Turning dreams into reality - Carly's story

Behind our blue flashing lights and sirens are over 7,000 people in 300 different roles who all have one thing in common – they care. Each person has a story to tell and a career journey they’ve been on, none more so than Practice Education Practitioner Carly Parker.

Carly joined the service almost 15 years ago and worked as a receptionist in our Manchester area office with dreams of one day becoming a paramedic. As a single parent with young children to look after, Carly couldn’t take a break from full-time work to pursue education. But Carly didn’t give up, she knew she would have to work hard to make her dream a reality.

A year later, Carly was successful in becoming an emergency medical dispatcher handling 999 calls. After just six months, she secured a promotion to resource dispatcher where she was responsible for allocating and dispatching ambulances to incidents.

Still set on her dream of becoming a paramedic, in 2013, Carly successfully became an emergency medical technician (EMT).

In 2016, seven years after joining the service, she got a place on the first internal paramedic development programme for EMTs where she studied at Edge Hill University, alongside working in her role.

After getting married to her now-husband Gary, who is also a paramedic, and being spurred on by her family, Carly qualified after two years of study and achieved a distinction grade in her diploma.

Carly said: “My proudest moment was receiving my paramedic registration. I had worked so hard to achieve this goal over many years.

“I joined the trust as a single parent and the struggles of working alongside studying full-time back then were unbelievable. I don’t know how I did it looking back.”

Inspired by her university lecturers who were former Team NWAS employees and supported and guided her through her studies, Carly continued to push herself to succeed and is now a practice education practitioner supporting other learners in their career journeys.

“The training and development opportunities at NWAS are fantastic. My diploma was fully funded and they’re also now funding my top-up degree alongside additional qualifications since joining the Education and Learning Team.

“NWAS is a fantastic employer with progression available at every level.”

If you’re interested in a career with us too, visit nwas.nhs.uk/careers to explore our roles and find an opportunity for you.