The initiative was led by Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue Service and we were proud to be able to support the event, along with colleagues from Lincolnshire Police. Female representatives from the three blue-light services spoke about their careers during the evening.
Representing our service at the event was Di Moncaster (circled in the below picture taken at the start of her career), Divisional Senior Clinical Lead and Paramedic, based in north Lincolnshire, and Amanda Copeland, Clinical Assessment Team Paramedic in our Emergency Operations Centre.
After the event, Di said:
"I shared my personal experiences from over the years of what it’s like being a woman working in the emergency services, which was received positively by the fully engaged and captivated young audience in attendance.
"I was met with lots of well-thought through and considered questions from people, who I feel have a genuine passion and interest in working for EMAS and the wider ambulance sector when they are older.
"It was an immensely proud feeling to be able to represent EMAS as a capable senior woman leader of our service, knowing that we have inspired and encouraged the next generation of women and girls to consider a career in the emergency services.
"What we hope to have been able to demonstrate with this blue-light collaboration is that someone’s gender should never be a barrier to pursue your dream job in life."
At EMAS, over half of our total overall workforce are women. This accounts for a variety of different roles across the organisation from A&E frontline ambulance crews, our 999 control rooms, Patient Transport Services, Fleet, Enabling Services, our Senior Leadership and Executive Teams.
One person gave feedback after the event, saying:
"Thank you to all who took part.
"It was nice to hear the first-hand experiences of the women from all three services.
"My daughter would like to become a paramedic and I think the event helped make her feel that it is very possible to achieve her ambitions."