Even when she first joined the Trust Tairāwhiti Eastland Rescue Helicopter team in April 2025, critical care flight paramedic Gillian (Gilly) Gates was no newbie. Between working on St John ambulances and time in operations support for the service, she spent two-and-a-half years on-crew with Tauranga’s Trustpower TECT Rescue Helicopter. And that’s on top of early training with a rescue helicopter team from when, she says, “I always knew (rescue helicopter) would be where I’d end up working”.
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