Magdalena finds passion as vaccination hero

As part of our Frontline Heroes mini series, Magdalena Cekanceska shares how she decided to use her passion for helping others after completing the Certificate III in Health Services Assistance HLT33115 at Victoria University (VU) Polytechnic.

After completing high school, Magdalena used her passion for educating others and went into teaching. It wasn’t until COVID-19 that she decided to help the community in another way.

“During my 6 years of primary school teaching and the long Melbourne lockdowns, I realised I lost my passion and wanted to help with this pandemic. I had lost someone to COVID-19 and I wanted to help in any way I can.

"I decided to study the Certificate III in Health Services Assistance HLT33115 with VU Polytechnic and loved the block model.”

Although Magdalena did not have prior medical experience, she was able to quickly learn concepts and put her learnings to practice.

“I thought I was going to struggle simply because I had no idea about anything to do with hospitals or how they worked, but the teachers related every topic to your own personal experience and made the material easy to understand.”

The course was very enjoyable. What I liked best was the teaching facilities and equipment. We had access to all the machines you would use on the job. We were put in simulations that educated us for the worst situation. From these simulations, I was able to provide the best and highest service to become a team leader.

Even as a Patient Service Assistant and team leader at Western Health, Magdalena believes she doesn’t stop learning on the job.

“I was placed in a 3-week placement with a mentor that continued my learning process. My mentor helped me with training on the job and guided me through deficit tasks that I might be faced with in the future.  

"Even after completing the course and gaining a job, you are always being trained. No one expects you to know where everything is in the hospital and every workplace has different standards and policies, so you’re always guided when starting the job.”

Magdalena believes she finally has a new-found passion.

This course changed my view on life. The most valuable aspect was learning about the human body in an engaging way and not from a textbook. You don’t need to be ‘smart’ to be able to work in a hospital or complete a course. I did this course and I feel confident – I’ve finally found my pathway of life.

VU Polytechnic expresses thanks and gratitude towards frontline heroes like Magdalena for the tremendous work they do to protect the community.