Paramedic student working on Covid frontlines overcomes dyslexia to graduate from UCC

All 22 of the graduates now go on to work as paramedics within the health service having secured permanent contracts with the National Ambulance Service

(Left to right) Helena Kiely, Gráinne Kelly and Karen McNulty at their graduation from UCC’s Paramedic Studies BSc, run in collaboration with the National Ambulance Service. Picture: Daragh Mc Sweeney/Provision

A Cork woman who spent the Covid-19 pandemic working on the frontlines while studying to become a paramedic has spoken about how she learned of her severe dyslexia in her 30s.

Helena Kiely, from Minane Bridge, is one of 22 graduates conferred at University College Cork (UCC) on Friday, the first graduates from the new three-year degree course run in conjunction with the National Ambulance Service (NAS).