New Vet: Have Laser, Will Travel—

Goodbye Orlando, Hello Newtown!

By Dottie Evans

While some of us were traveling south for winter getaways, Dr Chris Mixon, his wife, Margaret, and their two children, Madeline, 3½, and Carter, 1, were packing to leave their home in Orlando, Fla., and move north.

Dr Mixon has bought the veterinary practice at Newtown Animal Clinic that was formerly owned by longtime veterinary doctor Neal Warner, who retired in January.

Now in his third month as sole owner of the busy practice at 98 South Main Street, Dr Mixon says “the decision to move north was a mutual one, and we plan to stay.”

“We knew we liked the area, and we both like change. We’re adventurous, we care about our kids, and we wanted to raise them in the best environment possible,” he added.

Born in Chicago, and living there for only three years, Dr Mixon has lived in Florida for the past 35 years. After marriage, he and his wife found themselves coming north at least twice a year to visit New York City, and for the past five summers they have visited Margaret’s uncle in Madison.

“We knew we wanted to live in either the Simsbury/Avon area or the Newtown area. Those were the two most desirable locations in our minds. So when the opportunity arose to buy this practice, I jumped on it,” he said.

“I figured I didn’t have a Southern accent, so I would fit in right away,” he joked.

As soon as they moved into their Sandy Hook home in January, the Mixon family found a warm welcome.

“We were always told by the Southerners that the Northerners were cold. Not really mean, but distant. It hasn’t been that way at all. Our new neighbors came right over and said ‘hello.’ They’ve got kids our kids’ age, which is great,” Dr Mixon added.

He enjoys reading The Bee, where he finds “such pleasant news after all the rapes and murders of southern Florida,” and he described Orlando as “one big concrete block — always green but no changes of season and no really natural greenery anywhere.”

Now, instead of watching all the leaves fall instantly, the couple can enjoy four seasons beginning with the beautiful New England spring just around the corner.

“I had to sell my practice and sell my house, buy a practice and buy a house, and move my family — all in two months,” Dr Mixon said.

“So far, everything is done with the exception of selling the house in Orlando. Madeline is enrolled at Frasier Woods, and someday when the children are older, Margaret may return to her previous career in town planning.”

Dr Mixon anticipates that his Newtown practice will be quite similar to the one he left in Florida, “except we don’t have Lyme disease down there.”

As a 1996 graduate of the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine, Dr Mixon has practiced in the Orlando area for almost ten years, seven of which were as a practice owner. Before attending college and studying to be a veterinarian, he served three years, from 1986 to 1989, in the United States Army.

“The Army paid for my college and gave me a real sense of discipline. I was lucky to serve at that time, just before the Gulf War. I wouldn’t want to be serving now,” he added.

Marrying Technology With Tradition

Honoring the long history of Newtown Animal Clinic as a community veterinary service that puts people and their animals first is something that Dr Mixon looks forward to. At the same time, he hopes to make necessary upgrades in technology that will directly benefit the animals without losing the friendly atmosphere of the place.

“It’s the people that make it work,” he said, mentioning the excellent staff already on board.

A most important upgrade will be the use of laser surgery for both soft tissue work and orthopedics, since Dr Mixon brought his own laser machine with him from Orlando.

“Adding laser surgery means that an incision can be made without the use of a scalpel. It makes a huge difference to the animal — like night and day as far as pain is concerned. There is less swelling afterward, because the focused energy of intense light reduces inflammation and bleeding,” he explained.

He is also incorporating full, in-house diagnostic capabilities so that blood work does not have to be sent out to a lab.

“I want to get readings when I need them, while the animal is under sedation. We want to know what’s the chemistry. Now we have a CBC [complete blood count] machine and advanced equipment to get a white count.”

An upgrade still in the planning stages will be the use of a digital x-ray processor, which he calls “telemedicine,” allowing him to make a full-motion video of what is going on with the animal. The digital images can be sent to a radiologist off-site for evaluation and further help with a diagnosis.

Already in use when he bought the practice from Dr Warner was a valuable ultrasound unit.

 “Dr Beebe is very good with the ultrasound machine, and I was delighted to find him on staff when I got here. I rely heavily on him,” said Dr Mixon of part-time veterinarian Mark Beebe, who has remained with the practice on contract and works between four and five days a week.

“These machines are user-friendly and computerized. The results of our exams can go into the computer and there is less paperwork. That’s what I want, a paperless practice. Dr Warner practiced excellent medicine. This is just a change in approach,” he said.

Dr Mixon hopes to preserve the charm of the 70-year-old building with its wide, wood-frame doors and comfortable, hometown atmosphere. But he also knows that he needs more space.

“It was built in the 1930s and added onto in the 1950s. I figure I’ve got to stay within the footprint and I might not be able to add on, since the area is zoned residential. I need to upgrade, and it’s not so simple as exchanging the old slate chalkboard for a new dry erase model,” he remarked.

“This building was state-of-the-art 70 years ago, but there needs to be new wiring for higher tech uses. It needs more than two waiting rooms.”

“I plan to honor the long and continuous history of this practice,” he said, and he appreciates the fact that he is only the fourth person to own it.

Dr Russell Strasburger founded Newtown Animal Clinic in 1937 and stayed on for nearly 40 years. Then it was owned by Dr Lawrence Washington, who bought the practice in 1976. Dr Neal Warner joined Dr Washington in 1981, and he bought the practice in 1999.

“I’m thinking about making one wall in the waiting room into a kind of museum, with old photos, newspaper articles, and the like,” Dr Mixon said.

Many of his clients who have been coming to Newtown Animal Clinic over the span of several dogs’ and or cats’ lifetimes will no doubt appreciate this wall of fame. They may, indeed, find themselves pictured there. Alongside their loved pets, of course.