Two vets come to Eltham via scheme
Voluntary Bonding Scheme delivering young vets for rural areas
ATaranaki town with a population of just over 2000 is one of the big winners in the latest funding round of the Government’s Voluntary Bonding Scheme for Veterinarians (VBS).
Two of the 33 veterinary graduates accepted into the VBS this year will be working in Eltham, something Whanganui MP Carl Bates, whose wife Candice is a vet, says is positive news for the region.
“I know first hand that there is a shortage of vets in rural New Zealand. The coalition government supports our farmers and rural communities and wants them to thrive.”
Delivered by the Ministry for Primary Industries, the VBS scheme aims to kick-start young vets’ careers while also easing a shortage of veterinarians working with production animals and working dogs. Since it’s inception in 2009, it has supported 449 graduate vets.
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says the scheme provides each recipient with $55,000 of funding during five years, in return for working throughout rural New Zealand.
“This helps graduate vets pay off their student loans, which provides a significant head start to their careers. Vets are a vital part of the community, and this scheme helps attract some of the brightest and best new graduates to our regions.”
For VBS recipient Hannah Martin, who works at Eltham District Vet Services, the money will make a substantial difference.
“VBS will be extremely helpful for me to pay off my student loan — after five years of study it has reached a significant amount, and VBS will pay off a good chunk of that, so I can be debt free a lot sooner than without the VBS boost.”
Hannah, of Tauranga, said the VBS was a major factor in deciding where she took a job.
“I would have been happy enough to take a job working with mainly small animals, and maybe a bit of lifestyle animal work, but the incentive of getting my student loan paid off just by doing a job I already wanted to do made the decision pretty easy for me in deciding where to go straight out of university.”
While she says she would have been happy working with mainly small animals, she grew up on a dairy farm and that was a factor in deciding to train as a vet.
“Growing up on a dairy farm, I knew that I loved working with cows, they’re such incredible creatures. I also loved the idea of the challenges associated with diagnosing problems and diseases, so combine the two and you get a vet.”
Hannah, who describes Taranaki as “beautiful dairy country”, says she enjoys the variety of work she comes across each day.
“It keeps it super-interesting and means I never have a dull day. I love that I always have interesting work stories.”
She says working on a “satisfying case” is rewarding. “Especially when the owner reports back to you how happy they are with the improvement in their pet — it makes me feel like I’ve done a good job.”
Working with dairy farmers is another rewarding part of the job, she says.
“One thing I really enjoy is getting alongside dairy farmers and working together with them to improve animal welfare, while at the same time helping to increase their production, and therefore profitability.”