I moved back to my home state of Pennsylvania and on May 27, 1976, fifty miles southeast of Pittsburgh in Uniontown, opened my small animal practice and aptly named it The Animal Medical Center of Uniontown, PA or AMC.
I was always interested in the future path that veterinary medicine would take. When I moved to western PA, thirty miles from where my father, a medical doctor, was chief pathologist at the county hospital, I received a gift. That gift was free pathological services and consultations provided by the great doctor William Free Baird, MD. My father. This was fifty years ago and clinical laboratory pathology/medical services were just advancing past the infant stage.
I knew very early after graduating Penn’s Veterinary Medical School, that all of this new developing medical technology would not only be available to human medicine, but without a doubt, would become just as important and accepted in providing medical care to animals too. For example, human tests like CAT scans, MRI’s and new biological laboratory testing could be utilized for animal health and treatment.
The big question was: How would the public/pet owners, be able to pay for it? There was only one answer….pet insurance.
