Life-saver Reena 'MY HEART IS ON THE FRONT LINE'

A traumatic experience in her childhood was the catalyst for a career in helping others

- Kasia De Vydt-Jillings

When Reena Jefferson spotted an ad calling for paramedicine students while at home with her newborn daughter Alena, she felt instantly called to find out more.

Her thoughts turned to her first experience with Hato Hone St John after her mother’s fiancé suffered a cardiac arrest when she was 11 years old.

“The ambulance and paramedics came and tried for what seemed like a long time to revive him,” recalls Reena, now 45. “Unfortunately, he didn’t survive, but despite the outcome, I was in total awe of the work they did. That was my first exposure to the ambulance sector.”

When her daughter was six months old, she applied for AUT’s then-new Bachelor of Health Science in Paramedicine.

“I knew I wanted a degree in paramedicine,” she tells. “I didn’t tell anyone, I just knew I was going to make it happen for my girl.”

Laughing, she adds, “Life got really busy after that.”

Without a car and living in South Auckland, Reena, then 23, had to commute three hours daily on the train, bus and shuttle to the North Shore campus.