A big-hearted vet here at Kentdale has found a novel way of helping struggling colleagues in her homeland of Lithuania.
Surgical intern Indre Petrauske has organised the collection and delivery of a huge pile of veterinary textbooks to the Baltic state.
Indre joined us in 2022 and is working towards becoming a specialist in small animal surgery, however, she has still found time to help other young vet students back home.
She explained: “I graduated in 2017 from the only veterinary school in Lithuania and moved to the UK three years ago to pursue my dream of becoming an ECVS diplomate.
“Last summer, I met a few former classmates from university and shared my experience of working as a vet in Britain. They then told me what it means to be a young, newly graduated veterinary professional in Eastern Europe.
“It might not be a surprise that they struggle a lot. They told me even ordering veterinary books in English is a challenging task as international shipping is a long and complex process which adds significantly to the price of already expensive textbooks.
“Considering this, I came up with an idea to help them. I asked all the amazing Kentdale team to donate any books they are not no longer using. Thanks to all my brilliant colleagues, suddenly I had 30kg of veterinary books to ship home!
“I used a Lithuanian veterinary society Facebook group to spread the news to anyone interested in getting free books and I got massive feedback from a variety of veterinary professionals, including students and young specialists.
“All the books were delivered in one giant parcel to my mum in Lithuania, who then organised individual deliveries. One of the recipient practices in Lithuania was so grateful they generously paid the delivery fee, which was nearly £100.
“I’m very happy to have helped in this way but this story’s true heroes, the people who matter the most, are my friends and colleagues here at Kentdale, who donated all the books. I’m extremely grateful to them all.”
