It's all feet on deck for Helen Irving, who is very hands-on in her role as president and CEO of Schwarzman Animal Medical Center.
“But I always take time to go to the wards and be part of the team,” said Irving, who is also a registered nurse. “So, I've been known to wear scrubs and go to the operating room. And I'm going to stay in the emergency room all night to see for myself what's needed.”
Originally from London and currently living on the Upper West Side, she just celebrated her one-year anniversary at AMC, the world's largest nonprofit veterinary hospital, located on the Upper East Side.
Irving, whose impressive career includes serving as vice president of hospital operations at Mount Sinai Medical Center and manager of transplant surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, described AMC's atmosphere as a children's hospital.
“The reason I say that is because patients can't talk to us the same way a child can. They can't always tell us what's wrong, and our pets They can’t even tell us, we just know they are suffering,” she explained. “So when we work with children, we usually work with parents, and our clients are animal parents. They always tell us, 'This is me. It's a baby.''
AMC, which just announced the Dennis Michael Kellen Surgical Care Institute as part of a $125 million expansion, is working closely with the NYPD and the City of New York, New York to recruit K9 personnel and zoos in the tri-state area. provides care. To help your furry friend. The company employs more than 130 veterinarians in more than 20 specialties and had 54,417 pet visits, including more than 2,800 surgeries, last year alone.
And the center, which is open seven days a week, doesn't just care for dogs and cats.
“We have a lot of rabbits, parrots and bearded dragons,” Irving said. He also has a 17-year-old rescue cat named Fidget and a 9-year-old Welsh terrier named Reggie Jack.
“And we see quite a few gerbils, hamsters and guinea pigs. We recently had a therapy duck come in who needed surgery on his webbed feet.”
Please tell us about your background and work as a nurse.
I went to nursing school in the UK and specialized in cardiology, so I am a certified cardiology nurse. After moving to Canada and New York, I worked in cardiothoracic emergency medicine. I then moved to the New York City Organ Donation Program, and most of my career since then has been in transplantation or organ donation, working in both fields and at Columbia University during my time at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, and later at Mount Sinai. . . At Sinai, I was the director of clinical transplantation for the Heart, Lung, Liver, Kidney, and Small Valve Programs. It was known as the Recanati/Miller Transplant Institute, and from there I was promoted to Vice President of Hospital Operations. At the end of my time there, I returned to the organ donation program as CEO for almost 11 years. I worked during the coronavirus pandemic and felt strongly that I needed to change my career. I thought I had done everything I could in the organ donation field, but I have now officially retired from that role.
What inspired you to take on your role at AMC?
I was volunteering and working briefly in Hackensack when, out of the blue, I received a call from the same recruiting firm that offered me my previous job and asked if I was interested in working at a veterinary medical center. Ta. My first reaction was, “I think you're wrong.” Have you read my resume? I'm not a veterinarian. ” they said. “In fact, the board wants to find someone who can run the hospital, because obviously veterinarians can take good care of the pets, but we need someone who can manage the hospital itself. ”
How should I describe the hospital?
It's a real hospital. I tell people, “It's like stepping into Mount Sinai.” There is a CT scan, MRI, and operating room. We have linear accelerators, oncology services, and cardiac services. That's true. Another analogy is that this is very different from an adult hospital and more like a children's hospital. From a hospital administrator's perspective, this equipment is smaller. All are small in size, except when dealing with Great Danes, who are obviously bigger than me.
What does a typical day look like in your role?
It will never be the same. One day I was meeting with a lawyer because I was doing a real estate transaction. So I went downtown. When I got back, one of the doctors called me during my lunch break and said, “You know what? “Helen, could you please come to the operating room?'' Here is an interesting case study. ” So I jumped out, put on my scrubs and went to the operating room. Then, I had to finish work a little early for a doctor's appointment. When I left AMC, it was 4pm. A gentleman in a car parked across the street was screaming for help. I grabbed my buddy and crossed the road, and sure enough, there was a pit bull in the back of the car having a baby.
Are there really 1.1 million pets in the city?
Yes, Forbes actually has a very good analysis on animals. I think 70% of households currently have animals in their care, and 66% of them were brought in due to the coronavirus pandemic. Therefore, the number of pets in our lives is increasing exponentially. And as you may remember during the coronavirus, we saw shelters empty as people sought their own companionship in one-bedroom apartments. So there is currently a huge demand for veterinary services, from health care to preventive medicine, vaccinations, and even the tertiary care that we provide.
Tell us about your animal patients.
We have a very strong relationship with the New York City Police Department and New York City, NY, and all dogs from Department of Corrections departments to the NYPD to bomb detection dogs come to us for testing. I come and take care of them. AMC usually has one of them every day. They are fully working dogs. They are wonderful animals to care for and we are very proud of our relationship. The dogs that sniff out all the bombs, contraband, and drugs are usually springers or small lab dogs. And of course they're hyper because this is a game to them. they are everywhere. And then there's the real imposing police K-9 who just sits there and is very attentive.
Our hospital performs many minimally invasive surgeries. People want their pets the same way they would if they were a human because there are fewer scars and faster recovery times. One of the dogs there was born with his feet pointing in the wrong direction. So you create a guide, like a little plate, that holds your leg straight, and you can actually go back and move your leg to straighten it. Our hospital also performs many cases of radiation therapy. Just like in human medicine, stents can be placed in coronary arteries to prevent heart attacks. I do the same thing with dogs. There are a lot of different things going on in AMC that are comparable to what happens in the hospital.
For more information, please visit www.amcny.org.
