When the Kind Veterinary Clinic began to think about their new clinic building, they envisioned more space for office work, a bigger isolation room, and a larger reception area. Dr. Denny Rossiter and his colleagues at the Kind Veterinary Clinic in St. Peter, MN were ready to move from their old building, which was an old two story home that had been converted into a veterinary clinic in 1975. The old clinic had a small reception area, one exam room, one surgery room, lab and prep rooms, offices, and a kennel.

"There was probably less than 2,500 square feet of useable space in that building," Rossiter stated.

Rossiter was lead to Morton Buildings when he got a positive response about Morton through an Internet list serve discussing building design. Rossiter contacted the nearby Morton office and is very pleased he did.

Rossiter did visit a few clinics to get ideas for the layout of Kind's new building. However, most of the ideas came from Rossiter and his colleagues. Rossiter got lots of input from his staff members and the staff also decided on the color schemes of the building, he said. Rossiter designed the floor plan for the clinic and provided plenty of space for all the things the old clinic had been lacking.

When entering the building, clients will notice a larger front reception area on the left and added space on the right for retail sales.

"The added space enhanced and significantly increased our ability to offer a much wider array of products," according to Rossiter.

Rossiter pointed out that the counters at the retail and reception area are lower for the convenience of clients and their pets. The clinic's waiting area is divided by three stub walls to separate the animals, he said.

"A happy lab can be separated from a paranoid poodle and also separated from a frantic cat," Rossiter said.

Rossiter explained that the waiting area for clients and pets is very spacious, but also serves a dual purpose. The clinic anticipated they may eventually have some dog training and obedience and use the extra space for these classes. A couple of staff members are already using the space for puppy classes and obedience training, Rossiter said.

Close to the waiting area, the clinic has three 10' x 10' exam rooms, a lab and pharmacy area with computer workstations. A large room was also added for the doctors' office. The room is large enough for the five doctors' desks and may also serve as a place for staff meetings, Rossiter said. The building also includes a surgery room, X-ray room, large grooming room, kennel room, border room, and a storage room. In addition, Kind provides room in their building for city and county pound animals.

"We strive to offer clients and patients the best medicine, surgery, services, and products that we can. The building we were in before was a strong limiting factor in our ability to offer enough for their needs. In a modern facility, we now have a better opportunity to do that," Rossiter explained.