How Angell At Nashoba Animal Medical Center Will Keep Helping

WESTFORD, MA — When the Angell at Nashoba Animal Medical Center opened in 2016, its mission was to care for the pets of residents who might not otherwise be able to afford it. But years later and amid the pandemic, staff realized if the clinic was to survive the clinic needed to open to people of all incomes.

The clinic will still charge fees far lower than other veterinary clinics for those who need it, but it is now accepting more pets of families that are not low-income so the nonprofit can bring in more money so it can, in turn, keep helping the pets from low-income families.

"We’re not in this to make money," said Laurence Sawyer, medical director of Angell at Nashoba. "We’re trying to support the clinic and keep up with our own mission."

Sawyer said that while there is still a dire need for low-income veterinarian care, it simply was not paying the bills.

"Right now, we’re doing about 90 percent low-income, and we’re really struggling," she said, adding she hopes to have 30 percent of clients pay in full to allow the rest a deep discount.

Discounting procedures is not healthy for the clinic's bottom line, but the clinic's goal is to help keep pets, which are considered family members, healthy and with their families if at all possible.

Recently, a family took their sick dog to a veterinarian, who told them it would cost around $5,000 to do a procedure on the dog to save it, Sawyer said. The family couldn’t afford that, so they brought the dog to Angell at Nashoba to have him put to sleep.

"I said, ‘Let’s take a look,’ and it turned out it had an incredibly large mass, just enormous," Sawyer said. “We were able to take it out, and we charged them $600. That pet is so important to that family, and it would have been horrible to put it to sleep."

Angell at Nashoba offers everything from wellness care, vaccines, and spay and neuter services to orthopedic surgery and ear infections. Students in Nashoba Tech’s Veterinary Assisting program assist at the clinic as part of their hands-on learning.

Starting in January, Angell at Nashoba will offer full-pay procedures for day surgery and dentistry on Fridays, offering a 15 percent discount for Nashoba Tech students, families and alumni, as well as veterans of the U.S. armed services.

For more about Angell at Nashoba, you can visit https://www.mspca.org/angell_services/nashoba