Three former employees of the now-closed Deschutes Veterinary Clinic have banded together to form their own practice.

Sarah Cummings, Cody Menasco and Debbie Putnam will open Riverside Animal Hospital on April 6 in the former Deschutes Veterinary Clinic building at 25 NW Olney Ave., in Bend.

“It’s a great building and a great location,” Cummings said March 6. “It’s already set up to be a veterinary clinic, so when the opportunity came that we could potentially move in there, it was our first choice.”

Deschutes Veterinary Clinic abruptly closed its doors in December. The popular animal clinic’s closure left its staff without work and its clients without access to their pets’ doctors or medical records.

Susan Loomis, who owns the building and served as landlord to Deschutes Veterinary Clinic owner Scott Kramer, placed a lien on all property inside the clinic Dec. 20 because of missed rent payments.

Later that night, someone broke into the clinic and took nearly all of the equipment, including servers that contained every client’s medical records, according to Loomis.

The incident at first looked like a burglary, but Bend Police only took a criminal report for trespassing. No arrests were made.

Kramer is under investigation by the Oregon Veterinary Medical Examining Board and the Deschutes County D istrict Attorney’s Office, but neither entity will comment on his case. In an email sent in January, Kramer called the burglary a “farce” and said Loomis “misrepresented herself with regards to our business.” Due to an ongoing legal battle, Loomis declined to comment. Kramer did not respond to requests for comment by deadline.

Cummings and Menasco were laid off by Kramer in November, and Putnam lost her job at the clinic when it closed in December. The clinic did not pay any of her December wages, but she recently received back wages from the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries, she said.

Staff training at Riverside Animal Hospital starts April 1, followed by a soft opening the next day. The clinic opens to the public April 6. The women have hired 12 employees, including a receptionist, three certified veterinary technicians and one assistant who worked for Kramer at Deschutes Veterinary Clinic, Menasco said.

“We’re doing some renovations so that it feels new to us,” Cummings said.

They have painted the walls, replaced the floors and hung new pictures. They will also use a new, cloud-based program that will allow patients to access medical records and order prescription refills from home.

Menasco said they have encountered a lot of confusion from clients and vendors who think they are still associated with Kramer and Deschutes Veterinary Clinic.

“We are a completely separate business, a separate entity,” she said. “Everything’s completely new. We just happen to be leasing the same building. It’s good for our clients to know that we are not affiliated with Deschutes (Veterinary Clinic), except our past employment.”

Clients of Deschutes Veterinary Clinic must email Kramer for their pets’ medical records, and some people have received them.

“We can’t get them,” Putnam said. “The clients of Deschutes Veterinary Clinic are able (to email Kramer). … Hopefully they are still able to get their records. We have no access to addresses, telephone numbers or any client list.”

Anyone trying to obtain a pet’s medical records from Deschutes Veterinary Clinic should email deschutesvet@gmail.com.

— Reporter: 541-383-0354, jrockow@bendbulletin.com