More time and energy: how High Country Vet built a real partnership with PetDesk

Hannah, Practice Manager at High Country Veterinary Hospital in Colorado Springs, and her staff were struggling with a hectic front desk, overwhelmed by complex scheduling and constant phone calls.

With the support of PetDesk, here’s how the team simplified daily operations, automated routine client communication, and freed up valuable time to deliver excellent, personalized care to every client and patient.

Currently, the practice is a customer of PetDesk Communications, PetDesk Phones, and PetDesk Direct Booking.

Manual tasks and constant calls used to take up way too much time.

At High Country, the busiest part of the day wasn't always in the exam room. It was on the phone.

"Before PetDesk, handling refill requests and clarifying reminders or due dates for clients took up far more time and energy than it should have," says Hannah. Her team spent hours answering basic status questions and double-checking vaccine and exam records. That was time they wanted to spend on pets and the people who love them.

A step-by-step partnership made the transition to PetDesk seamless.

High Country didn't overhaul everything at once, and PetDesk didn't ask them to. The practice started with online scheduling through PetDesk Direct Booking. Once that was working well, they added the PetDesk app plus automated reminders and confirmations, then two-way texting.

"We started by integrating [Direct Booking] for online scheduling, and as we saw how well it worked, we expanded into the app and automated notifications,” Hannah explains, “From there, adding Two-Way Texting and client communication was so easy. Taking it step-by-step made the transition seamless.”

That's what a real partner does. It meets a practice where it is and grows at the practice's pace, so the team isn't forced into a big change all at once.

The team now has more time to give extra attention to clients who need it most.

Now, instead of calling, many pet parents text High Country Veterinary Hospital or use the app to book appointments and request food and medication refills. Phone traffic is down, and the day runs more smoothly.

The biggest change is what the team does with the time they get back. "While a few less tech-savvy clients still prefer traditional phone calls, having PetDesk in place frees up our front desk to give those clients extra attention without slowing down the rest of our day," Hannah says.

Pet parents who like digital tools get the convenience they expect, and the ones who prefer to call get more of the front desk's attention. Hannah reports client feedback has been "overwhelmingly positive," and pet parents appreciate the level of communication the team can now provide.

"Our entire staff absolutely loves it," Hannah explains, "Communication with our clients has gotten so much easier, which has made our overall day run much smoother… It's reduced phone traffic and made staying in touch with our clients feel so much easier and simple."

Straight-forward onboarding and continuous support made all the difference.

For Hannah, the people behind the platform mattered as much as the tools. "Working with the PetDesk team has been great. Onboarding was super easy, and their communication and ongoing support have been fantastic!"

Her staff picked up the tools quickly. High Country already had systems in place, but PetDesk made them much simpler to run.

Hannah’s advice to colleagues at other practices is just as simple: "We would definitely recommend [PetDesk] to other facilities."