Scotland Candidates

Iain Macdonald


I am a very outgoing, enthusiastic and head strong student with great relations with student paramedics all over Scotland. I have great public speaking and organisation skills in work and life settings and would love to be able to have the opportunity to help represent student paramedics as a whole and be able to voice people’s opinions and beliefs about the paramedic profession. I would love the chance to be able to be a bigger part of the College of Paramedics and help promote the whole organisation with events and public sessions to spread awareness of the organisation and its rolls with students and paramedics. I am a great believer in all voices count no matter what background you come from and where you stand politically as everyone deserves to voice what they believe in when it comes to education and their future profession and if I got given the chance to do that for my fellow Scottish students and paramedic students as a whole I feel like I could be a great addition to the council and the its roles in within this sector! 

In addition to this, my 6 years as an air cadet non commissioned officer has also given me great volunteering and communication skills with the public as well as a great attitude towards all professions and peers.  As a student council member i would make sure to be involved and to get as many people involved with the College of paramedics as much as possible to allow people to be involved and actively announcing their opinions and ideas. I believe that if you vote for me in the upcoming elections, i could help bring more to the table in the student council and bring many new ideas to increase involvement with students across scotland!

Having done a lot of public speaking in the past i also believe this would be a good skill for the college of paramedics as this would allow great community and nation wide involvement, spreading awareness and possibly even creating larger events for more people to get involved with the college of paramedics and learn more about its role in student paramedics, paramedics and the general ambulance service workers lives!

Finally, i believe mental health should also be at the forefront of everyones minds at the moment especially whilst we ride out this pandemic that has changed all of out lives. For me this would include more support for people which could involve one on one or group sessions online and in person when restrictions allow it to make sure everyone is looked after properly and isn’t alone.  Especially after the increase of mental health calls to 999, 111 and GP’s this year, i think more support is needed so it doesn’t get worse and instead can get better with the correct encouragement and support!

Thankyou for considering me as your next student paramedic council member in the college of paramedics!

Gavin Keymer 


Firstly, let me introduce myself; my name is Gavin Keymer and I am a second-year student paramedic at Glasgow Caledonian University. Previously to this, I used to work for Jaguar Land Rover’s global PR team as a freelance contractor providing expert skills and knowledge, helping to deliver media drive events and overland expeditions. When the Covid -19 pandemic started, I was effectively made unemployed due to the global travel restrictions. I decided that I wasn’t just going to sit around and be unproductive and thought that I would take the opportunity to retrain as a paramedic. This has been such a positive experience for me but has highlighted some of the challenges that we as paramedic students are encountering, therefore this has prompted me to apply for the Scottish Student Paramedic representative in order to empower and support the future of paramedicine education.  
 
Having previously worked in a multicultural and diverse team in different countries I have developed an understanding of all demographics of society and cultural backgrounds and believe I have a very respectful and non-judgemental attitude. Equally, my previous life experience has helped to improve my communication and team working skills, having to adapt to find solutions to sometimes quite sensitive problems, in occasionally challenging and low resource areas. These skills I believe will be beneficial when working as the student representative as I have the ability to communicate effectively in a multitude of situations, which would allow me to vocalise ideas and concerns of the Scottish student paramedic body. 
 
Having started the course in the middle of COVID, I am fully aware of and have been personally affected by the challenges and difficulties that have been faced by all student paramedics across Scotland over the last 18 months with concerns to placements, uniforms and learning from home, to name just a few.  During this time, I have actively been involved as a class rep working closely with the university providing a strong student voice, giving feedback constructively to both students and staff, and helping to bring workable solutions to problems on the course, as well as across Scotland. Most notably, I was at the forefront of helping to bring about a change to the student paramedic uniform by getting tunics replaced with a more relatable and practical alternative appropriate for a student paramedic.   
 
If elected as your Scottish representative for the College of Paramedics, I promise to work extremely hard to ensure that the voices of Scottish student paramedics are heard and to make a positive change for the future. We are in a very lucky position in our careers with so many new and exciting routes becoming available to paramedics, and I hope that in being elected as the student representative I will be able to support and encourage the student body to become the best possible, as the college would say, paramedics of the future.