STUDENT veterinary nurse Meghan Ambrozevich-Blair was hugely passionate about animal welfare.
And more than four years after her tragic death, her desire to help creatures big and small lives on.
Meghan, of Dunbar, was a supporter of county charity Fostering Compassion when she was killed in a road accident on the A1 near her home town.
A truck driver travelling on the wrong side of the carriageway struck 26-year-old Meghan’s car on December 9, 2016.
Now, a workshop set up by the charity in her memory is helping to provide specialist life-saving kits to firefighters to help pets, as well as educating children about animal heroes.
Fostering Compassion works with cared-for children, helping them find ways to express their emotions and using the lives of animals as a common theme.
Meghan met Fostering Compassion founder Lesley Winton during a talk Lesley gave at The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies in Edinburgh.
And when Lesley said she was keen for the charity to work with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, Meghan offered to introduce her to her dad Kevin, a firefighter based in Dunbar.
Before she died, Meghan was helping to develop the charity’s Animal Heroes workshop.
After her passing, her dad worked with the charity to get the workshop up and running, launching it in her memory.
Kevin is now a patron of the charity.
The Animal Heroes workshop introduces children to tales of heroic pets such as Mac and Diesel, two search and rescue dogs who work with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.
And it includes talks by firefighters about the animal rescues they have been part of, the danger of playing with fire and safety issues around people and animals.
As part of the project, the charity aimed to provide 10 life-saving Smokey Paws resuscitation kits for animals for fire crews to carry.
To date, enough money has been raised to give 23 kits to crews across Scotland.
A spokesperson for the charity said: “Our Animal Heroes workshop is our most special workshop to date.
“Not only does it see us partner with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service but it is also dedicated to and delivered in memory of a very special Fostering Compassion volunteer and much-loved veterinary nurse student.
“Meghan Ambrozevich-Blair was helping develop this workshop before the devastating accident.
“It seemed fitting that once the workshop came to fruition and was incorporated in our main programme of activities, it should be as a tribute to and in honour of Meghan.”
Meghan died just days after sitting her final exam in her veterinary nursing course at Edinburgh Napier University and was posthumously awarded a first-class honours degree.
She was travelling on the dual carriageway stretch of the A1 between Spott and Thistly Cross roundabouts when a tipper truck driving down the wrong side of the carriageway struck her car.
The driver of the tipper truck, Michael Friel, of Macmerry, was jailed for three and a half years in 2019 for causing death by dangerous driving.
Meghan’s legacy and other work carried out by Fostering Compassion is highlighted and on display at an open fortnight at its Ormiston headquarters. See fosteringcompassion.org
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