About Us

Alex joined Wellington Free Ambulance from working on the COVID-19 helpline and Healthline. This experience helped develop her communication skills over the phone and the ability to build rapport with callers, which are essential to her role.

Because she “had an idea that I wanted to be in communications”, moving to Wellington Free was a natural choice. Originally wanting to be involved in any emergency services, she decided to focus on being an ambulance Call Taker because it allows her to provide medical support to people during their times of need.

Working in the Clinical Communications Centre is a busy, challenging role but is something that Alex has really taken to in a short amount of time.

As Kate, Head of Clinical Communications, explains: “Alex is a vital member of the Wellington Free Ambulance Clinical Communications Centre team. Despite having worked here for just over a year, her natural aptitude and skill for the demanding role have emerged effortlessly.”

The road to winning IAED’s Australasian Dispatcher of the Year 2023

Each year, all the emergency communications centres throughout Australia and Aotearoa can nominate their Emergency Medical Dispatchers for the IAED (International Academies of Emergency Dispatch) Dispatcher of the Year Award. The award recognises consistent excellent performance and remarkable skill, empathy, and professionalism throughout the year.

Alex found out she’d won when she was in bed on a day off, and Kate rang. Having just woken up, she felt “very speechless” when she heard the news – in fact, she still doesn’t believe she won even though “I have the award sitting right next to me!”.

Although she did have an idea that something was coming… As Alex explains, “I did wonder if something was going on when work asked me a few weeks earlier if I had a valid passport!” – something she’d need so she could take a surprise trip to Brisbane to collect her award in person.

Winning the Australasian Dispatcher of the Year 2023 means “so much” to Alex – “it shows that I’ve worked hard and although I don’t believe that I deserve it, I’ve learnt to deserve it! It shows that I’ve pushed myself hard enough to actually achieve something like this.”

The Call Taker life

For Alex, the best thing about being a Call Taker is “the people that you meet, the people you can now call a family. I see this job as my second family so it’s really great to see all the friends I’ve made here, and the family I’ve created as well”.

Reflecting on her most memorable experience so far, Alex remembers mentoring a Call Taker as they helped deliver a baby over the phone.  Although she herself didn’t technically deliver the baby, Alex still laughingly refers to this experience as her ‘first baby delivery’ – and she’s got the stork pin (given to members of the Clinical Communications Centre team who help deliver babies over the phone) to prove it!

Outside of work, Alex refers to herself as the ‘ultimate contradiction’. On the one hand, she absolutely loves staying inside and gaming, thanks to the escapism it offers from her busy, and somewhat stressful, work life. But on the other hand, she absolutely loves being outside and is already counting the days until summer arrives in Wellington. 

Watch Alex talk about winning Australasian Dispatcher of the Year 2023

Join us in saying a huge congratulations to Alex on her well-deserved Australian Dispatcher of the Year 2023 win! We’re so fortunate to have her on the team and we’re excited to see what’s next for her.