A new year often inspires fresh beginnings, making January an ideal time to think about a new direction in your career.
VetPartners supports team members to develop their skills by giving them the tools and resources to progress.
Here, Pas Medina, who works at Penbode Vets in Cornwall, reflects on how the VetPartners Senior Leaders training equipped him after being promoted to clinical director….
WHETHER it is castrating a lynx, treating a 110-kilo snake suffering from a respiratory infection or removing a bladder stone the size of a tennis ball from a tortoise, Pascal Medina has one of the most varied, interesting and challenging caseloads any vet could ask for.
Beavers, birds of prey, hedgehogs and dozens of stranded seal pups that have been washed ashore are also among the wildlife that have been saved by Pas’ care, skills and expertise in exotic species.
While he’s fascinated by the patients he treats at Penbode Vets in Bude in Cornwall, where he has worked for the last six years, Pas is as happy treating cats and dogs that come into the practice for neutering, a vaccination or routine healthcare appointment.
“I love being a vet and I live my life by my parents’ motto: Anything you do, do with intention and passion,” he says.
That approach to his life and career served Pas well over the last 12 months, a period of much progress and fulfilment.
He successfully completed the VetPartners Senior Leaders course, which aims to equip practice leaders by teaching them about all aspects of running a practice, and was also promoted to the role of clinical director, where he helps to lead a team of vets.
Senior Leaders course, which runs over nine months, is developed and managed by our Business Support Manager (BSM) team and covers five modules – Leadership, People/HR, Strategy and Finance, Business Planning and Regroup (delegating and coaching). Our Business Development Directors and People Team are also involved in the sessions to provide further insights.
Pas is thriving in the responsibility of his new role at Penbode Vets and feels the Senior Leaders course equipped his for the next step in his career journey which began when he decided at the tender of age of three that he wanted to be a vet while growing up in Premià de Mar near Barcelona.
Leading by example
“The VetPartners Senior Leaders course includes the whole package of everything you need as a clinical director,” he said.
“I learned how to lead people with compassion and understanding. I want to lead by example and also need to understand the financial side of veterinary practice to push it in the right direction and led the team.
“I am very curious and I love learning so I enjoyed finding out about the business side and more how VetPartners works. I really believe in VetPartners because it is a group run by vets. I like the way the people are so approachable. Our CEO Jo Malone is very down-to-earth and could be on the vets at Penbode.
“You cannot run a veterinary practice or hospital if you don’t have compassion, or you don’t understand the profession, so the Senior Leaders programme is aimed at developing practice leaders who have their practice and their teams at heart.”
Pas, who has a passion for treating marine animals, exotics and wildlife, moved to the UK in 2012. He met his English wife Daisy and together they decided to move to Cornwall, with its rugged cliffs and beautiful beaches, for the lifestyle of the area.
Daisy is an RVN at Penbode and the couple have two children, Paloma, eight, and six-year-old Rex.
As well as working as the practice’s exotics vet, treating everything from wildlife to sea mammals to reptiles to privately owned collections of animals, he is also a small animal vet and one of three clinical directors alongside Mark Banks and Claire Davies.
He said: “The Senior Leaders course really gave me confidence to take on the role of clinical director. Mark and Claire have also encouraged me, and I greatly admire how they work. They are very kind and patient and also work really hard.
“The practice wants to deliver the best service and to care for clients, patients and each other.
“I am attracted to the variety of work and I’m fascinated by different species. The more extraordinary things like reptiles and birds are a real challenge and I am fascinated by how their body works.
“I love what I do and Penbode was everything I dreamed it would be, and more, when I moved down to Cornwall. I wouldn’t have become a clinical director if I didn’t believe in Penbode and VetPartners.”
For media enquiries, please contact Amanda Little, VetPartners PR and Communications Director, at amanda.little@vetpartners.co.uk or 07970 198492
