Critical Care Assistant Advance Life Support Paramedic.

Chené Bester

SURNAME: Bester

FIRST NAMES: Chené

DATE OF BIRTH: 10 April 1984

IDENTITY NUMBER: 840**********

NATIONALITY: South African

SEX: Female

MARITAL STATUS: Un-Married

CRIMINAL RECORD: None.

ADDRESS: 19 Oboe Street, Rynfield, Benoni

1501

CONTACT INFORMATION: Cell: 067-***-****

Home: (011) 969 - 3639

E-mail: ***********@*****.***

HOME LANGUAGE: Afrikaans

OTHER LANGUAGES: English

DRIVERS LICENCE: LMV (Code 08)

HEALTH: Excellent

INTERESTS: Research Base Medicine, Counselling, Extreme Sport. EDUCATION:

Bergvlam High School: Matriculated 2003

Netcare College Basic Ambulance assistant

(2004)

Netcare College Ambulance Emergency Assistant

(2005)

Co - Jems Critical Care Assistant

(2010)

ENJO Midrand Qualified SETA Assessor

(2016)

PREVIOUS INSTRUCTOR STATUS:

• Basic Life Support for Health Care Providers Instructor

(2014 – 2019)

• Advance Cardiac Life Support Instructor

(2015 – 2019)

• Paediatric Advance Life Support

(2017 – 2018)

• International Trauma Life Support Instructor

(2017 – 2019)

GOALS FOR NEXT 2 YEARS:

In order of priority:

1. CPG Update.

2. Instructor Status in all AHA Courses.

3. Instructor Status in ITLS.

4. Business Management Certificate.

- Microsoft Excel Intermediate.

- Microsoft Power Point Intermediate.

- Microsoft Word Intermediate.

5. NEBOSH International General Certificate (IGC) in Occupational Health and Safety. CAREER VISION:

OPERATIONAL PARAMEDIC:

To identify the short coming of the Emergency Medical Services and work towards a solution so that everything that the Emergency Medical Service stands for is in the best interest of the patient. Never compromising moral or ethical values.

Knowledge is key for the RIGHT treatment at the RIGHT time. This for me can be achieved by continual career development (CME’s, CPD points), self - reflection/debriefing with colleagues after ALL calls and research base studies.

EMERGENCY MEDICAL TRAINING FACILITATOR

Training for me is a passion. In my experience as paramedic working in the field, we have limited resources to assist in our decision making.

In most case the decisions we make are based on 2 things: 1. Experience and

2. Knowledge

As a facilitator I bring both of these aspects into my classroom. I believe that the more you know about a medical condition or disease the better able you are to make these split-second decisions resulting in the best outcome for the patient.

CAREER PROGRESSION AND CHARACTER TRADES

COMPANY: ER 24 PERIOD: 2004 - 2005

BASIC AMBULANCE ASSISTANT

I qualified as a BAA in 2004 at the Netcare College in Nelspruit. At that stage I was 18 years old and unable to apply for a PDP so I volunteered at ER 24 Nelspruit for roughly 3 – 4 months until they gave me a part – time contract.

I didn’t have a PDP therefore I had to treat all the patients. Since the hospitals were far apart my patient treating time was anywhere between 40 minutes to 6 hours creating my unique character trades:

1. Communicating:

- It is vitally important to discuss with the patient and the RELATIVES what you are doing and why you are doing it. This is a great way to build trust. 2. Importance of Initial patient assessment/Vitals to be done manually and not to rely on monitors.

- Treat the patient not the monitor.

COMPANY: ER 24 PERIOD: 2005 – 2010

AMBULANCE EMERGENCY ASSISTANT

I qualified as and ILS in 2005 at Netcare College in Nelspruit. ER 24 offered me a full-time contract until I turned 21 and they then offered me a permanent position. In Nelspruit this meant I was the senior as there was no ALS to call for assistance and I had to rely on my own skills regarding the following:

3. Ability to treat a P1 patient (for long periods) in a calm and systematic approach. I transferred to ER24 Johannesburg East Branch a few years after I qualified where I eventually worked on an ILS response vehicle called C7. The standard dispatching criteria for this vehicle was that “back - up” (Advance Life Support or an Ambulance) will only be activate once I arrived on scene.

