Animal Health Care Associates (AHCA), a 40-year veterinary service facility on the Island, is in danger of losing its lease at the Martha’s Vineyard Airport, compounding fears among pet owners that animal health care would decline even further.
Federal regulations require the airport to put AHCA’s lease — which is for one of nearly 50 businesses in the airport’s Business Park — out for a public bidding process. The clinic’s lease is expected to end at the end of April.
AHCA’s Dr. Steve Atwood announced to clients on Feb. 19 that AHCA is attempting to extend its facility lease with the airport, and that a new long-term lease will be awarded soon, but he worries the process could involve competing bids from non-veterinary businesses.
Airport officials say that there are a number of ways they will be ranking bids.
“There are lots of criteria that are involved in the selection of that process,” airport director Geoffrey Freeman says. “It’s not just the fair market value or best proposal cost-wise, but the needs of the community, the needs of what the business park was designed for, and the best application for the use of the property.”
Animal welfare professionals and pet owners say that the Vineyard cannot afford to lose AHCA, which is one of only a handful of practices still remaining on the Island. They say animal health care on the Vineyard, which lacks a 24/7 emergency clinic, is already stretched thin.
After Atwood’s message to clients, pet owners such as Nancy Rose Steinbock have publicly shared support of AHCA online. Steinbock is a client of Vineyard Veterinary Clinic (VVC), and her dog recently had a health emergency.
“I am very, very upset about what’s happening,” Steinbock says. “This is what happens to the Island. We’re losing essential services.”
Steinbock is thankful that her pets have been able to receive proper care. “Knock on wood — that has not been an issue for me.” But she worries about other Islanders.
Across the Island, Vineyard veterinarians say that animal health care would decline without AHCA.
Dr. Dave Tuminaro of Caring for Animals runs a mobile veterinary service on-Island that responds to house calls. Tuminaro, who worked at AHCA earlier in his career, dreads a possible future without them as a competitor. “You could say, ‘Dave, that’s great. You’re going to take up all the business.’ But I don’t see how I would physically do that,” he said.
Tuminaro says that vets on-Island are already operating at or are beyond capacity and likely don’t have room for more. “I don’t know vets on-Island that are taking new clients,” he says. Tuminaro also says that compounding the issue, more people across the country have gotten pets since COVID-19, and the Island’s population has increased.
Drs. Bridget Dunnigan and Charles Rogers Williams of VVC feel similarly in their support of a new lease for AHCA. “‘Wait,’ you may say, ‘aren’t you AHCA’s competition?'” pose Dunnigan and Williams in a joint statement. “No, we are not competitors, we are colleagues,” they say, noting that VVC works with AHCA to provide after-hours emergency services when clinics are closed.
“The Island is currently suffering with a lack of veterinary services, and should the Airport Commission fail to renew the AHCA lease, it could escalate to even further loss of veterinary care,” Dunnigan and Williams say.
AHCA has also been a resource for larger animals such as horses and certain farm animals, which even fewer vets on-Island treat.
“The Island cannot lose another vet. We cannot,” says Jennifer Rand of the Martha’s Vineyard Horse Council. “If [AHCA] were to lose their lease it would be a catastrophe. And I don’t think that’s too strong a word.”
The Martha’s Vineyard Horse Council is a non-profit that promotes horses and related activities through education and other programs.
“[AHCA] in emergencies has been our vet of need,” Rand says. “[If] the horse can’t even make it off-Island, they’ll come. They have been responsive when there was no horse vet here and the horse was in crisis. They have responded and we were very thankful for it.”
“We already have almost no one,” she says.
Rand adds that few veterinarians come from off-Island to treat horses, and that horses in crisis are often transported off-Island in a trailer. “If you have an emergency when they are not here, which is most of the time, you have to truck your horse off to a horse vet off-Island.”
Vets cite a lack of housing as a barrier to attracting more professionals. “You could see this coming to a head years ago because no new blood was coming to the Island,” Tuminaro of Caring for Animals says. “Leases come up. Retirements come up … the vets here are getting older and older, and no one is really coming. If AHCA closes, it’s a big strain. But even if they stay open, they need to get new doctors in as well.”
For many pets, a lack of round-the-clock care on-Island means that the Steamship Authority (SSA) is a lifeline to reach emergency hospitals and other facilities off-Island.
“SSA has been great,” Tuminaro says, recalling taking a ferry with one dog that had been struck by a car. “I [had] treated it at the house. The Steamship came and allowed me to continue to treat that dog in the car, and allowed me to park an RV.”
Tuminaro recalls communicating with an emergency veterinarian off-Island while caring for a horse, and weighing taking the ferry versus giving further care on-Island. “The equine vet was recommending I do a number of procedures. I would have helped the horse, but I had to weigh the benefit of doing that versus maybe missing the boat if I [had done] that.” Tuminaro has had to make a similar decision with a small animal.
Island veterinarians issued a joint statement after My Pet’s Vet announced its closing. Part of that statement was a list of steps to take if you have an emergency with a small animal:
- If you have a regular Island veterinarian, call their office as early as possible.
- If you do not have a regular veterinarian, or if your regular veterinarian cannot see you, see if there is a local “on-call” clinic open. During office hours, the veterinary offices can tell you who is on-call.
- After business hours, contact VetTriage for urgent matters regarding both small and large animals; they can determine if immediate emergency care is needed.
- If a local veterinarian is unavailable during an emergency, small animals should be taken to a 24/7 emergency veterinary hospital on the mainland. The closest are Cape Cod Veterinary Specialists in Bourne or VCA South Shore Veterinary Associates in South Weymouth. Those in this situation should call the Steamship Authority, but if ferries are not running, Patriot Party Boats can be contacted to charter a boat to the mainland, although they do not take vehicles.
- For large animals, contact your regular large-animal veterinarian first. If unavailable, contact VetTriage. If immediate care is advised but nobody is available on-Island, a trailer can be arranged to be transported to a veterinary hospital, such as Tufts Equine Center in Grafton, if Steamship Authority ferries are running. Call ahead before bringing the animal to any emergency center. Many local horse owners use off-Island equine veterinarians for routine care, who can be contacted for advice.
- If an animal ingested or was exposed to a toxin, contact Pet Poison Hotline at 800-213-6680 or the ASPCA Poison Control Hotline at 888-426-4435.
