Veterinary and Vet Nursing Staff

The staff at Crown Street Veterinary Hospital comprises a group of extremely competent, committed and friendly veterinary professionals. When you bring your pet into the hospital, you can rest assured that they will be cared for by a dedicated and experienced group of people, and that animal health and welfare will remain the number one priority at all times.

Vets

George Dellar

George is the Senior Veterinarian at Crown Street Veterinary Hospital and is also a co-owner of the practice, together with Kevin. George is focussed on providing the highest level of animal care to all of his patients.

George graduated from Sydney University in 1981, and took his first veterinary position in West Hoxton. After six months, George decided to make the move back to the Hunter Valley, where he grew up, and began working in a rural mixed practice in Singleton. George worked at Singleton for 10 years, during which time he was a partner in the practice and acquired the skills necessary for veterinary practice management.

In 1994, George decided to make a change in his career and focus on small animal practice. Following a short stint as a veterinarian at the sole vet practice on Norfolk Island, George and his family moved to Wollongong and George began working at Crown Street Veterinary Hosptial. After a short time, George formed a partnership with practice founder Bruce Cartmill, which lasted until Bruce's retirement in 2003.

George lives at home with his wife Jan and their two children Philippa and Lachlan, who are now both university students. The family also includes three ginger and white ex-blood donor cats.

George especially enjoys the rapport between clients and patients and working with a friendly, enthusiastic, dedicated and extremely competent staff. George keeps us all entertained and on our toes with his cryptic puzzles.

Kevin Calleja

Kevin has worked at Crown Street Veterinary Hospital since April 2002,and is now a part-owner of the practice along with George. Kevin graduated as a vet from Queensland University in 2000, but returned home to the Wollongong area soon after graduation. Kevin's first veterinary position was at Albion Park, a mixed veterinary practice, where he worked for two years. Kevin soon learnt that his main interests were smaller animals and so made the move up to Crown Street where he could focus on those species. While Kevin loves working with dogs and cats, he also has a special interest in birds, reptiles and pocket pets, and likes getting the oppurtunitiy to treat those special cases that are brought into the practice (such as the pelican in the adjacent picture!).

At home, Kevin has two dogs, two cats (Bangers and Mash), a horse and five chickens. Outside of work, Kevin loves being outdoors - especially fishing, camping, and travelling around the country in his four-wheel-drive.

Matthew Young

Matt is the most recently added vet to the Crown Street team, joining the practice in February 2005. After graduating from Sydney University in 1997, Matt worked his first three years as a mixed practice vet in Country NSW, first in Leeton and then Wagga Wagga. After that time, Matt made the decision to focus on the small animal side of veterinary practice and made the move back to the Wollongong area where he grew up. Matt spent five years at Russell Vale Veterinary Hospital before joining Crown Street, well-equipped for the job, with a number of years of varied experience under his belt.

Matt enjoys all parts of veterinary practice, but his main interests lie in soft tissue surgery and small animal medicine. Matt especially enjoys diagnostics and following a case through to its conclusion. Matt is currently undertaking a Master of Veterinary Studies (small animal medicine and surgery) to ensure he remains up to date on all aspects of veterinary care and to advance his technical skills.

Matt lives with his wife Rachel and their three kids Callum, Amy-Grace and Caitlin, along with their two dogs, two cats, one guinea pig and three horses, the latter whom Matt likes to ride when he finds the time!

Vet Nurses

Belinda Rutledge

Belinda has been involved with Crown Street Veterinary Hospital for 16 years and has also gained a wealth of experience in other practices. Belinda spent three years working as an emergency nurse at the Animal Referral Hospital, a specialist vet hospital in Strathfield, Sydney, where she gained important knowledge in surgery, medicine, radiology, ophthalmology and dealing with emergency cases in vet practice.

Belinda is qualified with a Certificate IV in veterinary nursing, including extra units in emergency and critical care and likes to keep up to date with her knowledge by attending nursing conferences as often as possible.

Belinda also plays an important role in teaching vet nursing subjects at TAFE.

Belinda loves all animals but especially Burmese cats, and most importantly her own Burmese boy Henry. Belinda and Henry share the house with Belinda's husband Aaron, his cat Lenny and Jack Russell Terrier cross Riley whom Belinda saved after he was brought into work hit by a car.

Belinda is currently on maternity leave and has a new son called Caleb

Lauren Chapman

Lauren is a qualified veterinary nurse and has been with Crown Street Veterinary Hospital since 2001. She has attained a certificate IV in veterinary nursing which is the current standard for veterinary nursing. Since completing her certificate Lauren has maintained and improved her skills through various continuing education courses on dental care, fluid therapy, emergency medicine and puppy and kitten training.

Lauren particularly enjoys dentals and is always keen to clean your dog or cat’s teeth.

Lauren is one of our puppy preschool trainers. She loves teaching new puppy owners all the tricks of the trade to ensure that they can get maximum enjoyment out of their pets.

Lauren has a curly-coated retriever called Jack, a cat called Molly and a few goldfish.

Kylie Barrett

Kylie started as a volunteer at Crown Street Veterinary Hospital in October 2006. She has since completed Animal Studies and now a certificate IV in Veterinary Nursing at Yallah TAFE. Kylie is now a qualified Veterinary nurse.

She loves animals and all aspects of animal care.

Kylie’s family extends to her bossy cat, Bella and several goldfish.

She enjoys hanging out with family and friends and playing netball.

 

 

Lisa Cullen

Lisa joined us in March 2008. She started working as a volunteer at Warrawong Veterinary Clinic and is now a qualified veterinary nurse by completing Certificate IV in Veterinary Nursing at Yallah Tafe in 2007. Lisa has also worked as a volunteer at Taronga Zoo.

Lisa loves animals and caring for the many animals in her family. She has horses, chickens, dogs, dwarf rabbits and a kitten.

Outside of work she loves playing on the computer and hanging out with her friends and watching a movie.

 

 

Lisa Brailey

Lisa has been with us since March 2008. She has years of experience caring for mammals, birds, and reptiles of all types in several facilities. She also has previous experience in a Veterinary Hospital working with cats and dogs. Lisa attended college in the U.S. where she received a diploma in Applied Zoology, gained a broad knowledge of animals and further experience in the school's on site zoo.

After moving here from America in 2006, Lisa chose to pursue more experience in Veterinary Nursing and the medical aspect of animal care. She is currently working toward Certificate IV from TAFE to become a fully qualified nurse.

Lisa enjoys caring for all types of animals and finds nursing very rewarding. She especially appreciates reptiles and is pictured with her Diamond Python youngster, Monty. Also at home is a cat named P.K. and her husband, Nathan.

Kay Burke

Kay has been at the practice for many years and now teaches puppy preschool classes and does some work at our local schools using the petpep program. Petpep teaches our children all about caring for pets, why they are important and how to care for them. Kay has started running junior dog training for the older pups. It is proving very popular and is benefiting many junior dogs and their owners through better behaviour.

Kay's dog Rosco (pictured) passed away recently after a long battle with arthritis, cardiomyopathy, and finally bone cancer. Kay now has a staffie puppy called Axle.