Mid-Peninsula Animal Hospital™ Blog

New Year, New Sidewalk

Fri, 01/04/2019 - 10:15 - Carol

Quick status report as we dive into the New Year, plus a couple heads-ups. We hope your holidays were lovely, full of family and friends. As clients travel, it is our honor to take care of their pets, particularly those with specific medical issues. Over this season, our boarders enjoyed the new hospital, complete with new hospital smells. 

 

With the holidays behind us, the contractors are hard at work on the punch list of final items to complete. Most punch list items can happen in and around our operations with minimal or no impact. That said, during the month of January, on weekdays we are closing at 6pm and keeping our weekend hours to Saturday only. Our team members will be on-site with boarders on Sunday, but we won't be open to the public on Sunday, throughout January.

 

The last status update explained that a street project in the works since January -- as in last-January, or January 2018 -- finally fell into place. The project was supposed to take a few days, and mostly did, except one unforeseen delay to the road portion, and one of the agencies will need to return. 

 

Meanwhile, we took the opportunity to address a few sidewalk issues. For example, a cut-out for a former driveway harkened back to the 1940s. It was narrow and had a steep incline. In this day of smart phones, it could have been a tripping hazard. So, we leveled it out. 

 

These upgrades should make the public parking a bit easier, particularly along El Camino Real. There's also public parking along Buckingham. For now, if possible, please use public parking. While the garage parking is available, the safety signage is in production. We're keeping available garage parking to those who have special needs. If you, or your animal, has a special need, use the garage, but with caution, driving slowly as you enter and exit it across the pedestrian sidewalk. 

 

Wherever you park, remember to secure your pet FIRST before opening your car door. If you need a leash or a cat carrier, we have them available to take home, so your pet can arrive safely to the hospital.

 

That's quite a lot of progress, with more to come, and we will keep you posted. We very much appreciate all of your patience during this transition. 

Thank you!!

One Step at a Time

Thu, 12/20/2018 - 09:07 - Carol

We have a modest status update of some progress to report. While there are still steps to take before we are ready to welcome everyone and invite you to our open house, beginning today our reception staff is answering calls in real time, and we will conduct most scheduled appointments on site at 2707 El Camino Real in Redwood City.

For the time being, surgical and anesthetic procedures will still be conducted at the specialty surgical center in San Mateo, and our evening hours are still slightly limited. All of our X-ray machines and lab equipment are up and running, and have been calibrated by the experts. So, we can take care of most needs in the Redwood City location.

By way of a headsup, a street project in the works since January, requiring cooperation between ourselves, the County Public Works and even CalTrans, finally had the pieces fall into place now (of course). It's a yin-and-yang situation. On one hand, the location of the torn up section of sidewalk could be better; but on the other hand we really need this project done. If you encounter it over the next few days, a traffic management representative will be happy to escort you across to our front door. The project should be completed over the next few days. This will enable us to perform some sidewalk upgrades, which is a bonus.

This progress represents a few non-trivial steps forward. We appreciate your continued patience during the transition, and will keep you posted as the news develops. 

We're Moving Now

Thu, 12/13/2018 - 10:40 - Carol

Over the weekend, we began the transition to the new location. At this point we are all moved out, but still moving in. Scheduled appointments for this week were contacted in advance, and they are being conducted as house calls. 

Which brings up phone calls: we had some hickups with the phone system transition, have been deeply concerned about it, and are doing everything in our power to troubleshoot and resolve the problem. We have the technical talent on site now. A voicemail system can currently accept messages and is being monitored during business hours.

Nonetheless, we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. 

Most people contact us to: schedule an appointment or to get a prescription refilled. If possible, please use the RxRefill and Request Appointment webforms on the midpen.com website if you have either of these needs. If you need an urgent appointment, on the "Request Appointment" form, choose "Special Reason" then "other" and describe your urgent need. These forms are being monitored every hour, during business hours. Our phone message system is also being checked regularly, though the webforms are preferred and may be more expedient for you.

From a service perspective we're going mobile. At this point, we are conducting veterinary technician appointments by housecall (at no additional cost), and offering complimentary pet taxi for procedures. Our procedures are still being performed in a specialty surgical center in San Mateo, as they have been the last several months. 

Again, we apologize for the inconvenience during this unique time. Once we are ready to welcome visitors, we will invite you to an open house. Meanwhile, you can contact us via webform or leave a voicemail, and we will do our best to accommodate what you need.

Thank you for your patience.

