About Us

Isaac was just 17 years old and straight out of high school when he decided to become a paramedic. With a nurse for a mum, Isaac was inspired by her commitment to serving the community in this way. But he was also influenced by a Wellington Free paramedic who spoke at his high school, knowing almost immediately “that’s what I want to do, how I can serve my community”. 

Although Isaac found the study ‘challenging’, he thrived when it came to the practical student placements with the Wellington Free team. When he graduated, Isaac admits he looked at opportunities in Australia and in other parts of Aotearoa. But as a born and raised Wellingtonian from Samoan and Cook Islands heritage, being close to family and serving the community he grew up in meant joining Wellington Free Ambulance was the right choice for Isaac.

These days, Isaac says that what motivates him in his paramedicine career is “always wanting to make my family proud and contribute to the positive health and wellbeing of my community”. 

Building a career

Now, 13 years later, Isaac has multiple roles within the Wellington Free team. He’s a frontline paramedic working in the community, relief shift manager and a preceptor (guiding and supervising newly graduated paramedics). He’s a Pasifika Heartbeat tutor, working within our communities to teach CPR (a potentially life-saving technique used when someone’s heart stops beating) and how to use an AED (automated external defibrillator). 

Isaac is also a clinical paramedic advisor (CPA), working in the clinical hub at our Clinical Communications Centre in Thorndon.

Isaac explains that “being a clinical paramedic advisor gives me balance. I get to work on the road using my skills in the community then I spend time on the desk providing paramedic care over the phone.”   

“You can make a significant impact on patient experience and care from the clinical desk. Being able to direct people to the right treatment, right place, doing that over the phone means I’m providing even more help to people.”

CPAs are highly trained and experienced paramedics. They speak directly to patients on the phone, providing immediate paramedic support; review the initial triaging of 111 calls (the assessment of patients to decide how urgent their illness or injury is and how soon treatment is needed); and provide advice and guidance to paramedic crews responding to patients across our region.

Memorable experiences

Over the years, some experiences have stood out for Isaac, especially working in the clinical hub. Like the expert and immediate clinical care he was able to give a family who had called 111 when their 5-month-old baby had choked:

“The parents had been able to clear their baby’s airway obstruction under the instruction of the call taker. An ambulance had been dispatched – I phoned the family to get an update and to provide immediate support to the parents. Through a video call I was able to see baby – review their colour, their breathing. This showed me that the immediate risk to baby had been resolved and now monitoring was required, which with instruction, the parents would be perfectly able to do at home. I provided them with information on what to look out for over the coming hours and days and when to visit their GP or medical centre if they were concerned.”

As a member of our frontline ambulance crew, Isaac recalls an example of the wide range of situations the Wellington Free paramedic team are called to respond to every single day: 

“We went to do a welfare check, an elderly couple living independently. Their daughter was concerned, so we went to check on them at the request of Police. We quickly became aware that both had dementia and were struggling. Clinically there wasn’t much we could do; it was more the social needs of the couple where help was needed.” 

“I said to them and their daughter ‘I’m going to write a list for you to consider – is it safe for them to stay at home – are they leaving the heater, stove top on, are they taking their medications, are they eating? It’s quite a list but the place to start is your GP.’  I went back to station and put a little document together so they could take time to understand what was needed.”

“We had a paramedicine student with us, and I was able to explain to them this is an example of where we have to think outside the box, things you’ll never learn in class.  This was out of hours, and there wasn’t any benefit or need of this couple going to the hospital emergency department, but they did need help.”

Evolving views

In his over a decade-long paramedicine career, Isaac feels like his experiences have changed his view of paramedicine and pre-hospital care, as he explains:

“When I came in at 17 it was all about the big jobs – big car crashes, people having heart attacks, doing CPR – that was my expectation, probably because I watched a little too much TV!  Now I’ve matured as a person, as a paramedic, my understanding is that our purpose is not just emergency medicine, it’s pre-hospital care. Over many years our service has adapted to accommodate the changing needs of our community, and our team has changed the ways we work to maintain the patient-first approach.” 

“I see it as an honour to go into someone’s home when they’re stressed and are at their wits’ end to know what to do.”

If you’d like to ensure that Isaac and the paramedic crews at Wellington Free can continue supporting the community free of charge, you can donate online at: www.supportwfa.org.nz