She has always had a fascination with Aviation and a love of flight. It just has not been obtainable to fly until recently. It has taken her 10 years to get to this point.
Candace-Anne has been in the Health industry for the past 13 years, initially she wanted to be a Dr, she applied but was put on the waiting lists. She decided to start studying Nursing while she waited as she really wanted to get some good experience with patients. She did nursing for a year, then had to stop due to financial reasons, so took a gap year and worked to save up. During that year a friend of hers suggested that she should volunteer with the local ambulance service to see if she enjoyed it. Turns out, she had a major interest in emergency work. She decided to do a Degree in Emergency Medical Care and Rescue, she applied and was accepted. She always had to work and study. She worked night shifts and went to class during the day.
She qualified as an Emergency Care Practitioner or Advanced Life Support Paramedic and worked in South Africa for 5 years. Then got an opportunity to work abroad in Qatar as a flight paramedic, doing international transfers of patients- it just ignited her passion for Aviation even more. At the end of 2019, she had finished paying off her student debt and decided it was time to pursue aviation. She enrolled with a flight school in South Africa. The plan was to take her annual leave, which she had accumulated and do flying lessons. By March 2020, all her annual leave was cancelled and travel restrictions and lockdown was implemented. In May 2021 she was retrenched.
She decided to do her PPL in the USA as she had a potential job as a paramedic there. The job fell through but she did complete her PPL in two months. It was the highlight of her past 10 years. She is currently working part-time as a flight paramedic but with hopes to eventually try and go into Aviation full-time. She loves everything about Aviation, the approach to safety, the consideration of Human Factors and of course flying.
She is looking forward to continuing learning from and being inspired by all the amazing ladies out there in Aviation.