GCU Paramedic student elected to national Council
A student is representing five universities AND Scotland after being elected to the College of Paramedics Student Council.
Second year student Gavin Keymer will be providing a voice on the UK-stage for all of the country’s BSc Paramedic Science programmes, which are offered at Queen Margaret University, Robert Gordon University, University of Stirling, University of the West of Scotland and GCU.
The College of Paramedics are the professional body and aim to promote and develop the role across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Gavin said: “I see it as a great networking opportunity, as well as giving me the chance to see a more national framework of everything within Paramedicine. There’s a lot of knowledge and experience around me that I can benefit from which just gives me that bigger picture. Sometimes in Scotland we can be a bit isolated, so this gives me the chance to see what’s going on across the rest of the UK.
There’s basically a representative for each region and there are 12 in total taken into account. Nine of these are in England and then there’s Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales as individual regions.”
He added: “GCU was the first in Scotland to start the Paramedic Science programme in 2017. The other four universities introduced it three years later, so it won’t be until next year that they have students officially qualifying.
This role allows me to filter back what’s important to students and what’s worked well. The College of Paramedics has the opportunity to press the government to make changes to legislation and changes to the curriculum. There is that scope that we can really influence the profession as a whole.”
Gavin is hoping to carry on the good work of former GCU student Marcus McDonagh, and already has plans in place to collate plenty of feedback.
He said: “Marcus started at the very beginning of the Student Council, he was almost like a ‘founding father’ and helped get everything up and running. He made a lot of good contacts as the first Scottish rep that I can now use.
It’s obviously been tough recently but one of the first things I want to try and do is get out to the Scottish universities and let them know that I’m here to support with any concerns. We’re also trying to build a liaison network, which will basically involve a couple of reps at each University who can act as a point of contact – it means we can share the workload a bit better.”
This is the latest opportunity that Gavin has grabbed with both hands, after making the decision to return to education in his thirties.
He said: “I worked with Jaguar Land Rover pre-Covid but the pandemic hit and it all went to pop. I was technically a freelance contractor, so they basically just said sorry but they would be looking after their actual employees as a priority.
I’ve worked in remote and rural areas, so I’ve done some first responder training and I’d always found it really interesting. I then had a look at the GCU website and noticed the course had went into clearing, so I was lucky enough to get one of the final places. I started in September 2020 and my first placement was January 2021, so it’s been quite the transition but I’m not the type of person to just sit about the house!”
Gavin added: “It’s funny thinking back to my old job now. I was getting paid to travel but that’s not necessarily an ideal fit for home life. I’m 32 and married, so I want to be around a bit more instead of being away from home for eight or nine months of the year. In the long-run having this career change is going to be majorly beneficial.”
By Ross Clark
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