistant; Andrea Griffin, licensed veterinary technician; Stacy Helzer, veterinary assistant; Dr. Mary Reichardt; Jeanne Standen, reception assistant; Jessica Knowles, licensed veterinary technician; and Elvis.

News Photos by Diane Speer
The staff at Switzer Veterinary Clinic includes, from left, Dr. Ryan Knight and Dr. Daniele Knight, owners; Dr. LeeAnne Kroll; Dani LaRoche, veterinary assistant; Ashley Corn, veterinary assistant; Alyseya Beaudoin, veterinary assistant; Danielle Roeske, licensed veterinary technician; Amanda Cumper, veterinary assistant; Andrea Griffin, licensed veterinary technician; Stacy Helzer, veterinary assistant; Dr. Mary Reichardt; Jeanne Standen, reception assistant; Jessica Knowles, licensed veterinary technician; and Elvis.

For Dr. Ryan Knight, co-owner along with his wife, Dr. Daniele Ryan, the designation brings gratification.

“It’s a huge accomplishment, and I think we’re all really proud,” Knight said. “It’s something I wanted to do for a long time. The accreditation took a couple of years to achieve. It entailed looking at every part of the practice in detail.”

Knight said he and the rest of the staff made multiple small changes that added up and led to the AAHA accomplishment.

“We’ve made a lot of little changes that I think are going to make a really big improvement for our patients and their care that we’re able to give,” he said.

Dr. LeeAnne Kroll, who practices at the clinic, said the designation means the standards of care administered at Switzer’s are consistent with other national veterinarian associations that set recommendations. Consequently, pet owners who bring their animals in for care can know that best practices are being utilized.

“We were all doing a lot of the things AAHA recommended already. Now we’ve got everything in line,” Kroll said.

Jessica Knowles, a licensed veterinary technician, took the lead on looking hard at all the standards, writing protocols and seeing that any proposed changes were instituted. It took her two years of diligence working around her other duties at the clinic. In some instances, that meant purchase of new equipment. Other times it involved changing procedures on everything from communication with clients to ensuring a sterile environment for all surgeries.

“It was a pretty full journey,” Knowles said. “We have high expectations here. It’s the gold standard for us. We wanted to make sure we are giving animals the best care we can give.”

When the inspector from AAHA came to evaluate the clinic, Knowles said she looked at 900 different aspects of the practice.

“We were required to meet a certain percentage of each category,” she said. “There was a lot of work that went into this on everybody’s part. I was the enforcer but everyone had to step up and have the mindset to be accredited.”

The big walk through occurred on Dec. 22 and turned out to be a grueling process.

“It took six and a half hours,” Knowles said. “We were all kind of nervous. We showed her medical record files and where we store things. We talked for 6 1/2 hours straight.”

At the end of the day, employees at the clinic learned that all their efforts were successful.

“She told us that day. It was really exciting, and everyone at the clinic was extremely happy,” Knowles said.

Bright red logos posted at the clinic now identify it as an AAHA accredited animal hospital. That information also is included on AAHA’s website so if people traveling to Alpena need care for a pet and are looking for an AAHA accredited facility, they can easily look it up and find Switzer Veterinary Clinic.

The clinic has been at its current location on M-32 since 1989. The Knights purchased the practice at the end of 2010.