Duo in charge — Veterinarians J. Glenn Brewer and Stephanie Bryson are partners in Countryside Animal Clinic, a practice Brewer started 35 years ago on North Spring Garden Avenue near DeLand. Here are Brewer and Bryson in their new satellite office, Countryside at the Park, which opened in late January on Orange Camp Road in Victoria Park Village.
BEACON PHOTOS/JOE CREWS
Caring twosome — Veterinarians Rachael Cunningham, left, and Adrian Mitchell are assigned to Countryside at the Park, a satellite office of Countryside Animal Clinic that is more convenient to pet owners who live in southwest Volusia County. The new office is in Victoria Park Village, a commercial neighborhood in the Victoria Park community on DeLand’s southeastern side. The original clinic is on North Spring Garden Avenue northwest of DeLand.
Attentive staff — From left, Briana Baughman, Katherine Horan and Colton Creese are the veterinary technicians who will care for your pet while it’s being treated at Countryside at the Park, a satellite facility of longtime veterinary practice Countryside Animal Clinic of DeLand. The new office opened in late January on Orange Camp Road in Victoria Park Village.
Countryside Animal Clinic has been serving DeLand and its environs for 35 years from its North Spring Garden Avenue location. Pet owners have come from near and far — even from East Volusia and neighboring Lake County — to get the care their four-legged family members need.
Now, for many of those furry family members, those owners might not have to travel as far.
Countryside has opened a second location — Countryside at the Park — on Orange Camp Road in Victoria Park Village, a commercial neighborhood of the Victoria Park community.
“We were running out of space at our original hospital,” said principal partner Dr. J. Glenn Brewer, one of seven veterinarians on staff. “This [new location] gives us more room at our original hospital and allows us to better serve our customers in Southwest Volusia and east DeLand.”
Brewer and his veterinarian partner and chief of staff, Dr. Stephanie Bryson, had been considering a second location for several years, they said. Then, last March or April, the space at Victoria Park Village became available, and the two decided to go for it.
“We felt it was ideal for our needs and [would] make us better able to serve our customers on the other side of town,” Brewer said.
Countryside Animal Clinic has been expanded three times since it opened, Brewer said, and the new location will help provide some breathing room before any more expansions are needed at the original clinic.
Countryside at the Park opened its doors Jan. 25 with two veterinarians — Drs. Rachael Cunningham and Adrian Mitchell — assigned there, although only one is on duty there on any given day. When not at the new location, the vets can often be found at the original clinic with Brewer, Bryson, and Drs. Lisa Parker, Jessica Sherrill, and the newest veterinarian, Kristen Lewandowski, who just joined the staff.
“We’re expecting this facility to grow into a full two-doctor practice, but right now, there’s only one doctor here,” Brewer said of the new office.
“We want to go slowly to make sure everything goes smoothly,” said Bryson, who joined the practice in 2002 and became Brewer’s partner in 2010. “The doctors here will be able to confer with the main hospital. We are paperless, so we can transmit test results and records from one facility to the other.”
Whichever location owners take their pets to, Countryside’s vets and staff will provide quality care.
“The thing that has built our business success is that the primary focus is the care and comfort and well-being of the pets, and respect for the pet owners as we give them options regarding their pet’s care,” Brewer said. “We have been fair and respectful from the beginning.”
And that’s true even if the pet owner doesn’t have a lot of money, he said.
“The last thing we’ll do is make them feel guilty, and we’ll do our best to find a solution,” he said.
Countryside Animal Clinic is at 1727 N. Spring Garden Ave. and can be reached at 386-736-9300. Countryside at the Park is at 1431 Orange Camp Road, Suite 101, and can be reached at 386-337-7575.
Both facilities are open 7:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Monday-Friday. The original clinic also is open 7:30 a.m.-noon on Saturdays.
Visit www.countrysideanimalhospitaldeland.com for more information or to make an appointment.
- Joe Crews, joe@beacononlinenews.com