Penn vet gets ready to open new critical care center

KENNETT SQUARE, PA. — After five years of planning and about a year of construction, the new James M. Moran, Jr. Critical Care Center was set to open June 1 at the New Bolton Center campus at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine.

The need for the new facility, which will specialize in biosecurity and infectious disease treatment, became apparent back in 2004 during a Salmonella outbreak, and ground was broken in November 2008, according to the school.

Funded jointly by the state of Pennsylvania and Elizabeth Moran, the facility is named in memory of Moran's son, James Jr.

The building is styled after early 20th century architecture and is a combination of a barn and a medical hospital, the school reports. It is a single-story building with two separate wings — one for isolation patients and one for colic patients. Both wings have separate procedure rooms, laundry rooms and small antechambers for sterilization. The facility also has an environmentally controlled air circulation system and pressurized central corridors.

At 18,540 square feet, it is the largest addition to the George D. Widener Hospital for Large Animals since the C. Mahlon Kline Orthopaedic Center opened in 1972, according to the college.