Lefebvre Veterinary Medical Center

Projects
2003, 2004, 2005

• Logo, stationery design
• News and feature releases about the new hospital facility
• “Welcome” brochure
• “Advanced Medical and Surgical Care for Companion Animals” brochure
• Exterior sign designs
• Newspaper advertisement
• Open house invitation

My work for practice owner Richard A. “Rick” Lefebvre, Sr., DVM, of Lefebvre Veterinary Medical Center began shortly before the practice moved to a newly-constructed facility.

The relationship started with a logo and stationery design order from my VeterinaryLogos.com website and soon expanded to include exterior sign designs, brochure writing and design projects, news and feature releases and advertising and open house invitation designs.

I wrote news and feature releases to publicize the move to the new facility in area news outlets.

Kerry, you are an absolute genius at what you do. The logo, pamphlets and brochure are wonderful. People remark daily on the pamphlets. And the article you wrote for our local magazine was exceptional. Your writing is flawless. I just wanted to say thanks for helping us through a tough time as we opened our clinic. We really could not have done it without you.

Richard A. Lefebvre, Sr., DVM

In the years since we worked together, the practice has grown from a two- to a four-veterinarian practice, with Dr. Rick Lefebvre’s son Richard Lefebvre, Jr., DVM, now working alongside him.

News Release

This news release announced the ribbon-cutting for the new facility.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FOR INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Dr. Rick Lefebvre
Office Phone: (555) 123-4567
Home Phone: (555) 890-1112

Lefebvre Veterinary Medical Center Builds New Hospital in Monroe

Lefebvre Veterinary Medical Center will celebrate opening its new hospital at the corner of Duval and Augustus drives with a ribbon-cutting Friday, March 5.

The new facility is a “dream hospital” for owner Richard A. “Rick” Lefebvre, DVM, who has practiced in Monroe since 1974. In 1989, after 15 years with Cummings Veterinary Hospital, Lefebvre opened a solo practice on Forsythe Avenue. Dr. Susan H. Paul joined him in 1995.

In addition to a reception area and hospital store, the facility has four exam rooms, a large treatment area, a pharmacy and laboratory, a surgery suite and an intensive care unit. There are separate wards for hospitalized dogs and cats and an isolation room for animals with contagious diseases. Therapy oxygen is piped into the walls.

From the Forsythe Avenue practice, Lefebvre brought a number of diagnostic and treatment tools, including an endoscope, sophisticated anesthesia and monitoring equipment, dental tools, X-ray machines, laboratory equipment and tablet computers. With the opening of the new hospital, the practice introduced two new technology-based services—ultrasound diagnostics and laser surgery.

For boarding pets, the new hospital has more than a dozen indoor runs as well as three private luxury boarding rooms featuring plush bedding and pet-themed movies on television. Using web-cam technology, traveling clients can check on luxury boarders via the Internet. The same technology allows the clinic’s doctors to observe patients in intensive care after-hours from home.

Outdoors, all boarding pets and patients enjoy the clinic’s pet courtyard—a fenced area along Duval Drive where dogs can exercise and try out the playground equipment.

Doctors and staff began seeing patients at the new hospital in mid-February.

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Feature Release

Here’s the feature release I wrote to announce the opening of the new hospital facility.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FOR INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Dr. Rick Lefebvre
Office Phone: (555) 123-4567
Home Phone: (555) 890-1112

New Veterinary ‘Dream Hospital’ Opens in Monroe

Long before 1974, when Rick Lefebvre finished his degree in veterinary medicine at Auburn University and began practicing in Monroe, he spent nearly all his free time at his uncle’s Baton Rouge veterinary practice.

“I started working there when I was in the ninth grade,” recalls Lefebvre. “Even before then—even as a preschooler—I loved to hang around the clinic and go out with my uncle on farm calls.”

Three of Lefebvre’s cousins are veterinarians, and his son Richard is a third-year student at the Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine. “I grew up in veterinary medicine,” says Lefebvre. “For us, veterinary medicine really is a family tradition.”

In 1989, after 15 years with Cummings Veterinary Hospital, Lefebvre opened his own practice in a converted office building on Forsythe Avenue. Dr. Susan Paul joined Lefebvre Veterinary Medical Center in 1995 after her graduation from the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine.

Paul resolved to become a veterinarian at age 16 while growing up on the family farm. “We had lots of animals, and I helped take care of them from the time I was a child,” says Paul. “I realized then how much they depend on us and how rewarding it is to have animals as part of your life.”

As of March 1, both doctors and their staff will relocate to Lefebvre’s “dream hospital,” a newly-constructed facility at the corner of Duval and Augustus drives. While the new hospital is less than a mile from the practice’s present location, it is considerably farther removed in terms of expanded space, advanced technology and amenities for the humans and animals who will use it.

Upon entering the new building’s spacious reception area, clients can watch educational videos or shop for pet supplies in the hospital store. In addition to four exam rooms, the facility has a large treatment area, a pharmacy and laboratory, a surgery suite and an intensive care unit. There are separate wards for hospitalized dogs and cats and an isolation room for animals with contagious diseases. Therapy oxygen is piped into the walls.

From the Forsyth Avenue practice, Lefebvre will bring a number of advanced diagnostic and treatment tools already integral to the practice, including an endoscope, sophisticated anesthesia and monitoring equipment, dental tools, X-ray machines, laboratory equipment and tablet computers.

