Ms Yvonne Gemmell1
1Wellington Free Ambulance, 19 Davis Street, Pipitea, New
Wellington Free Ambulance (WFA) was provided an opportunity to pilot a project called Ōritetanga Manapou – an initiative focused on an ‘earn while you learn’ approach to Māori and Pacific Peoples becoming paramedics.
Currently, New Zealand ambulance services do not accurately reflect the communities they serve – there are 119 Māori paramedics (5.8%) and 39 Pasifika paramedics (1.9%) in Aotearoa.
There are many barriers to tertiary study for Māori and Pasifika. A key purpose of this project is to remove as many barriers as possible to make way for more Māori and Pasifika paramedics.
20 Māori and Pacific Peoples were selected for the pilot. They completed a New Zealand Certificate in Emergency Care. These students then applied for roles in the WFA Patient Transfer Service (PTS) and Clinical Communications Centre (CCC), whilst continuing their education – completing the New Zealand Diploma in Ambulance Practice and eventually the Paramedicine degree.
15 students successfully completed their NZCEC, with 7 moving on to employment with WFA and 8 continuing to the diploma.
WFA will be supporting Ngāti Toa Rangatira with a second cohort of 10 students beginning April 2024; a third funded cohort of 20 Māori, Pasifika, migrant and refugee students will begin their journey in June 2024.
There have been a number of learnings that have come from this pilot – some that we had predicted but some that we could not have prepared for, that we will take into future cohorts to ensure further success.
Biography:
Yvonne Gemmell (Ngāi Tūhoe)
Programme Lead – Māori and Equity for WFA.
Yvonne has been a member of the WFA whānau for over 11 years, working in the Clinical Communications Centre and Patient Transfer Service before moving into her current role supporting equitable outcomes for patients and staff alike.