Save a Dream! Save a Vet! Save the Animals!
Donation protected
Hi friends!
My wife, Sofia, was a licensed veterinarian in her home country of Costa Rica. Then, we fell in love, got married, and moved to the U.S. Even experienced vets from other countries can be expected to pay almost $20,000 in order to be licensed to practice in the U.S. But I want so badly to give her back the calling and dream she's had since she was five years old.
If you're interested, here's more of Sofia's story:
First, the facts: Sofia is amazing and smart and friendly and funny and warm and beautiful and full of faith. Lots of people know that already. When I met Sofia, those were the things that stood out to me. But I didn't really understand how great she is until I saw her in action as a veterinarian.
***Sofia lassoing something big, probably a bear, I bet. This is why when I've needed veterinary assistance I've always hired and/or married professionals.***
----------------------------------------------------------------
Before I went to her clinic to see her practice, I thought Sofia was great, but just in the way that normal people can be awesome. Afterwards, I realized she wasn't normal, she was remarkable. She was brave: the kind of person willing to treat wounded, wild jaguars. She was really compassionate: the kind of person who would find small birds who had fallen from trees and nurse them back to health. She was incredibly competent: the kind of surgeon who could fix almost anything with a scalpel, a needle and some thread. And she was really really smart. I mean, I thought I was pretty smart. But she knew so many things that I didn't know!
***Sofia and some of her best friends from vet school, with the bear they caught, I'm pretty sure.***
------------------------------------------------------------
Sofia has wanted to be a vet for as long as she can remember. She grew up with animals all over her house: cats, dogs, mice, parrots, owls, opossums, rabbits, frogs, chickens, she even raised a baby woodpecker until it was old enough to sit on her shoulder and try to peck holes in her ear.
***Macaw (in blue, left) with Sofia (in blue, right).***
----------------------------------------------------
Over time, Sofia came to understand that her love of animals was really a gift from God, a love of all creation that allowed her to see beauty in creatures that others found ugly, or to have compassion for creatures that others found frightening. Becoming a vet was also a way for her to help other people connect with their own love of animals, and therefore with their own love of the created world. When people bring in their most beloved pet, begging for help, you realize that there are very real things at stake for people in how they relate to animals.
***Sofia performing some kind of procedure on a horse . . . removing its leg, perhaps.***
----------------------------------------------------
Costa Rica is a beautiful country with an extraordinary eco-system. It’s extremely proud of its commitment to protecting its rainforests and wildlife, so they take veterinary medicine seriously. It’s hard to become a vet in Costa Rica.
***Sofia training a falcon or hawk or something to do . . . whatever falcons do . . . serve a one-eyed baron, I would imagine, or a countess with a hook for a hand . . . sit on a tsar's shoulder . . . your guess is as good as mine.***
------------------------------------------------------
At the end of high school, Sofia took a national exam and then applied for admission to the country's prestigious vet school at the National University of Costa Rica. Only forty graduating high school students from the entire country are selected each year for the program, and they spend seven rigorous years training together.
***A young Sofia assisting in an operation on a kinkajou, which you should google, because I had no idea there was an animal called a kinkajou on God's green earth until she showed me this photo, and the point is that this is how serious being a vet in Costa Rica is, you have to be an expert not just in the animals I've heard of, but also in the ones that I STILL DON'T 100% BELIEVE ACTUALLY EXIST AND WONDER IF THEY ARE IN FACT MAGICAL CREATURES STAY WOKE PEOPLE. In summary, Sofia is kind of like a tiny Hagrid.***
-----------------------------------------------------------
After graduation, Sofia worked as a veterinarian for an organization in Costa Rica that offered service projects to American vet students needing practical experience. Sofia ran free clinics in rural parts of Costa Rica where people had little access to veterinary care. She would take American vet students with her and train them in surgeries and other procedures as they treated animals in the villages.
***Sofia teaching students how to feed popsicles to a horse.***
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Sofia could have had a comfortable life as a vet in Costa Rica doing important work, but she made a big sacrifice when she married me and agreed to move to the U.S. In order to practice as a vet here, she has to pass a series of big inquisitorial exams administered by the American Veterinary Medical Association.
