PORTLAND – May 10, 2021 – Lorentz Bruun is working on the construction of Pacific Northwest Pet ER & Specialty Center, the Portland metro area’s newest animal emergency and specialty veterinary care hospital. The operator, NVA Compassion-First, plans to open the Vancouver facility this summer.

The facility will open in the Mill Plain Plaza shopping center at 164^th Avenue and Mill Plain Boulevard. The hospital will occupy space previously occupied by a Whole Foods Market. 

According to Doug Hoffman DVM, VP of Facilities and Infrastructure, NVA Compassion-First, the facility will serve the Portland metro area 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 

"Pacific Northwest Pet ER & Specialty Center, through talented clinicians, caring and compassionate technicians and the latest technologies, will deliver the highest level of emergency and specialty services to pet owners throughout the Portland metro area, as well as working closely with and acting as an extension of the primary veterinarian,” he said.

Pacific Northwest Pet ER & Specialty Center is focused on providing pets with outstanding medical services including 24/7 emergency care, cardiology, oncology, interventional radiology, surgery, and internal medicine. With this mission in mind, the new hospital will feature an expansive Emergency Critical Care Unit, including separate canine and feline ICU’s, as well as advanced imaging modalities including MRI and CT scan, in-house lab and testing facilities, and three surgery suites. There will also be a physical therapy suite with hydrotherapy equipment.

Lorentz Bruun Construction, which is celebrating its 75^th year in business this year, began renovation of the Whole Foods Market at the beginning of this year. The construction project involved demising the former Whole Foods space, framing, roughing in and sheet rocking the 77-room, 18,000 s.f. hospital facility. Copper RF shielding and leaded drywall were installed in rooms housing sensitive equipment such as MRI scanners. 

“This was a big project from start to finish with a lot of rooms to deliver and despite closely following enhanced safety precautions as a result of COVID-19, the pandemic’s impact on local permitting processes and some adverse weather this winter, we’ve stayed on track for completion,” said project manager Eric Bruun.

NVA Compassion-First operates more than 80 veterinary specialty and emergency hospitals across North America. This is NVA Compassion-First’s second veterinary specialty and emergency hospital in Oregon and its first in the Portland metro area. In addition to a hospital in Medford, Oregon, its other facilities in the Pacific Northwest include two hospitals in Seattle and one in Spokane.