The Tufts University Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine has reached its goal of raising $8 million to pay for renovations to the Henry and Lois Foster Hospital for Small Animals. A $2.5 million challenge grant from the Amelia Peabody Charitable Fund was quickly answered by a $2.5 million gift from longtime hospital supporters Travis and Anne Engen. The balance, collected from other donors, will cover the first phase of Tufts’ master plan, which forecasts spending at least $65 million to remake the veterinary school. “The Engen family and trustees of the Amelia Peabody Charitable Fund understand what the hospital renovation will mean for us and truly value the school’s mission of clinical service, teaching and research,” said Deborah T. Kochevar, DVM, Ph.D., the school’s dean. A spring groundbreaking is planned for the remodeling of Foster Hospital, Tufts reported Tuesday. The upgrades will include additional examination rooms as well as larger treatment rooms for ophthalmology, cardiology, neurology and dermatology services. “The renovation is not about bricks and mortar. It’s about what happens inside: medical innovation and education, enhancing our care and maintaining high standards of quality for our patients and their owners,” said Virginia Rentko, VMD, Dipl. ACVIM, the medical director of Tufts’ small and large animal hospitals. Foster Hospital is too small to accommodate its growing patient count. Built in 1985, the hospital was designed to serve 12,000 small animals a year but today sees nearly 30,000 cases annually.
