About Us

At the time, he had no clue but knew the idea of being in front of a computer in a suit didn't really interest him.

His dad essentially put together everything Kade liked and suggested paramedicine. 

“One of his customers was a Paramedic and together they organised an observation shift on an ambulance for me. I loved it and shortly after signed up for the degree – the rest is history,” Kade says. 

Kade is now a Patient Transfer Officer within Wellington Free Ambulance’s Patient Transfer Service, a service that celebrated its 10th anniversary earlier this year. 

As a Patient Transfer Officer, it is Kade’s job to safely and comfortably transport patients to and from scheduled hospital treatments and rest homes. 

Kade says it could be easy to see it as merely moving someone from A to B however, he sees it as caring for someone as much as you can; even though it may only be for an hour or so. 

“Our patients are low acuity which means I get to spend more time getting to know them and building a relationship with them. I like the idea of making patients happy and distracting them from a difficult part of their lives, even if it's just for a small portion of their day.” 

Every year the team transport around 40,000 patients so Kade sees a lot of patients. But one of his most memorable moments was while transporting a palliative care patient back to their home.

“I overheard her talking to her son about how she'd love to see the beach one last time. After a couple of calls to my manager I offered to take them to a beach up the coast and pulled the stretcher out for the family to relax. After 20 minutes and a few photos, we returned home. They were very grateful for the small detour.”

A few weeks later, Kade was contacted by the palliative care team at Wellington Regional Hospital as he’d been awarded the Extraordinary Care Award.

“Not only was it my favourite moment while working in Wellington Free, but easily a favourite moment of my life.”

For Kade, helping his patients really does keep him going.

He says no matter what job someone is in there'll always be a level of monotony. However, ensuring his patients are comfortable and safe makes it something that he could do forever.

Looking at the service and team he is part of, Kade says nothing can compare.

“Wellington Free has gone above and beyond to care for me. It's been a difficult few years due to illnesses and the passing of my dad however, the team and my managers have always been there,” Kade explains.

“They always understood and focused on if I was okay more than anything else. I would receive multiple calls from my managers and team leaders purely asking how I was doing. I feel there's a lot of jobs out there that wouldn't come close to what has been offered to me and this is something that I will always cherish and try to pass on – thanks heaps for that Yvonne, Phil and Chris.”

Kade proud to work for Wellington Free and says seeing the service continue to grow is great.

“All the changes that have happened over the past year or so have greatly benefited my workload and efficiency, in turn having a mutual benefit with my patients.”