March 19, 2024

Newton Animal Clinic re-accredited by AAHA

Every three years, the Newton Animal Clinic applies for accreditation with the America Animal Hospital Association. Once again, the staff at the clinic can hang their heads a little higher knowing it was re-accredited.

“The clinic takes a lot of pride in going through all the process of making sure we are where we are supposed to be,” Dr. Dave Larson said.

Larson said in order to be accredited by AAHA, the clinic must meet certain criteria, and this year, the AAHA made major changes.

“Even though they had some major changes, I was aware of them a while a go and they weren’t a big deal for us,” he said. “I think we’ve been credited since 2001, and it was a lot of work to go through all the process — originally. Now ... every three years we have to keep up, because they change the criteria some to make sure we are up-to-(date).”

He said AAHA has a long list of requirements.

“In each one of these areas — you can do it all by a computer,” Larson said. “There are page after page of things you have to able to show that you’ve done, and check off. They basically check you over the computer to make sure you have done all these things, and they come in and just kind of spot check you, to make sure you’re not pulling their leg.”

Larson said the requirements are very detailed, but AAHA gives you warning well ahead of time.

“You know everything,” Larson said. “It’s all sent to you. You’ve got three months, (and) they tell when your dates are going to be, when they are going to come and check you out. You get a three-month warning and it’s a lot of hustling and organization to get everything done. (There are) a lot of written things that have to be done.”

“So by the time they come in, it’s pretty well done,” he said. “They just verify, and then they will go through and make recommendations on things you might want to improve. They usually have some pretty good ideas since they see so many other clinics.”

If the clinic did not qualify for the accreditation, Larson said the public would probably be unaware, but internally, it is something the staff takes pride in.

“We would still be operating the same, and 98 percent of the public would not notice the difference,” he said. “It’s more for us. We just hold ourselves to a certain standard and we want to achieve it. Our staff takes a lot of pride on this, we really do.”

For Larson, helping the animals is the most important part of the job. He has been serving Newton since 1978 at the same location at 2445 Highway F48 W. Call (641) 792-4860 to schedule an appointment with their award winning staff.