This progression creating the following trade:

4. Ability to initially stabilize a P1 patient without any team members. 5. Triage.

- This was a great learning curve as I had to rely on my own abilities regarding the degree of urgency to wounds or illnesses to decide the order of treatment of multiple patients or casualties without any assistance from any other medical practitioner.

COMPANY: ER 24 JOHANNESBURG WEST BRANCH PERIOD: 2011 – 2013 SHIFT LEADER

• Managing all staff personnel issues on my shift.

• Responsible for stock control and the monthly stock take.

• In - house training to improve my crew’s skills.

• Make and maintain relationships with other services that plays a role in an emergency.

• Marketing of branch via school visits and visibility at social gatherings.

• Maintain staff moral by ensuring that their salaries were submitted on time along with their overtime. All equipment was working and in good condition.

• Monitoring staffs overtime hours to ensure that they stay within the legal framework of accumulated time per month.

COMPANY: ER 24 – TRAINING CENTER PERIOD: 2013

TRANSITIONAL DUTIES

I sustained a spinal injury which led to spinal surgery in 2013. Due to the surgery I had temporary medical work restrictions to ensure the possibility of a full medical recovery. The company accommodated me with these medical restrictions by placing me in the ER 24 Training Center with my key responsibility to apply for Basic Ambulance Assistance Course Accreditation with the HPCSA, allowing ER 24 to offer this course to private individuals. I started the Basic Ambulance Assistance accreditation with the HPCSA in May 2013. The first course was in the beginning of 2014 where the HPCSA appointed an externalmoderator to review our course process as well as how the learners are being evaluated, monitored and supported. Upon successful completion of the first Basic Ambulance Assistance course, ER 24 acquired Basic Ambulance Assistance accreditation.

When ER 24 was informed that our application process was successful, the head of the department offer me the opportunity to act as the BAA Co – Ordinator for our first BAA course. My responsibilities for our first BAA course that was externally moderated by the HPCSA are as follow:

• Ensure that program is appropriately marketed and that we are targeting the appropriate individuals.

• Respond to all inquires about the program in a timely fashion.

• Ensure that minimum amount of learners per classroom is enrolled to guarantee cost effectiveness.

• Responsible for invoicing of course.

• Following up on invoice and payments.

• Ensuring that all payments has been received prior to the exam process.

• Yearly calendar for the selected course.

• Monthly budget and income revenue.

• Set up the curriculum for the BAA leaners.

• Responsible for the course content.

- Ensuring other facilitators are following the set-out curriculum to make sure that a set standard of facilitation has been achieved.

• Responsible for weekly roster.

• Weekly one on one sessions with learners.

• Assisting leaners with study techniques.

• Responsible to identify any learners that are not coping with the amount of work and consequently attempt to resolve the matter.

• Ensuring facilitators are using more than 2 study techniques when presenting a presentation.

• Weekly class tests.

• Ensure that 3 sets of exams are moderated 6 weeks prior to final exams.

• Responsible for entire final exam process and be held accountable should there be any discrepancy.

COMPANY: ER 24 TRAINING CENTER PERIOD: 2014 – 2015 BASIC AMBULANCE ASSISTANT COURSE CO – ORDINATOR

After the completion of ER 24 first Basic Ambulance Assistance Course the HPCSA gave ER 24 full accreditation to run this course.

At this point I discovered that I have an instinctive and remarkable ability to pass on medical knowledge in a way that learners not only understand but enjoy it as well. ER 24 offered me the Basic Ambulance Assistance Co – Ordinator course in 2014, where I accepted the offer.

