Bremerton vet closure after 42 years leaves void for pet owners in need of low-cost care
Josh Farley
Kitsap Sun
BREMERTON — As Dr. Frank Bischak guides an otoscope into the ears of Molly Sinclair, a 14-year-old Schnauzer, he notes a pair of bubblelike tumors along her fur.
"Are we taking these off today?" he asks Leesa Weaver, his veterinary tech assistant of 26 years.
Weaver replies that Molly Sinclair's owner might not have the budget for the procedure. It's a common predicament facing many of the approximately 3,000 owners who've come to rely on Bischak for veterinary care on Callow Avenue. Many times, he and his staff will simply take care of what's needed at a reduced cost or for free.
"We just like doing what we do," Bischak said.
But now, Bischak, almost 72, is ready to retire, and the clinic he founded — Bremerton Animal Hospital at 613 North Callow — will have to close. In this last month of practice, he's powering through as many appointments as possible — cleaning teeth, performing spaying and neutering, and conducting as many treatments as he can before the doors close for good in late September.
He can extend prescriptions for pets for a year. But he and his staff of two worry about what happens after that, in a clinic where many clients cannot afford full prices at other local veterinary clinics.
"We're not able to refer to anybody, because there isn't anybody," he said. "We're all just really, really sad right now."
The void will be felt palpably by PAWS of Bremerton, a Perry Avenue animal shelter. Roxanne Chavez, a longtime volunteer there, said for those on limited incomes, the closest low-cost clinic is now in Tacoma.
"They charge half as much as everybody else," she said of Bischak's clinic. "It's really sad to see them close."
Bischak and his staff said they'll miss their owners and many generations of their pets.
"You watch them come in as puppies," he said. "And go out as old-timers."
Bischak is hopeful for new options, including a low-cost community clinic at the Kitsap Humane Society. Officials will break ground Friday on the Russ & Linda Young Veterinary Lifesaving Center at the facility off Dickey Road in Silverdale, slated to open in fall 2023, according to Victoria Gingrey, a spokeswoman for the humane society.
As an independent practitioner, Bischak has charted his own course for more than four decades in Bremerton, choosing many times to discount or make services free. He also has discretion over the best course of treatment. That's a rare distinction in a profession largely corporatized during his career, with what he calls "cookbook medicine."
"It's almost become computerized," said Bischak, adding he hasn't used X-ray machines at his clinic for about a decade. "But I'm able to make the decisions on my own, to provide care as I best see fit."
"He's got magic hands," Weaver said.
Bischak, an Ohio native, spotted a clinic for sale in Bremerton in 1980 as he was graduating from Washington State University. He took a chance on it, and it quickly engulfed his life. In his first decade on Callow Avenue, he took no days off, working seven days a week and even sleeping in an apartment upstairs at the location.
"I was about ready to give it up," he said. "It was just too much."
He scaled things back to a clinic and found a better balance.
Shannon Segerman, who has worked at the clinic for nearly three decades, said Bischak has always been a skilled veterinarian who was frank with pet owners — even calling them out if it appeared their animals were being treated unfairly. But he never turned clients away and worked with them to find solutions.
Over time, he developed a "softer" bedside manner, she noted.
"But he's never been one to sugarcoat things," she said.
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As a thank you to his two assistants, Bischak will sell the building and give the proceeds to them. He acknowledged that they could've made more money at other veterinary offices, but that they were compelled to help people and their pets, even when owners couldn't afford the services.
"I just hope our neighboring clinics will give our clients a soft place to land," Segerman said.