Vet graduate comes home to Whanganui thanks to Government scheme

Whanganui veterinarian Kadee Gedye was able to come home to work thanks to a Government financial boost.

A young Whanganui-born veterinarian is happy to come home to work, thanks to a financial boost from the Government.

Kadee Gedye was one of 32 graduate vets awarded with the Government’s Voluntary Bonding Scheme for Veterinarians (VBS) and will receive extra funding of $55,000 over five years.

The scheme, which aims to provide certainty for students and to ease a shortage of working vets in rural communities, has supported 416 vet graduates across the country since its inception in 2009.

Gedye said being accepted for the scheme allowed her to come home to work.

“I was already wanting to come back here so it was an added bonus that I could apply for the scheme and got accepted.”

She was grateful to be able to return to Whanganui and re-establish connections with people from her past through her work, and also give back to the community.

“I enjoyed growing up here and it’s quite nice being able to come back here,” Gedye said.

“Supporting the community that supported me growing up, it’s nice to be giving back a bit more.”

Gedye was raised on a small Whanganui farm, growing up around animals and wanting to help people, so becoming a vet allowed her to do a combination of the two.

“I like animals myself and I like helping people with their animals at the same time,” she said.

She works at Whanganui Vet Services (WVS) as a mixed animal vet, handling many different types of animals from pets to livestock to working animals.

“Your production animals, cows, sheep, goats, and all your small animals, cats, dogs, sometimes the odd guinea pig or rabbit, but also your horses as well, so a bit of everything.”

She said the extra money over five years would reduce her student debt which would free her up in the future to put savings towards buying her first home or potentially becoming an owner or shareholder of her own clinic.

Career-wise, she enjoyed the range of work she was currently doing and wanted to keep honing her skills there.

“I like the general practice side of things as a vet and I’m not necessarily at this stage interested in any kind of specialising, so I’ll just continue developing in the general practice side of the vet.”