Delivering Care the Red Barn Way
By: Jeanie Mayer
Since 1986, the Hampshire Animal Hospital has been providing exceptional animal care to the community. Treating customers The Red Barn Way means delivering superior and compassionate care to pets and their human families by always leaving each day better than the way they found it.
Now owned by Dr. Katie Stover, the animal hospital got its start in 1986 when it was first opened by Dr. Tom “Doc” Getzelmann. He expanded the practice in 1992 to include a second location in Gilberts. Katie said she worked for Doc as a tech before she attended veterinary school.
After she graduated in 2012 from University of Illinois, Dr. Stover gained experience as an associate veterinarian at 2 other practices before re-joining Hampshire Animal Hospital and Gilberts Animal Clinic in 2016. She purchased the clinic from Doc at the end of that same year. Now Doc works part-time at the clinic as one of the practice associates.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity to purchase the clinic early in my career from Doc and to own a clinic in a community that cares,” Dr. Stover said.
She said she has kept the same family-owned/operated philosophy to the clinic and is happy have Doc to “bounce ideas off” as she has expanded. In addition to Doc, Dr. Sarah Stone has remained with the practice as well.
Dr. Stover has expanded the practice by adding two additional associates: Dr. Sally Gilbertson and Dr. Juliette Jones. She has also expanded the Hampshire facility with a new addition she had built in 2017-2018 to meet the needs of the growing client base.
Even through the pandemic, Stover said, the demand for animal care grew because people were purchasing and adopting more pets.
“Pets are people’s therapy,” she said.
She said the hiring of Dr. Jones about 9 months before the pandemic was instrumental in being able to serve the increased client load.
“The clinic lucked out that we had the resources to expand our caseload,” Stover said.
The Red Barn Animal Hospital is really one clinic with two locations to meet the needs of clients and their preferences for dates, times and their preferred doctor. Hampshire Animal Hospital and the Gilberts Animal Clinic employ a total of 21 staff members between the two locations. Dr. Stover said she is hoping to purchase land for a new facility in Gilberts that will be a similar red barn-styled clinic like the one in Hampshire.
“We continue to grow. We have doubled the practice over the past 4-5 years,” she said.
Dr. Stover said her philosophy as been to “leave every day better than the way you found it.” She said she encourages the staff to focus on the client-pet bond and she takes pride in allowing her pet-patients to get comfortable with their surroundings during their visit.
“We try to answer all of our clients’ questions so they can be an advocate for their pets. So many places are on a number quota. We schedule our appointments so people have time to ask questions,” she said.
Dr. Stover said the thing that she likes best about her practice in Hampshire is the people who live in the community.
“We have a wonderful clientele. There are so many nice people living in our communities.”
About this Business
Name: Hampshire Animal Hospital
Owner: Dr. Katie Stover
Location: 126 Park Street, Hampshire
Phone: 847-683-4788
Hours: Monday & Thursday 8am-7pm; Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday 8am to 5pm; Saturday 8am-12pm
Shown in Photo: Dr. Stover (Owner), Diana Stoll (Practice Manager), Dr. Jones, Kristy Simon (Tech)