“We are very proud to see this fantastic team achieve this accreditation,” says Chief Operating Officer, Tina Wakefield. “It is invaluable to have this level of training within our organisation.”
While the final push was over a single weekend, achieving this level of accreditation was the culmination of 18 months of hard work, training, and organisation, says Amy May, one of the Victoria Rescue leaders.
“It means we are nationally recognised as an accredited response team—this opens up training and deployment opportunities above what we may be requested to do by the University.
“We are better able to work alongside other response teams, as we all have the same core training now. The accreditation also gives us an external benchmark with which we can align skills expectations and training for our team.”
Amy says the standard of training required to be accredited fundamentally expands the way in which Victoria Rescue can support an emergency response, when needed, at Te Herenga Waka.
“Another benefit is we have also gained stronger relationships with other response teams, and emergency management organisations so we can better engage at the regional level too.”
Victoria Rescue usually practices response activities every Monday evening, mainly on the Kelburn campus. Their key recruitment period is during Trimester 1 clubs’ week.
“This is where people who may have no prior skills or knowledge about our team, or emergency response in general, can learn about the team and continue on through the recruitment process if they wish. However, we are also happy to hear from anyone throughout the year if they have transferable skills or experience.
“Being part of this team not only means you get the opportunity to be part of a coordinated response to something that impacts the University, but a lot of the skills you gain from your time on the team can be taken back to your personal or professional lives,” says Amy.
Amy would like to thank the external mentors and NEMA accreditation team, the 2022 recruits who have worked incredibly hard all year, all the team members who took on extra roles and responsibilities, and on the University side, Jasper James “for bringing such an injection of positivity and energy,” and Danielle Henderson for all her admin and logistical support.
Victoria Rescue is looking forward to engaging further with the University’s Incident Management Team later this month.