About Us
We are the only emergency ambulance service in greater Wellington and the Wairarapa, and the only ones in the country who are free.
We are the only emergency ambulance service in greater Wellington and the Wairarapa, and the only ones in the country who are free.
What we doOur news
Providing urgent patient care in our community.
Providing urgent patient care in our community.
27 January 2021
Since joining Wellington Free four and a half years ago, Abby has continued to extend her clinical expertise, most recently being signed off as an Extended Care Paramedic.
“You’re always learning in this job and that will never stop regardless of the role you do.”
What piqued her interest in upskilling was the ability to treat patients in their own communities.
As an Extended Care Paramedic, Abby is part of our Urgent Community Care team who use response cars instead of ambulances.
Based in either Porirua or Kāpiti, Abby has the ability to use local pathways and her own extended clinical expertise to help treat patients at home; this helps reduce unnecessary trips to the emergency department.
“I really enjoy all the extra assessment skills and techniques I have learnt that help me investigate and diagnose more thoroughly. To be able to liaise with GPs and medical centres to formulate appropriate plans for patients is great too.”
Abby loves the variety in her roles, saying: “As a frontline paramedic, I start each shift never knowing what it will entail; as Clinical Paramedic Advisor in our 111 emergency communications centre, my clinical practice and decision making skills are enhanced; and as an Extended Care Paramedic, I get to meet and care for people in my community.”
If that wasn’t enough, Abby also works casually as an assistant tutor for the Paramedicine Degree at Whitireia – and hopes to do more teaching in the future.