Big Iron Plumbing Outside

Mon, 12/10/2018 - 09:44 - Carol

All the new plumbing and drainage and sprinklers that are inside goes with some big iron plumbing outside! 

This particular chunk is most impressive and has to do with the new sprinkler system, specifically preventing backflow. Yes, you read that right. All that big iron just on the sprinkler system. There's even more big iron underground, for plumbing, drainage, sewer, etc. Long story short: we are definitely equipped with plenty of plumbing and drainage, and ready to do some big-time animal grooming. 

Pathways of Indoor Plumbing

Fri, 12/07/2018 - 11:37 - Carol

It's not just our grooming area that requires so much good plumbing. Plumbing and drainage exist throughout the facility. 

This means we had to dig out the trenches first, and lay down the proper pipes. Then, pour the cement perfect enough that nobody can tell anything was dug out in the first place.

Creating Shear Walls

Mon, 12/03/2018 - 09:30 - Carol

If you've ever heard the term shear wall, you may know that it's done with ply instead of sheetrock.  But did you know that it's the nails that act like little shock absorbers to help dissipate the force from an earthquake?

Shear walls are a type of structural system that provides lateral resistance to a building or structure. A structural engineer establishes the thickness of the plywood, the specific nails to be used and the "nailing schedule." The term "nailing schedule" sounds like something to do with time, but it's the distance or spacing between the nails. The engineer specifies the location of the nails in the middle of the panel (AKA diaphram), and along the edges. Together, the ply and the proper nails with the proper nailing schedule work together to provide resistence to the earthquake's lateral forces.

Framing Out Walls

Thu, 11/29/2018 - 15:26 - Carol

Unless you’re familiar with construction, you may now know that framing out walls doesn't begin with the wood -- it begins with paper plans. Which is why, if you recall, right after demolition, we set up a working office space. 

It's not good enough to read the plans. Our carpentry foreman had to really study them, because any mistakes made at this stage of the game would have ramifications down the line and could prove extremely costly. Electrical and plumbing, wiring and HVAC, even toilet placement, all depend on the framing. It had to be right. 

Lucky for us, our carpentry foreman is really organized, unbelievably efficient and proved to be a champion. He’s remarkably professional. With sufficient studying, walking the space and clearing up any questions with the architect, our heroic carpentry foreman marked it out, and he and his team got to framing out the walls.

Elevated Stacks of Framing and Sheathing

Wed, 11/28/2018 - 09:50 - Carol

Sometimes construction sites look more chaotic than they really are. On delivery days, in come piles of wall sheathing and studs. 

All of the wood gets placed indoors, if possible, out of the elements, and up off of the floor to prevent moisture damage. Some pieces get delivered and stacked by size. Others get pre-cut and organized by size to make it quicker to grab what you need and keep moving. 

 

Undoubtedly the pieces are measured twice, and cut once.

Giving Thanks and Camp Fire Animal Rescue Giving

Fri, 11/23/2018 - 18:22 - Carol

We interrupt this stream of construction dispatches to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving weekend plus offer a way to help those animals affected in Butte County by the fires. 

Typically, we jump in to help with a Stand By You project, which involves a direct action with industry colleagues we already know and trust. We also sign up to send veterinary staff and supplies. This fire happened too far away to be called into service. But the need is great, reliable help is on the way, and you can get involved!

The SF SPCA has an anonymous donor who is putting up a million dollar matching fund (hello!) for animals affected by the Butte County fires. The Mid-Peninsula Animal Hospital™ Stand By You fund will send the first $2000, which the SF SPCA fund may match and turn into $4000!  Won't you join us by contributing as well?  To do so, visit: https://www.sfspca.org.

Or you can go directly to the donation page at: https://www.sfspca.org/give-917.

Any funds raised in excess of what's needed by the Camp Fire effort, or don't get matched, will go directly into the SF SPCA Disaster Fund, a prudent move which enables an immediate response to the next disaster. As we give Thanks for all that we have this weekend, have a double portion of pumpkin pie, while you help to the animals affected by the fire. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Next Step - Set up an office!

Mon, 11/19/2018 - 09:35 - Carol

After making a Big Mess the next step is to set up an office! No office would be complete without a kitchen, bottled water, fridge and lots of conference tables.

To be fair the point of making a Big Mess is cleaning up what was demolished. The office area was created while clean up took place. 

Over time, the office area, and particularly the kitchen area, got cleaner and cleaner, and more functional. One thing it never got was fancy.