A week after asking for more information on the project, the Walpole Zoning Board of Appeals unanimously approved an expansion of the Tufts Veterinary Emergency Service.
The $3 million project was approved last Wednesday, Nov. 2.
Under the plan, the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine will build a new animal hospital in an 8,000 square foot building in Walpole. It will be expanded to 15,000 square feet to install a mobile MRI unit.
Students at the Cummings School, in Grafton, do their residencies at the hospital in Walpole. The hospital will be the new home of the growing Tufts Veterinary Emergency Treatment and Specialties practice.
Cummings School student Jennifer Ann Zambriski said she supported the new hospital. "I definitely think it's important," she said. "There are a number of animals that come in that need MRIs and right now the wait can be up to a week and a half which is sometimes too long."
According to the Board's secretary, Evelyn Splaine, the project was first reviewed at the end of September. At the time, though, the project did not include documentation of a waste management plan and an inventory of chemicals that would be stored in the facility - both requirements under city law.
At the next scheduled review meeting Oct. 26, the Board still did not have the documents and had to postpone voting on the plan. The information was provided to the Board Nov. 2 and the plan was approved the same day.
"The project was approved," Splaine said. "Next, the Board will stipulate certain conditions."
The conditions are simply complying with the waste management plan and the chemical inventory, according to the Daily News Transcript.
The construction costs will be covered by loans. Patient revenues are expected to eventually pay off the loans and cover the costs of operating the building and the practice.
The project will affect the way Cummings School students learn, the school's associate dean for administration and finance, Joseph McManus, said. "It will expand and defend our school's clinical teaching caseload," he said. Cummings School students rarely set foot in a traditional classroom, he said. They spend most their time in clinical teaching environments.
"The more varied a caseload we can offer our students, the higher quality their veterinary education will be," McManus said. "Many veterinary schools across the country are struggling with inadequate teaching caseloads. The Cummings School is being proactive to make sure that does not happen here."
According to McManus, the new hospital space will also let the school generate additional revenue for academic programs. The Cummings School tries to diversify its sources of revenue - such as gifts, grants, clinical revenue, research and new ventures - to take the financial pressure off tuition and the University budget, McManus said.
The expansion will also enable the school to hire additional clinical faculty to instruct students without increasing tuition. The cost of hiring the faculty will be supported by the revenue from the clinic.
"This strengthens and builds the faculty available to mentor our veterinary students and residents," McManus said.
Senior Jennifer Gilbert, who will be attending the Cummings School next year, said she was excited about the school's expansion. "The equipment upgrades and mobile MRI unit will really make working with animals much more accessible and simple," she said.
Zambriski said she was happy with how the Cummings School is using its money. "This is one of the projects I am happier about," she said. "I think more could be done to improve the buildings for the students and for the direct benefit of our education."
According to McManus, that is precisely the goal of this project.
