Maybe it's something in the water, but the Far North's branches of the Queensland Ambulance Service have something special: women smashing through the glass ceiling. KYLIE REGHENZANI speaks to four paramedics who show that women are doing it for themselves
These four women have their finger on the pulse. Paramedics Jane Kitson, Lauretta Howarth, Joanne Selby and Kate Fenech are climbing the ladder of the Queensland Ambulance Service.
In an industry once dominated by men, they concede the journey has been a hard slog and only attainable through sheer willpower.
But each "guardian angel" is relishing the challenges and rewards of a demanding job that helps people in pain and often saves lives.
- JANE KITSON
At just 34, Jane Kitson is the acting area director for the QAS, covering the Tableland, Cape York and the Torres Strait.
A career in the emergency services beckoned when she left high school at Innisfail and she joined the service as a trainee ambulance officer.
In 1994 she moved to Cairns and three years later she studied the Intensive Care Paramedic program, a rigorous course designed to produce elite ambos.
"You’ve got to leave your pride at the door when you do these programs," Ms Kitson said.
When she took time out to travel, she landed a job with a private ambulance service as a paramedic on movie sets.
"That was something different and was fun for a while so I could make enough money to keep on travelling," she says.
Though the travel bug still bit, Ms Kitson returned to Australia to resume her career.
It was not long before she was appointed officer-in-charge of the Thursday Island station, a step she says inspired her for a management role.
"It made me realise my strengths and independence as a single female in Thursday Island and that’s when I realised I could do anything and take a challenge and be a team leader," she says.
In 2001, Ms Kitson returned to Cairns, where she visited a forum for area directors and realised how few women held roles in management.
"I was the only chick in the room and I felt like saying, ‘help!’ but it’s not as lonely now," she says. "We’ve got a few up here now but back then I was the only female among 40 males."
But Ms Kitson never felt being a woman was an obstacle.
"When I started there were hardly any but I felt like I could stand up and liaise and negotiate with the guys. I didn’t feel intimidated," she says.
"We’ve come a long way and I’m in the scrum, not standing on the sideline."
She says she was still "part of the boys club" to some extent.
"If the guys dish it out I tend to give it back just as good and they are left wondering what to say next," Ms Kitson says.
"The boys club do the normal boys’ talk but they took me under their wing and saw me as their protege but by the same token, I’m not a pretty female and ‘oh I cracked my nail, oh my hair’ ... those sorts of people would find it difficult now and would have not coped back then."
She says being successful in management requires patience, objectivity and respect and finding the balance between work and home life.
"I like to think I do have a pretty good grasp of being in someone else’s moccasins," she says.
"For quite a while I was living and breathing the job and realised that was pretty uncool."
She sees benefits to having a balance of men and women.
"Girls are emotional and passionate and guys are a logical and practical bunch and to have colleagues (women) who think on the same wavelength is good," she says.
Ms Kitson says though she enjoys her leadership role, she misses not being on the road.
"On the road is very grounding but I see what I do now as important because I give them the resources and skills for them to carry out their jobs," she says.
"As a younger ambo you feel bulletproof in your 20s ... It’s not until you get a bit older when you’re on and off the road that you get a bit more maturity and you have a different mindset."
- LAURETTA HOWARTH
Being responsible for the QAS’s regional development of staff, Lauretta Howarth knows the psyche of ambos – both male and female – who witness both horrific and joyful scenes.
Cairns has a higher proportion of women in the service and she says that’s a godsend in many ways.
"We can talk and get all emotional about things and our women colleagues understand," Ms Howarth, an ambo for the past 14 years, says. "The males would just harden up."
Ms Howarth says being an onroad paramedic is more fulfilling than her previous job as a nurse.
"I didn’t enjoy it (nursing) but my job now is challenging and I’ve got my passion for education," she says.
Ms Howarth started out in the industry as a student paramedic on the Gold Coast before completing the ICP program and moving to Cairns. She says teaching newly recruited paramedics is rewarding.
"I see student paramedics shaking in their boots and maturing into confident paramedics and that’s really inspiring," she says.
"I’m just an ambo supporting other ambos.
"In a short time (off the road) you can lose a lot of skills and knowledge and I’ve had some good mentoring as Jane (Kitson) and I bounce ideas off each other."
Exercise is a big factor in her life and essential in dealing with the stress of her job.
"It’s probably why I haven’t lost the plot yet," the keen outdoor adventurer, who teaches group fitness in Cairns’ gyms, says.
Ms Howarth did a women’s development program, Spring Board, last year and she says it helped her refocus her goals when she was at a crossroad in her life.
- KATE FENECH
When ambo Kate Fenech isn’t caring for patients, she’s looking after her young family.
The mother of 17-month-old Nate and two-week-old Knox is on maternity leave but plans to return to the industry she loves.
She says juggling motherhood with her role as a QAS senior clinical educator takes sheer determination.
"I’ve gone back to work full time after having my first child and the hours I work allow me to be home for their dinners and baths," Mrs Fenech, 32, says.
She started as a voluntary communications officer, and became a student paramedic and an intensive care program graduate.
Her current role is maintaining the clinical services of the region and involves student paramedic education, a role she says is her passion.
"I love teaching but I also love the medicine side of things," she says.
"You don’t have to be a rocket scientist, you just have to want to work hard and it’s not out of the realm of ability for anyone."
She says when she started out in the industry 13 years ago, few women were granted emergency services roles, but the modern industry has more girl power.
"We’re happy-go-lucky people and anything the guys say to us is never anything serious, it’s only fun. Now we’re an accepted part of the service rather than a minority," Mrs Fenech says.
- JOANNE SELBY
Joanne Selby’s job gives her "the best of both worlds" as an ambo.
The 36-year-old operations supervisor for Cairns and the coastal district says she can be a manager without sacrificing the on-road medical skills she has gained in nine years in the QAS.
"I’m more of a clinical hands-on person but I got the management role and enjoy it," she says.
"I suppose the toughest thing is I want to maintain my clinical focus and if I got to the point where I didn’t have any patient contact that would be a downside, but the role I’m in now allows me to do both."
Promoted in January, Ms Selby covers 14 stations from Cardwell to Mossman and liaises with area directors and officers-in-charge.
"I get out possibly three or four days a week and drive around in a marked ambo vehicle so I can still maintain my clinical focus and assist other paramedics," she says.
Like Ms Howarth, Ms Selby was a nurse before joining the ambulance service in Victoria where she qualified for a mobile intensive care ambulance course.She moved to Cairns in 2004 and has taken part in on-road and helicopter responses.
"It is a good variety of work and always interesting. One minute you’re transferring patients to hospital and the next you could be transferring someone from the Reef," she says.
"Being a bit of a city girl and then coming to Cairns, I really enjoy flying over nothing and landing on remote properties."
Ms Selby says her presence in the traditionally male-dominated profession has surprised some.
"On the road I still get comments like ‘oh, you’re a girl’ and the older people are more surprised that I’m driving the ambulance vehicle and some elderly people call you "sister" because they think you’re the nurse," she says.
"I just do my job the best I can and now we’re getting in and paving the way."