***Annual Meeting of the American Veterinary Medical Association***
----------------------------------------------------------------
Sofia has a good job as a medical interpreter, but nothing will ever compare to being a vet. It’s her passion and her calling, it’s the thing she’s wanted to do since she was a little girl. Literally as I write this, she's checking our cat for a urinary tract infection. She has so many skills and gifts as a vet, I want her to be able to use them, I want her to be able to investigate all the feline urethras across this great land. She could bless so many people! She could use her training for good! She should be able to do for others what God has made her to do. Would you help us? For the sake of the animals. For her sake. For my sake. For the sake of my cat, who just doesn’t need this much personalized medical attention.
***Look at this poor cat's face. This is the face someone makes when they realize they have a doctor's appointment scheduled for every day for the rest of their life.***
-------------------------------------------------------
If you would be willing to help out, I want to bring a little joy to your life. As a way of saying thank you, anyone who gives a donation of $20 or more will be subscribed to a vlog that Sofia and I are making as she prepares for her exams. We thought it would be a fun way to update people on her progress through the licensing process and to express our thanks for all your support. For now, we're calling it "Sofia Teaches Patrick Animal Facts." Don't miss it!
Thank you all so much for even considering helping out, it's a huge blessing to us! If you can't give financially, but you're a praying person, that matters to us! Pray for favor as Sofia works her way through a big and daunting bureaucracy. And if you're willing to share this page on social media, we would be very grateful for that as well!
God bless!
Patrick (and Sofia)
------------------------------------------------------
After a lot of research and time spent tracking down information from various sources, here is our best estimate of the costs that we expect to pay to ensure Sofia's success in the licensure process. We've ranked these costs in order of priority. The items at the top are the most important expenses we definitely need to cover. The items at the bottom would be nice to cover, but it's possible that we could find creative alternatives.
-ECFVG application: $1,400
-TOEFL exam: $215
-BCS exam: $220
-Clinical Proficiency exam: $7,630
-NAVLE application: $670
-Connecticut licensure application: $565
-Official translations of Sofia's transcripts: $200
-Travel, room and board at various test sites: $1,500
-Materials (boots, aprons, scrubs, etc.): $230
-Zuku PAVE/NAVLE prep: $728
-Access to Vetprep database: $399
-Board/tuition for 4 weeks of lab time at UConn vet school: $3000
-Equine, Bovine, and Ruminant intensive CPE prep externship: $2100
-Necropsy externship: $1000
Total: $19,857
My wife, Sofia, was a licensed veterinarian in her home country of Costa Rica. Then, we fell in love, got married, and moved to the U.S. Even experienced vets from other countries can be expected to pay almost $20,000 in order to be licensed to practice in the U.S. But I want so badly to give her back the calling and dream she's had since she was five years old.
If you're interested, here's more of Sofia's story:
First, the facts: Sofia is amazing and smart and friendly and funny and warm and beautiful and full of faith. Lots of people know that already. When I met Sofia, those were the things that stood out to me. But I didn't really understand how great she is until I saw her in action as a veterinarian.
***Sofia lassoing something big, probably a bear, I bet. This is why when I've needed veterinary assistance I've always hired and/or married professionals.***----------------------------------------------------------------
Before I went to her clinic to see her practice, I thought Sofia was great, but just in the way that normal people can be awesome. Afterwards, I realized she wasn't normal, she was remarkable. She was brave: the kind of person willing to treat wounded, wild jaguars. She was really compassionate: the kind of person who would find small birds who had fallen from trees and nurse them back to health. She was incredibly competent: the kind of surgeon who could fix almost anything with a scalpel, a needle and some thread. And she was really really smart. I mean, I thought I was pretty smart. But she knew so many things that I didn't know!
***Sofia and some of her best friends from vet school, with the bear they caught, I'm pretty sure.***------------------------------------------------------------
Sofia has wanted to be a vet for as long as she can remember. She grew up with animals all over her house: cats, dogs, mice, parrots, owls, opossums, rabbits, frogs, chickens, she even raised a baby woodpecker until it was old enough to sit on her shoulder and try to peck holes in her ear.
***Macaw (in blue, left) with Sofia (in blue, right).***----------------------------------------------------
Over time, Sofia came to understand that her love of animals was really a gift from God, a love of all creation that allowed her to see beauty in creatures that others found ugly, or to have compassion for creatures that others found frightening. Becoming a vet was also a way for her to help other people connect with their own love of animals, and therefore with their own love of the created world. When people bring in their most beloved pet, begging for help, you realize that there are very real things at stake for people in how they relate to animals.
