Greenbriar Animal Hospital

Nowadays it is difficult to arrange a behind the scenes tour of most businesses, but at Greenbriar Animal Hospital, we welcome field trips and tours. Pre-school, daycare, school groups, scouts, church, Brownies, home-schooled families, adult and other groups are all welcome!

Major tips for arranging/planning for a hospital tour:

Appointments for tours must be made well in advance. Total group size is restricted to less than 20 (including adult supervisors when needed); we will have larger groups split up. Otherwise, it is too hard for everyone to see what we are demonstrating!

Children under 18 must be accompanied by an appropriate number of chaperoning and supervising adults. If anyone in your group has special needs or special interests, please let us know so we can target some of our demonstrations accordingly. Our hospital is handicapped accessible.

If you are interested in arranging or inquiring about a hospital tour for your group, please call us at (703) 378-8813 before 1:00 p.m. on weekdays and ask to speak to Rachel or send an email to GAHPets@GAHPets.com. Tours can be scheduled almost any weekday, but times of the day are limited. We do not give tours on Saturdays.

Hospital Tour: Activities usually included:

• Tour of the hospital (lab, pharmacy, treatment, surgery, x-ray, grooming, exam rooms)
• Demonstration of scanning for a microchip and a look at a real microchip (they are tiny).
• How we set up to do surgery (not for smaller children)
• Interesting x-rays (dog that ate a hearing aid, or bladder stones)
• Demonstration of lead x-ray protective equipment and how we use it (plus an opportunity to try it on for some age groups)
• Brief discussion about some aspect of pet care (depends on the ages of the group)
• Free handouts on various pet topics, like pet health insurance, preventive care, etc.

Hospital Tour: Optional activities (depends on the age group and attention span):

• Demonstration of Dr.’s dog getting an exam and/or nail trimming
• Demonstration of brushing dog’s teeth using our teeth models
• Sterile gowning/gloving techniques for surgery (for older attendees)
• Hands-on practice using actual surgical instruments (nothing sharp)
• Getting weighed on one of our electronic scales (for the very young)
• Getting a ride on our lift table (for the very young)
• Discussions on how to become a veterinarian (for older students)
• Display of bladder stones, teeth, worms, and other oddities.