Veterinary leader’s Barossa pet hospital dreams take shape
In just over a month, an old warehouse in Nuriootpa will be torn down to make way for Dr Catherine Harper’s ambitious veterinary hospital.
On entering Barossa Veterinary Services’ Nuriootpa clinic, I’m immediately met by two goats waiting for their appointment.
It’s not an unusual interaction for the receptionists, they tell me, but I’m 80kms from the city and the most exotic animal I’ve seen at a veterinary clinic in Adelaide is a guinea pig.
The two goats are led from the reception and into one of two consulting rooms. Next door is a big dog; I didn’t catch his name.
I take a seat in the reception and wait for 2024’s 40 Under 40 ‘First Among Equals’ Dr Catherine Harper to greet me.
She bursts into the space with a smile and apologises for being late; it’s her day off and she just got her hair done.
Dr Harper’s passion and enthusiasm for the veterinary service can easily fill up a room, but it’s not exactly hard to fill up the Nuriootpa clinic.
She takes me behind the scenes and on a tour of the clinic.
“As you can see, we’re bursting at the seams,” she admits.
The clinic’s pharmacy is crammed into a hallway space, and there’s room for about two pets to have ‘dry’ work done and one ‘wet’ surgery room beside that.
When I visit, Dr Harper’s cat is getting its teeth cleaned. Another cat is receiving anti-venom for a snake bite. Again, unusual for this city boy but just another day for the regional veterinary nurses.
Past the surgery spaces and you’ll find the office space for staff is actually a converted garage.
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It really is bursting at the seams.
It makes sense, then, that Dr Harper is about to undertake her most ambitious project yet.
The 40 Under 40 alumnus will demolish a large warehouse neighbouring the clinic in May, after which construction will get underway for her 850sqm veterinary hospital – four times larger than the clinic’s current size.
She’s “beyond eager” to get into the new space, which will form part of Barossa Veterinary Service’s larger portfolio including clinics at Tanunda and Kapunda.
“This has been five years in the making,” she explains from a pop-up office cubicle inside the spacious warehouse that’s been given a fun splatter of paint by staff pre-demolition.
“The biggest challenge we have over there [the current clinic] is noise. By the time you add a dog barking, two or three people talking in a space with machinery, it gets really noisy which is wearing on you when you’re trying to think and be efficient.
“There’s definitely days when we push the space hard and the team feel that.”
Dr Harper is “beyond eager” to knock down the neighbouring warehouse and build the new veterinary hospital. Photo: David Simmons/InDaily
Harper said the new hospital would be a boon for the community.
“To be able to access really high-quality veterinary care without having to travel long distances is going to become more and more important to people,” she said.
The founder walked me through the floor plans of the new hospital. The sheer size of it compared to the existing clinic is the first thing I noticed, but the real benefits of it had to be explained.
Everything – from the waiting rooms to the way pets flow through the building and leave – has been given the utmost consideration for both the animals and their owners.
Firstly, there’s separate dog and cat waiting areas; “Cats hate dogs,” Harper explained.
There are multiple consulting rooms and some have outdoor spaces for anxious animals who might prefer being attended to on the grass rather than under the unfamiliar clinic lights.
Also included: a large, comfortable grieving room acknowledging how euthanasia is a large part of what vets do every day; a pharmacy and lab area; separate waiting areas for large and small dogs; an isolation room for pets with infectious diseases; two surgery rooms; dental tables; and ultrasound and X-Ray rooms. There’s even space for further expansion to build a CT scanner room.
For the human owners there’s long-stay waiting rooms, and for staff there’s an upstairs office with meeting rooms, a boardroom and a lunch room with a balcony overlooking the town’s defunct train station.
Renders of Barossa Veterinary Service’s proposed pet hospital. Images: Supplied
I suggest to Dr Harper that she’s put a lot of genuine passion into the designs.
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“The experience is really, really important,” she explains.
“If you trust us and what we’re saying, then we’re going to get a better outcome for the pet and that all comes down to how we make you feel in the space.”
It’s also going to benefit her staff, who Dr Harper cares as much about as she does the animals her clinics look after each day.
“They already do an incredible job, but I just feel like they’re going to lift and deliver top-notch professional service because they’ll feel like the space matches what we’re delivering,” she said.
“The other game-changer will be the customer experience. We’ve taken on the adage that everyone thinks vets are expensive, so we may as well look expensive. Pets may as well be in a facility that matches that feeling.
“If people feel calm and comfortable in the space they’re in, if the animal feels calm and comfortable, then we’re going to get better outcomes.”
Dr Harper added: “we’re not trying to be a specialist centre, we’re trying to be a really good quality rural general practice”, and that it would enable the team to take on more work.
“But the goal is not to try and fill it straight away. We’re really doing this as a 10-to-15-year plan. I know plenty of colleagues who’ve built things and then filled them much quicker than expected, and if that happens it happens, but it’s about building something that can grow with the community and with the business as it needs to,” she said.
“The experience is really, really important” – Dr Catherine Harper. Photo: David Simmons/InDaily
Reflecting on the year that’s gone
For Dr Harper, the milestone comes one year after she submitted her application in the 40 Under 40 Awards 2024.
It was the second time she’d applied for the initiative; the year before she didn’t make the cut.
But one year on she had another crack and ended up taking out the coveted ‘First Among Equals’ title in 2024.
She also went on to become a South Australian state winner for Building Communities at the prestigious national Telstra Business Awards after her win at InDaily‘s 40 Under 40.
“I did the application on a Sunday afternoon on the day before it was due, in classic procrastinator style,” she said.
“But I always enjoy filling out award applications because I think it makes you do a lot of reflection, and so often you get so busy in the day-to-day and there’s a lot going on and you lose sight of what you have achieved. To stop and fill out award applications is great because it makes you go ‘well I’ve done this, and this, and this’.”
Her number one tip to those considering applying?
“Just do it,” she said.
“There’s nothing holding you back. It’s actually quite an accessible application compared to some of the other awards. It doesn’t take as much time.
“You’ve got nothing to lose, it doesn’t cost you anything.
“Be honest, but really be prepared to celebrate your wins and not to downplay them. Whoever you are, you do wonderful things, that’s why you’re even considering this. So when you write it on paper, make sure that comes across.”
Applications for the 2025 40 Under 40 program close on Monday 17 March. Click here to apply or nominate someone you know.
