Bluffton Animal Clinic Opens New Facility
The Wells County Chamber of Commerce staff and Ambassadors welcomed Bluffton Animal Clinic to their new building and location, 1980 North Main Street in Bluffton, with a Ribbon Cutting on June 23, 2020.
Bluffton Animal Clinic opened in 1951 at 979 North Main Street; the building was expanded in the 1970’s. As the practice continued to grow, an additional practice was added in Decatur. Today, there are a total of six veterinarians between the two locations. Dr. Steve Bales said that they had been talking for the past 6 years about expanding and building a new location.
“We have the capability of offering more services to our clients but were limited due to space; it was time to make the next steps happen,” said Dr. Bales. ”The current location was not conducive to the surgeries needed, the space to meet with clients was small, space was tight in all aspects of running the business and it wasn’t built for what we need to do for today.”
Two years ago, they met with a veterinarian architect in the design of the building and in 2019 ground was broke for the new facility. Monday, June 22, 2020 the doors officially opened. “We have the ability now to expand our facilities and have a plan for a second building,” explained Dr. Bales. “A lot of our clients want large animal care and some live two or more hours away. We can definitely serve them better having space here to give the animals the care they need.”
Dr. Bales explained that the support from the community has been exciting and appreciative. “We have been blessed with the support throughout the entire process and backing on what we wanted to do here at the new facility.”
Amenities that were added to the new location are a ventilation system to control animal odor. An isolation area was also added with a separate air system to not contaminate other animals. The clinic can now board up to 35 dogs and cats, keeping each separate from one another; a conference and break area for staff is located on the second floor; additional storage areas for supplies; the outside enclosure includes a specialized turf to control bacteria; and the surgery facilities were upgraded.
“We will now have the capability to do orthopedic care and surgeries we could not do before,” said Dr. Bales. “Each of our six veterinarians specialize in something different and this new space allows us to do so much more with the animals. The rooms are set up for any future development projects as well.”
Pictured in photo left to right:
Erin Prible, Wells County Chamber of Commerce, Executive Director
Sarah MacNeill, Wells County Public Library, Chamber Board President
Audry Estill, Wells County Chamber of Commerce
Bluffton Animal Clinic
Danielle Lambert, Bluffton Animal Clinic
Bluffton Animal Clinic
Bluffton Animal Clinic
Dr. John Huseman, Bluffton Animal Clinic
Angie Topp, American Mortgage, Chamber Special Events
Bluffton Animal Clinic
Jean Bordner, News-Banner, Chamber Ambassador
Dr. Steve Bales, Bluffton Animal Clinic
Kody Kumfer, First Bank of Berne, Chamber Ambassador
Bluffton Animal Clinic
Bluffton Animal Clinic
Jim Chilton, News-Banner
Bluffton Animal Clinic
Bluffton Animal Clinic
Kevin Pritchard, RUOFF Mortgage, Chamber Ambassador
Mayor John Whicker
Mike Lampton, Farm Bureau Insurance, Chamber Ambassador
Stacey Duncan, WEG Commercial Motors, Chamber Ambassador