Dr. Sanja Leuenberger is the manager at Tierklinik24 in Staffelbach, Switzerland—a Piavita customer since late 2017. She and her husband, chief veterinarian and CEO Dr. Hansjakob Leuenberger, played an integral role in the early development and design of the Piavet Belt. We talked with Dr. Leuenberger about her experience using the Piavet System and how it has impacted her practice. Here’s what she had to say.
Interview with Dr. Sanja Leuenberger
How did you hear about Piavita?
When Piavita first presented all their stuff at a start-up event, a colleague of ours was part of the panel. Afterwards, he told us about the product and said it would be interesting. That’s how we became aware of Piavita. We were actually one of the very first clinics to learn about you.
What encouraged you to buy the Piavet System?
It was new, and we are always open to new things. The opinion was that it would make our everyday lives easier.
In which cases do you use the Piavet System most often?
We currently use the Piavet System most often for monitoring colic and foaling. And also to monitor horses with performance interruptions. We usually run measurements for 3–4 days.
How has the Piavet System influenced your daily routine?
We’re getting even more modern now, and we need to have more modern stuff. We all have iPhones now—everybody wants the latest. The Piavet System has had a huge impact and influence on our practice. The biggest influence is that you go with the time. With this system you move with the present time and evolve with it—you don’t stand still.
The problem was that before, the assistant always had to be with patients to monitor them and could not visit other cases at night. Now, with the Piavet System, she can monitor two patients at once. And the time to do checkups has been reduced by half. So it has improved things for us.
In general, the whole system makes it easier for us to do follow-up examinations, as we don’t have to do them manually anymore. Plus all the features that are, of course, still included make our work easier. The observation and monitoring work is much, much easier!
Did the Piavet System bring any unexpected benefits to your practice?
Having the Piavet System increased our customers’ trust, which was already great before. But now the emotional bond has become even greater because we have additional monitoring. Customers have become even more satisfied because they know that they not only have us there as always, but an additional system as well. For example, with a colic patient, customers are more confident that the horse will be monitored even more.
Because we are a 24-hour clinic, we are very involved in all the supervision. There’s a 24-hour emergency service, 24-hour answering of the phone—there’s always someone there. There are not so many clinics of that kind in Switzerland anymore, or even in Europe. The customers like to have that. They also want to do something good for their horses and they are also very willing to pay extra. We have not had the slightest problem with that. None at all.
Would you recommend the Piavet System?
Yes, definitely. If you go down to our basement, you’ll see a whole Piavita closet. My goal is to have the whole thing ready to grab and put on the patient. If you can do that, the Piavet System is the one. You have no idea how much potential the Piavet System actually has, and in how many applications, too. The product is sensational.
At Piavita, we like happy vets and healthy horses. It’s that simple. We are a funded startup bringing sophisticated medtech to equine veterinary practices. But more than that, we are a group of talented engineers, developers, researchers and designers with a passion for delivering meaningful solutions to veterinarians. Have a question or suggestion? We’d love to hear from you.
