U of I Vet Med addition construction underway

URBANA, Ill. (WCIA) — The University of Illinois is no stranger to construction; you can almost always find buildings going up or being renovated. Now, builders are focused on a particular 20,000 square foot space.

With the help of a donation from the Khan family, a new addition will be added to the Small Animal Clinic in order to expand faculty. UI matched the donation, allowing the oncology department to expand and continue to give hope to pets and their owners.

“It is going to probably quadruple, if not greater, the space that we already have,” said Oncology Clinical Professor Laura Garrett. “All you have to do is spend 2 hours in our service, or maybe 10 minutes, and you’ll realize that we have massively outgrown our space.”

The company routinely packed nearly 15 people in a small meeting room to teach. Doctors also had to often wait for table space or microscopes to open since there were so few.

Thanks to the two donations, more space will be coming in the near future. The two-story oncology wing will not just allow for more patient space but provide other benefits as well.

“Included in that is the ability to expand our clinical trial service so that we can start having more clinical trials to serve the community,” said Clinical Trial Coordinator Rebecca Kemerer. “This gives our clients a new seating space that they can enjoy that’s maybe a little bit quieter and a little bit more relaxed.”

The clinic will be able to study better ways to care for dogs with bone cancer, cats with oral cancer and more. Faculty played a big role in designing the facility because they have a sense of what matters most, like animal proofing the waiting area.

Pilings for the building will be going in on Oct. 10. The project is on schedule to be completed by December of next year.

Once oncology moves out, the old space will be taken over by the radiation and surgery departments. Everyone involved in the process will benefit.

“We are beyond excited,” Kemerer said. “I’m not sure if there’s a word big enough for how happy we are to be able to get this new space.”

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