My first task as the BAA Co – Ordinator was to set up a similar course with similar course content and objectives for a private mining company in Zambia while simultaneously trying to set a unit standard for this course to be recognised by the Zambia Health Professional Council. I Co – ordinated 2 BAA equivalent programs in Zambia with similar roles and responsibilities as in South Africa. The only exception was that I could adjust the curriculum slightly as the learners that were being trained in Zambia were already medical professionals (most of them nurses). The following changes were:

• Curriculum

- Attempt to align module standards to allow Zambian students to bridge University National Standards.

- Theory pass rate 75%

- VIVA questions were based on the learner’s patient simulation to allow them: 1. Motivate the reason for their treatment plan. They were also allowed to submit research-based articles to support their action.

2. A complete hand-over of their patient simulation is compulsory, and covered during the course progress to ensure that the learner has the ability to give an effective and appropriate handover and be able to learn to motivate their treatment plans. COMPANY: AMBU-SAVE PERIOD: 2015- 2016

BASIC AMBULANCE ASSISTANT AND AMBULANCE EMERGERNCY ASSISTANT COURSE CO – ORDINATOR

In 2015 Ambu-Save Training Academy approached me with an offer to be their BAA and AEA Co – Ordinator. My job description however was a lot different then what it was at ER 24 as I was now responsible for the actions of other staff members as a result of my instructions when it relates to course content or material.

• Responsible for final authorization regarding any new material to be taught to the learners.

• Responsible for all disciplinary misconduct.

• I am the direct line management for all employees working in the training centre. This was a great learning curve with a considerable amount of self – development that occurred during that year. Due to my CCA qualification I was exposed to leadership roles and responsibilities. Leadership qualities in this position was key as I had to make decisions not based on my medical qualifications alone but also on sound judgement and the ability to implement these decisions whilst still maintaining staff moral and respect of fellow colleagues.

These added responsibilities attributed to my believes about leadership: 6. Communication

- How and what you say to your staff members will determine if they respect you or not.

- Most issues can be resolved through effective communication. However, texting should never be the first line of communication as it leaves room for misinterpretation. 7. Trust

- If there is no trust in your leadership abilities, then staff moral will decline, resulting in poor work performance.

8. Respect

- There is NEVER a reason to be disrespectful towards anyone even if they are at fault. There are ways of handling negative behaviour but being disrespectful towards a staff member is never acceptable.

CONTINIOUS CAREER DEVELOPMENT PERIOD: 2016 – 2020

In 2016 I started my own AHA training centre in Nelspruit, where I offered BLSHCP, ACL, PALS, ITLS for all medical professionals.

I created practical emergency scenarios for certain private hospitals. The idea behind these scenarios was to ensure that all staff members working at these selected hospitals could achieve all basic emergency skills as well as being able to identify, correctly assess and timeously manage all life- threatening algorithms. Should pre – set outcomes not be achieved, I would submit a report with recommended corrective actions or arrange for in house training to up the skills of the staff members. PERSONAL OBJECTIVE:

• The only objective in life is to be happy. . . Today my happiness is my family . . . It might be different tomorrow . . . But everyday I want to wake up and try to be happy. Not Rich

• Work is a big part of my life, and as EMS we are all family. My daily career goal is to silently focus on my crews mental and emotionally well-being. This worked is hard and we all need support sometimes.

Keep living in the moment without judging others.

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY:

• Matriculated 2002

• ER 24 2003 – 2014

- Basic Ambulance Assistant 2002 – 2005

- Ambulance Emergency Assistant 2005 – 2010

- Critical Care Assistant 2010 – 2013

- ER 24 BAA Co – Ordinator 2013 - 2014

• Ambusave Academy 2014 – 2016

- Baa/AEA Co – Ordinator 2014 - 2016

• Director of Emergency Medical Training 2016 – 2017

- Gave SETA approved First Aid

- Medical courses for doctors and medical staff

• Destination Medicine

- Operational Paramedic 2018 – 2019

• Tac – Pulse Emergency Services 2020

- PRF auditing

- In house training

REFERENCES

• Ronelle Bester: 082-***-****

• Nicole De Montile: 083-***-****

• Mandy Grey: 079*******

• Lucien Niemann: 084-***-****/ 082-***-****

Contact this candidate