The Norfolk Veterinary Branch celebrated its new $8-million, 17,459-square-foot facility with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Oct. 8, after nearly eight years of planning and more than 18 months of construction at Naval Station Norfolk.

The state-of-the art building will be home to 37 Soldiers and 17 civilians, which includes Army food inspectors, as well as the veterinary staff who cares for Military Working Dogs and the pets of service members and veterans in Hampton Roads.

The project required extensive coordination between the staff of the clinic, Army Public Health, Navy Medicine, Naval Station Norfolk and Naval Facilities Engineering Command.

"The reason everyone was able to come together is because this is such an incredible mission," said Capt. Bradford Smith, Naval Medical Center Portsmouth executive officer, during the ceremony.

"What a beautiful building, which enables the delivery of care at the level of a military treatment facility. And well it should be, because it's an incredibly important mission that you do here. Taking care of the Military Working Dogs, taking care of our privately-owned pets and providing critical safety food inspections. It's great that we have such an incredible building to accomplish that mission."

The ceremony symbolized the turnover of the building from NMCP and the Navy to the Army and the officer in charge of the clinic, Army Capt. Jessica Dowling.

"Everything we do on our team is to support the warfighter, from food recalls to receipt of inspections at the commissary; whether we vaccinate a poodle for PCS to Guam; or ensure the mission readiness of our canine Sailors, Soldiers, Marines and Airmen," Dowling said. "Veterinary services are a preventive medicine force multiplier. We are proud to serve the community at the request of the United States Navy, and could not be more excited to take on the stewardship of this new building for Naval Medical Center Portsmouth."

NMCP will continue to provide facility management and provide supply and information technical support for the clinic. The new facility allows the clinic to expand patient care capacity and capability.

"We will support over 10,000 patients from the current building, but also absorb the 3,500 patients in eastern Virginia Beach after the recent closure of the Fort Story Veterinary Clinic," Dowling said. "Now that our doors are open, and we have recently welcomed new staff, our hope is to triple the number of available appointments by the end of the month."

This is in addition to supporting 60 Military Working Dogs permanently assigned in Hampton Roads. In a typical year, the clinic can see up to 10 times that number of pets that are moving overseas with their family or Military Working Dogs that are deploying, providing vaccinations, bloodwork and health certificates for them.

The food inspectors also have an extensive and far-reaching presence.

"The food inspection team is responsible for the food safety and security for four commissaries, $5 million monthly in troop feeding contracts for 51 ships, as well as 168 facilities selling food and beverages to military families," Dowling added.

During the planning and construction phases of the building, project officers and members of the multiple Army and Navy commands ensured the new facility would be the gold standard for future military construction veterinary clinics.

"When we design a facility that will provide health care, we look at the population it will serve and that's how we design the facility," said Lt. Brian Holbrook, Navy Medicine East project officer. "In this case, it's the Military Working Dog. We treat these dogs just like service members, and we built the facility around that model."

The facility includes six exam rooms and the staff is able to see animals with all acuity levels, from providing basic care to treating those that require care in the intensive care unit or the operating room. It is a higher level of care that exists at only a few Department of Defense veterinary locations.

"The recovery room and intensive care unit area is equipped with incubators to keep fluids and blankets warm and oxygen units for animals with respiratory disease," Dowling said. "All of the equipment is on casters so the space can easily be reconfigured or accept additional equipment to maximize capabilities. We are also able to treat special orthopedic and musculoskeletal needs that some of the dogs have, for injuries they have from being high-drive, high-performance, tactical canines."

The capabilities of the clinic were built to medical standards, which means that the clinic could easily be capable of becoming a hospital that treats humans.

"We have oxygen capability, and full exam lights in rooms that animals may not exactly need, but we put those in so we have the capability to switch into a human hospital should the need arise," Holbrook said. "Ventilation is a key part as well, how are we going to isolate a contagious patient, whether a canine or a human, we have that capability so we can have those patients without affecting the rest of the building."

For more news from Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, visit www.navy.mil/local/NMCP/.