With the opening of the new hospital, Lefebvre will introduce two new technology-based services—ultrasound diagnostics and laser surgery. “With ultrasound, you can see what’s going on internally without always having to do exploratory surgery,” he explains. “With laser surgery, you have better precision, less pain, less bleeding and faster recoveries.”

Lefebvre expects the new facility will help ease a backlog of cases caused by limited space at the Forsythe Avenue location. “We’ve had the tools and the staff we needed to meet our patients’ needs, but over time, the lack of space has resulted in a waiting list for some elective surgeries and dental procedures. In the new hospital we’ll have the facilities and equipment we need to handle more. We’ll be able to monitor patients more efficiently throughout surgery and recovery, too.”

While most pets boarding at the new hospital will occupy a kennel with more than a dozen roomy indoor runs, the hospital’s most pampered guests will stay in three private luxury boarding rooms where they can enjoy plush bedding and pet-themed movies on television. Each luxury boarding room is monitored by a video camera. By logging on to a password-protected area of the clinic web site, anxious owners can check on their pets via the Internet. The same web-cam technology allows the clinic’s doctors to observe patients in the Intensive Care Unit after-hours from home.

“Through the years, many clients have come to rely on us to board pets with special needs or chronic illnesses like diabetes or epilepsy,” says Lefebvre. “Clients tell us they feel comfortable leaving their pets with us, knowing there’s a doctor available—even on weekends—and knowing they can really count on our staff to give essential care and treatments. With this web-cam technology, our clients will be able to check on their boarding pets over the Internet, and we doctors can monitor ICU patients from home. It’s another way we’re adding an important new dimension to our practice that will let us offer even better care and provide greater security and peace of mind for our clients.”

“Even owners of young, healthy pets miss them and fret over them when they’re boarding with us,” adds Dr. Paul. “Now they’ll be able to look in on them whenever they want to from wherever they are.”

Outdoors, all boarding pets and patients will enjoy the clinic’s pet courtyard—a fenced area along Duval Street where dogs can exercise and try out the playground equipment.

“We’ve tried to think of everything in planning this hospital,” says Lefebvre.
Throughout planning and construction, Lefebvre’s wife, Realtor Sybil Lefebvre, worked directly with Joe Holyfield of Holyfield Construction to oversee the building project. Daughter Lauren joined Sybil in working with Nonie McKie of Nonie McKie Interiors on all aspects of interior design.

The Lefebvres’ son Richard was also involved in the project from the beginning. “I’ve tried to run everything past him, and he’s given some great input,” says Lefebvre. Richard plans to join the practice after his graduation from vet school in May 2005.

In his 30 years of practice, Lefebvre has witnessed dramatic advances in veterinary medicine, including new, improved drugs, treatments and equipment. At the same time, Lefebvre has observed firsthand the changing role companion animals play in the lives of their owners.

“Today, nine out of ten clients tell us they consider their animals to be members of their families, with only one in ten thinking of their animals simply as pets,” he says. “Ten or 15 years ago, those numbers were reversed.”

At the same time, our nation has seen a steady increase in the total number of pets and with it, an increase in spending on veterinary services, pet foods and other pet-related products and services. According to the 2003-2004 National Pet Owners Survey by the American Pet Product Manufacturers Association, 62 percent of households include a pet, and 42 percent have more than one pet. Nationwide, 377.8 million pets outnumber the 290 million Americans who own them. Spending on pets has grown from $17 billion in 1994 to an estimated $31 billion in 2003.

With pet owners’ changing attitudes toward their increasing numbers of pets come growing demands for more, better veterinary services. “Clients are much more likely now to want to go the extra mile,” notes Lefebvre. “They want to make a reasonable effort to improve and extend their pet’s life, and with our new facility, we’ll bring together the latest knowledge, the spaces and the technology to help them do so.”

Lefebvre also believes his new hospital will, by promoting better health for pets, promote better health for their owners. In recent decades, a growing number of researchers in medicine, psychology, sociology and other disciplines have studied relationships between people and their pets. Among the many benefits they have documented so far—

• Pet owners have better psychological wellbeing and fewer minor health problems.
• Pet owners have lower blood pressure, triglyceride and cholesterol levels.Pet ownership can enhance children’s self-esteem and cognitive development.
• Seniors who own dogs visit the doctor less often than those who do not.70 percent of families surveyed reported increased family happiness and fun after getting a pet.

“These studies show that the human-animal bond is real and worthy of support,” says Lefebvre. “At our practice, that means having people on staff who are not only pet lovers, but who like to interact with people as well. It’s not enough to have this great new facility and all the latest technology. We also understand and honor the human-animal bond by offering a caring, compassionate attitude that shows in our practice every day. It all works together.

“From the beginning, the thing I’ve loved most about being a veterinarian is helping animals,” adds Lefebvre. “As I get older, I get an even bigger charge from knowing I’m helping the owners. It’s a dual thing. When we help keep the pets healthier, we’re helping keep the owners healthier, too.”

CAPTION FOR SERIES OF EIGHT PHOTOS

From the Ground Up. Monroe veterinarian Rick Lefebvre has been photographing construction of his new ‘dream hospital’ at Duval and Augustus since September 2003. Lefebvre, along with veterinarian Susan Paul and their support staff, expect to move into the new Lefebvre Veterinary Medical Center by March 1.

CAPTION FOR PHOTO OF FRONT ENTRANCE

Clients and their pets will enter the spacious new Lefebvre Veterinary Medical Center reception area through an arched doorway.

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