Published 6th December, 2023.
Australian Paramedical College (APC) has had an incredible 2023, and our win at the Gold Coast Business Excellence Awards is the cherry on top. Following our initial achievement for the Education, Training and Employment Award in October, we are thrilled to have seized the win for the annual award at the Gala Awards earlier this month.
APC reflects on 2023
2023 has proven to be one of the best years yet for APC and we accredit this to our incredible students, Industry Partners and dedicated staff.
With this in mind, we want to take you on the journey from our inception up until now.
Our humble beginnings
Starting out as a family-run business in 2011, APC’s first headquarters consisted of a demountable building on the Gold Coast, Queensland. At the time, APC was a paper-based RTO, with all assessments being posted to students upon their enrolment and sent back via post, or email to be marked.
With a small team of less than 5 people, what the business had in common which still rings fiercely true today is a passion for delivering quality education and supporting students who are at the beginning of their healthcare journey.
To our present triumphs
Fast forward to 2023, APC is proud to be Australia’s leading specialist college for pre-hospital healthcare. We’ve evolved significantly in our operations to become a trusted leader and a national education provider, so here are some of our highlights:
- We reached 48 full-time and casual employees across Australia.
- Our courses are now delivered online, eliminating hard-copy assessments and moving onto the learning management system, Moodle – used by universities and RTOs across Australia.
- In early 2023 we officially reached 1,000 graduates across our three core courses.
- Four de-commissioned ambulances have now been purchased from the state service, reinforcing our commitment to delivering hands-on, practical training for our students.
- 15+ Industry Partners have been onboarded to offer Clinical Placement and employment pathways for our APC students and graduates nationally.
- An 88% satisfaction rate was achieved from enrolled students in our annual student survey.
- We became one of the first RTOs in Australia to offer the new training packages HLT51020 – Diploma of Emergency Health Care, HLT41120 – Certificate IV in Health Care and HLT31120 – Certificate III in Non-Emergency Patient Transport.
- We partnered with Fire and Safety Australia to allow students to gain discounts on their RII30719 – Certificate III in Emergency Response and Rescue.
- We began offering exclusive course discounts to our Industry Partners for any of their volunteers and employees.
- Clinical Workshops commenced in Western Australia, New South Wales and Victoria, on top of our Queensland offerings.
Whilst we may be biased in saying so, our journey to success is astonishing and we are incredibly proud of all we’ve achieved in the last 12 years.
As 2023 comes to a close, we genuinely cannot wait to see what 2024 and the next 12 years hold for APC!
The “Education, Training and Employment” award
This award follows our October win at the Gold Coast Business Excellence Awards. From May to October, 12 winners per month are selected across 12 categories such as “Emerging and Micro Business”, “Construction and Trades”, “Professions and Services” and more.
Of each category’s winners, each goes head-to-head for the annual award sponsored by Dreamwavers – Event Creators and Producers. The 2023 annual gala event was at the Star Casino, which saw a number of APC employees in attendance.
As one of the last categories awarded, APC came out on top with the “Education, Training and Employment” award. We could not be more delighted and thankful for it.
If you missed it, you can read about our monthly win here.
APC’s Paulette Thacker, Jason Reynolds, Sally Metcalf, Jose Biotto, Chryss Stone, Holly Fox, Lucy Morgan, Denise Jones and Jackie McCudden at the Gala Awards.
A “thank you” from APC
This win represents a significant feat for APC. As our first nomination, we are grateful for not only gaining the monthly win for the award but the yearly too. Most importantly, although, we could not have done it without our incredible APC community!
Whether a student or graduate, an Industry Partner, or an employee, we are thankful for all of the support. We truly could not have achieved this win without every one of you.
APC’s Director of Education, Dr. Simon Sawyer, shared, “This award is the culmination of a massive team effort from everyone at APC to create the best educational programs for our students. Together we have done a huge amount of work. We’ve engaged with and listened to our students and the wider prehospital industry, we’ve forged new pathways for students to work in diverse and fulfilling careers, we’ve created new and engaging lessons, we’ve even created our own online CPGs!…There will always be more work to do as we continue to make improvements to our programs, but we are now a world class prehospital educational program.”
We also extend a huge thank-you to the board of judges at the Gold Coast Business Excellence Awards for recognising the waves we are making in the education sector, and Study Gold Coast for sponsoring the event.
APC’s Sally Metcalf and Jason Reynolds accepting the ‘Training, Education’ award at the Gala held on the 3rd of December, 2023.
Looking to the future
Our win at the Gold Coast Business Excellence Awards only fuels our commitment to bettering the healthcare and education sector. We are excited to see what 2024 holds and have a few exciting surprises we’re excited to share with you soon too!
To make the most of APC’s award-winning courses and education, why not apply today and be part of our amazing community too.
