Tragic vet student killed in road crash is helping to save animals she loved five years on

A student vet nurse killed in a road crash is continuing to save the lives of animals five years after her death.

Meghan Ambrozevich-Blair was killed on the A1 near Dunbar

Meghan Ambrozevich-Blair, 26, was dedicated to animal welfare and a supporter of local charity Fostering Compassion when she was killed in the head-on crash. She was travelling on the dual carriageway stretch of the A1 between Spott and Thistly Cross roundabouts when a truck driving down the wrong side of the carriageway struck her car.

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 at the Dick Vet School in Edinburgh about her animal heroes work. And when Lesley said she was keen to work with Scottish Fire and Rescue Meghan offered to introduce her to her dad Kevin, a firefighter based in Dunbar.

When Meghan died in December 2016, the charity continued to worked with Meghan’s dad to get the workshop she supported up and running, launching it in 2019 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 Services.

And it includes talks by firefighters about the animal rescues they have been part of and the danger of playing with fire and safety issues around people and animals.

As part of the project the charity launched the gift of compassion with an aim to provide 10 life-saving Smokey Paws resuscitation kits for animals for fire crews to carry.

To date they have raised enough to provide 23 kits to crews across Scotland.

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 honour.

She was travelling on the dual carriageway stretch of the A1 between Spott and Thistly Cross roundabouts when a truck driving down the wrong side of the carriageway struck her car.

The driver of the truck Michael Friel 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 on display at an open fortnight at their Ormiston headquarters in East Lothian.

To find out more or support the charity go to www.fosteringcompassion.org.