Business Spotlight - Hilltop Animal Hospital
Hilltop Animal Hospital Staff. From left: Amanda Klein, Dr. Sue Walters, Laura Manning, Jennifer Richardson, Dr. Mike Joyce and Laurin Kinser. Diane Metz and Beth Joyce were unavailable for the photo.
For nearly nine years, Dr. Michael Joyce and the staff at Hilltop Animal Hospital have been providing preventative care and treatment to animals from their Christian-based veterinary office at 422 Main Street in Malvern.
Providing veterinary care from a Christian perspective is at the foundation of Hilltop Animal Hospital’s business model,” according to Dr. Joyce.
“We do believe, even through our mission statemement, that we’re going to use the gifts the Lord has given our people to enhance everything around them,” he said. “The mission work we do is definitely our way of fulfilling why we believe we’re here – to serve fellow man. We just have to use the animals as a bridge for that.”
Hilltop Animal Hospital’s mission statement says:
“Our mission is to serve the Lord and glorify Him using the gifts He has given our employees.
We will diagnose and treat and maintain animal health without inflating costs or procedures by operating the company in a manner consistent with biblical principles.
Our services and facilities are designed to assist in routine preventive care for young, healthy animals; early detection and treatment of disease as your companion animal ages; and complete medical and surgical care as necessary during his or her lifetime.”
Dr. Joyce said dogs and cats make up about 95 percent of the animals that receive care from Hilltop Animal Hospital, but there have been other animals as well, including hogs, South American Camelids, llamas, alpacas, guanacos and horses.
“Most of the horse people have kind of moved on - they’re retired or retired from the military and moved on,” Dr. Joyce noted.
Dr. Joyce is a 1994 graduate of Kansas State University. After graduating, he spent the first 10 years of his veterinary career in southeast Nebraska doing mixed animal care. In 2005, he joined Dr. William Rishel at the Glenwood Veterinary Clinic.
Before opening his practice in Malvern, Dr. Joyce spent about a year practicing at a facility in Auburn, Neb., a community he and his wife have strong ties to.
Dr. Joyce said the decision to open a practice in Malvern came at the consistent urging of Malvern physician Dr. Thomas Baer.
“It was in early 2007 or so when I was in to see him for an appointment and he made a remark that I should start a veterinary clinic in Malvern,” Dr. Joyce recalled. “I’m pretty sure I rolled my eyes. It just wasn’t the time, but he kept on me about it. That’s how we ended up here.”
Dr. Joyce said opening a practice in Malvern has proven to be “the right decision.”
Hilltop Animal Hospital is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.; Wednesday from 8 a.m. - noon; and the first and third Saturday of the month from 8 a.m. - noon.
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BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT is sponsored by the Mills County Chamber Of Commerce