***Sofia performing some kind of procedure on a horse . . . removing its leg, perhaps.***----------------------------------------------------
Costa Rica is a beautiful country with an extraordinary eco-system. It’s extremely proud of its commitment to protecting its rainforests and wildlife, so they take veterinary medicine seriously. It’s hard to become a vet in Costa Rica.
***Sofia training a falcon or hawk or something to do . . . whatever falcons do . . . serve a one-eyed baron, I would imagine, or a countess with a hook for a hand . . . sit on a tsar's shoulder . . . your guess is as good as mine.***------------------------------------------------------
At the end of high school, Sofia took a national exam and then applied for admission to the country's prestigious vet school at the National University of Costa Rica. Only forty graduating high school students from the entire country are selected each year for the program, and they spend seven rigorous years training together.
***A young Sofia assisting in an operation on a kinkajou, which you should google, because I had no idea there was an animal called a kinkajou on God's green earth until she showed me this photo, and the point is that this is how serious being a vet in Costa Rica is, you have to be an expert not just in the animals I've heard of, but also in the ones that I STILL DON'T 100% BELIEVE ACTUALLY EXIST AND WONDER IF THEY ARE IN FACT MAGICAL CREATURES STAY WOKE PEOPLE. In summary, Sofia is kind of like a tiny Hagrid.***-----------------------------------------------------------
After graduation, Sofia worked as a veterinarian for an organization in Costa Rica that offered service projects to American vet students needing practical experience. Sofia ran free clinics in rural parts of Costa Rica where people had little access to veterinary care. She would take American vet students with her and train them in surgeries and other procedures as they treated animals in the villages.
***Sofia teaching students how to feed popsicles to a horse.***-----------------------------------------------------------------
Sofia could have had a comfortable life as a vet in Costa Rica doing important work, but she made a big sacrifice when she married me and agreed to move to the U.S. In order to practice as a vet here, she has to pass a series of big inquisitorial exams administered by the American Veterinary Medical Association.
***Annual Meeting of the American Veterinary Medical Association***----------------------------------------------------------------
Sofia has a good job as a medical interpreter, but nothing will ever compare to being a vet. It’s her passion and her calling, it’s the thing she’s wanted to do since she was a little girl. Literally as I write this, she's checking our cat for a urinary tract infection. She has so many skills and gifts as a vet, I want her to be able to use them, I want her to be able to investigate all the feline urethras across this great land. She could bless so many people! She could use her training for good! She should be able to do for others what God has made her to do. Would you help us? For the sake of the animals. For her sake. For my sake. For the sake of my cat, who just doesn’t need this much personalized medical attention.
***Look at this poor cat's face. This is the face someone makes when they realize they have a doctor's appointment scheduled for every day for the rest of their life.***-------------------------------------------------------
If you would be willing to help out, I want to bring a little joy to your life. As a way of saying thank you, anyone who gives a donation of $20 or more will be subscribed to a vlog that Sofia and I are making as she prepares for her exams. We thought it would be a fun way to update people on her progress through the licensing process and to express our thanks for all your support. For now, we're calling it "Sofia Teaches Patrick Animal Facts." Don't miss it!
Thank you all so much for even considering helping out, it's a huge blessing to us! If you can't give financially, but you're a praying person, that matters to us! Pray for favor as Sofia works her way through a big and daunting bureaucracy. And if you're willing to share this page on social media, we would be very grateful for that as well!
God bless!
Patrick (and Sofia)
------------------------------------------------------
After a lot of research and time spent tracking down information from various sources, here is our best estimate of the costs that we expect to pay to ensure Sofia's success in the licensure process. We've ranked these costs in order of priority. The items at the top are the most important expenses we definitely need to cover. The items at the bottom would be nice to cover, but it's possible that we could find creative alternatives.
-ECFVG application: $1,400
-TOEFL exam: $215
-BCS exam: $220
-Clinical Proficiency exam: $7,630
-NAVLE application: $670
-Connecticut licensure application: $565
-Official translations of Sofia's transcripts: $200
-Travel, room and board at various test sites: $1,500
-Materials (boots, aprons, scrubs, etc.): $230
-Zuku PAVE/NAVLE prep: $728
-Access to Vetprep database: $399
-Board/tuition for 4 weeks of lab time at UConn vet school: $3000
-Equine, Bovine, and Ruminant intensive CPE prep externship: $2100
-Necropsy externship: $1000
Total: $19,857
Organizer
Patrick Dunn
Organizer
Hamden, CT