New Bolton receives $13.5 M grant

Penn's New Bolton Center, the facility now well known for treating Kentucky Derby champion racehorse Barbaro, will soon be undergoing expansion.

Last week, Gov. Ed Rendell approved a $13.5 million grant for the center.

The funding has been in the state's capital budget for three years, but the governor chose to release the funds this year, says Barry Stupine, vice dean for administration and finance for the Veterinary School.

Stupine said that $12 million will go toward building a new colic barn and isolation facility for animals infected with contagious illnesses.

The remaining $1.5 million will be used to purchase a tissue digester which is used when animals die and will be the first of its kind in Pennsylvania.

According to Stupine, the isolation facility is particularly important because rampant disease has forced the facility to shut down before.

"Two years ago, we had to close New Bolton Center because we had salmonella newport, a disease which was resistant to all antibiotics," Stupine said. "These funds will be a great help to ensure this will never happen again."

The new facility will be only a small part of a larger planned renovation at the 50-year-old center, located in the Philadelphia suburbs.

The project has already gone through the early planning stages, but the school was waiting to find the funds to start building.

"We have a critical need of rebuilding this hospital," said Corinne Sweeney, associate dean for the New Bolton Center. "This is phase one of our rebuilding."

According to Sweeney, the total cost of the project will likely be in the $60-80 million range.

School officials are very pleased that they received the state funding, and they will look to private sources to fund the rest of the renovations, she added.

Once the new facilities are complete, they will allow the hospital to provide care to twice as many isolation and critical care patients, says Rosemarie Richardson, director of nursing at Penn's George D. Widener Veterinary Hospital.

"The new facilities will make us much more efficient," she added. "We'll be able to provide a higher level of care."

One reason for this may be that nurses and clinicians have been asked for their input in the facility's redesign.

"I think that will contribute to a successful design," Richardson said.

When asked if the timing of the funding could be related to Barbaro's star presence at the center, Stupine said that, though only the governor knows for sure, he believes that the timing is "probably more than a coincidence.

Sweeney said that she didn't know "whether Barbaro finished the deal." But if so, "that's fine with us."

Everyone agreed that the important thing was that the center was receiving the much-needed funds.

"The faculty and staff are so excited," Stupine said. "When New Bolton was closed, it was physically and emotionally draining on them. This is a wonderful reward for their efforts."

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