Old Dominion Animal Health Center Prioritizes Staff and Animal Health

Old Dominion Animal Health Center (ODAH) has been one of the premier veterinary facilities in the Washington, DC area for over 50 years. Since it was founded in 1970 by Dr. Gordon Davis, ODAH has built a state-of-the-art veterinary facility and assembled a team of highly skilled, friendly, and compassionate professionals.

Paws of Honor – Retired Military and Police K9’s

ODAH is committed to giving back to the community. One unique aspect of ODAH is its long-standing role in the K9 world by being the veterinary clinic of choice for military and police K9’s in the Washington, DC area through the Organization of Paws of Honor – a tax exempt organization whose mission is to provide veterinary care at no charge for retired military and law enforcement K9’s that have served our country, locally or globally. ODAH’s CFO, Robert Youngblood, said “Retired K9’s deserve accessible, high quality veterinary care in return for their commitment and sacrifice for our country. The monetary burden associated with veterinary care should not fall on the shoulders of the officer/handler/owner once the K9 has been decommissioned.”

Highest Standards for Clean and Healthy Environments

ODAH has consistently been operated at the highest standards, often serving as an industry innovator. Focusing on safer and healthier environments led to ODAH being one of the first animal hospitals to increase air changes per hour in an effort to improve indoor air quality -- a move later adopted broadly by the industry. It was that desire to remain at the peak of the profession that led Mr. Youngblood to evaluate deploying AIRPHX technology at ODAH in 2017 – long before the COVID-19 pandemic made indoor air quality an issue on everyone’s mind. ODAH was hopeful that AIRPHX would create a safer and healthier environment for pets and staff. ODAH also had to ensure that deployment of AIRPHX technology would not impact the sensitive sense of smell of the service dogs cared for by ODAH. Mr. Youngblood had seen AIRPHX technology deployed in other locations, including his dentist’s office, where AIRPHX was used to create a safer and healthier environment for dental patients and dental staff.

Reduce Air and Surface Germs

ODAH’s veterinary team reviewed the AIRPHX technology and conducted an analysis on the impact that AIRPHX could be expected to have on ODAH’s patients and staff. One thing that impressed ODAH’s Evaluation Team was the extensive third-party testing of AIRPHX both in real world applications which typically showed 90+% reduction of micro-organisms in the air and on surfaces and in laboratory testing on over 30 pathogens found in healthcare environments, where AIRPHX consistently achieved 99.9% reductions of each pathogen in only 30 minutes. Additional lab testing had confirmed that AIRPHX was effective at removing volatile organic compounds from air, including VOCs associated with the smell of pet urine and feces. The evaluation team understood that the reduction of micro-organisms like bacteria, viruses and mold would have a positive impact on eliminating odors throughout the facility. ODAH was also impressed with AIRPHX being deployed in numerous industries, including healthcare facilities like hospitals.

Based on its initial review of AIRPHX, the evaluation team requested that AIRPHX conduct a trial at ODAH. The trial involved AIRPHX deploying two AIRPHX PA2400 units (fewer than would ideally be deployed in that size location). The independent laboratory conducting the test confirmed reduction of airborne micro-organisms of 78-86% and surface micro-organisms of 76% over a 40-day period.

After concluding its rigorous and successful evaluation of AIRPHX technology (including a review of the independent report), ODAH deployed a total of four AIRPHX units to treat the entire three-story 22,000 square foot building throughout the facility – including the kennel area, the daycare area, the surgical area and the lobby.

Impact of AIRPHX at Old Dominion Animal Health Center

Since deploying AIRPHX (the only significant change in disinfection protocols at ODAH), ODAH has seen significant quantitative and qualitative improvement in the health of its animals. Mr. Youngblood said, “While kennel cough and other infection diseases were never big issues at ODAH, kennel cough being transmitted in ODAH has been virtually eliminated, both in the kennel area and in the daycare operations.” He noted that, unlike virtually every other veterinary facility in the area, ODAH has not had any instances where it needed to suspend operations (even briefly) due to health issues of its animals related to cross-contamination. ODAH also has heard from customers that the building has a cleaner smell than other veterinary facilities.

AIRPHX also had a positive impact on staff and customers visiting ODAH, according to Mr. Youngblood. “We were pleasantly surprised that we did not identify any instances of COVID-19 spreading from one staff member to another at ODAH during the pandemic,” he said. “The safer environment we created with the help of AIRPHX gave our staff confidence that they would not be exposing themselves or their families to risk by going to work. That in turn led to ODAH being able to operate continuously throughout the pandemic.”