Following in father’s Paramedic footsteps

Beckie Vale is following in her father’s footsteps by training to become a qualified paramedic at the University of Teesside.

Beckie, 23 from Dalton near Thirsk in North Yorkshire, enrolled on the University’s Certificate in Higher Education (Pre-Hospital Care), which she will receive today - Wednesday 21 November. Now that she has successfully achieved this award she has enrolled on the Foundation Degree in Paramedic Science which is run in partnership with the Ambulance Service.

Her father, Gary, has worked for the Ambulance Service for 31 years and currently works as a Clinic Tutor. He was one of the first nine paramedics in the West Midlands and has remained fully qualified ever since.

Despite never being interested in following in her father’s footsteps, Beckie had a change of heart after taking a job in the ambulance control room in York.

She said: ‘My original career plan was to join the Police, but as a stop gap I took a job as a call taker in the control room. After working there for three years and observing several ambulance shifts, I realised what the attraction was to my Dad and his colleagues. I decided then that I wanted to make a career out of it.’

To enrol on the course, students must already be employed by either the North East Ambulance Service or Yorkshire Ambulance Service. The Certificate in Higher Education Pre-Hospital Care allows students to become a competent practitioner, applying safe and appropriate healthcare procedures while supervised by a state registered paramedic.

Beckie said: ‘The main thing I enjoyed about the course was the fact that it is vocational, so I was able to have hands-on experience as well as a taught curriculum. Though our time at the University was limited, the unique partnership between the University and the Ambulance Service made us feel every much a part as any other student.’

Beckie is now certain that she has made the right decision in focusing on a career as a paramedic. She said: ‘My dad feels very proud that I’ve decided to follow in his footsteps and I’m excited to follow in a profession that has given him a great amount of satisfaction over the years. Because the service is always evolving, I could be working as an Emergency Care Practitioner or on an air ambulance. Whatever the future holds, I will be concentrating on completing my university course and spending time to learn the craft of the Paramedic.’

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