Helping community members stay connected a privilege for volunteer Bob Hosken  

Keen to use his good health and free time to help others, retiree Bob Hosken hit the road with the St John WA Community Transport Service (CTS) four years ago and hasn’t looked back. 

CTS volunteers like Bob, 76, drive community members door to door to medical appointments and activities, offering a smile and a friendly chat along the way. 

By providing safe and reliable transport, the CTS team help vulnerable people stay connected to vital healthcare services and their communities.  

Joining SJWA in 2020 was a full circle moment for Bob, who joined St John South Australia as a volunteer ambulance officer when he was 18 years old. 

In the decades that followed, Bob’s career took him overseas, including a year working in pathology at a hospital in North Sumatra. 

He worked as a priest before joining the navy as a Padre, where he provided a listening ear to sailors grappling with the isolation of life at sea. 

With a lifelong love of language, Bob became a qualified Indonesian translator in the navy, having also learnt French, Latin, Greek and Hebrew. 

Bob said these diverse life experiences meant he could make an instant connection with some of his passengers.  

“Occasionally I pick up a passenger who is of Malaysian or Indonesian origin, and they get so excited to speak their language while we are driving,” he said. 

“That is a great experience for both of us. 

“Having spent 22 years in the navy, it also means if someone is an old sailor or has served in the defence force we can have interesting little chats.” 

For Bob, being a volunteer means being part of a team that supports each other to help the community. 

He was recently awarded for contributing 1000 hours of CTS service in a year.  

“Volunteers are an essential part of the St John WA organisation and culture,” he said. 

“We are acknowledged, included and respected in so many ways. There is a very encouraging and positive culture.” 

Bob urged anyone thinking of volunteering with CTS to give it a go.   

“The best thing about being retired is the flexibility and freedom you have to be involved,” he said.  

“I feel as though I am not sitting around on my bum waiting to get old. 

“I am nearly 77 and I am going strong, and every time I drive somebody, I realise how blessed my life is and how healthy I am. 

“There are so many people whose lives are dominated by medical issues; it’s just a privilege and an opportunity to be able to transport them.” 

There are nearly 450 CTS volunteers transporting community members across the Goldfields, Southwest, Wheatbelt, Great Southern, Midwest, Peel and Perth metropolitan regions.  

Volunteers completed more than 72,500 hours over almost 50,000 trips last year, selflessly giving up their time to support the wellbeing of the wider community. 

A recent survey released for National Volunteer Week found nine in 10 Western Australians think favourably about people who volunteer, click here to learn more.    

More than 5000 volunteers contribute their time across a range of roles with SJWA from on-road emergency ambulance response in country WA, to logistics, volunteer support, community transport and Event Health Services.    

To become a volunteer visit, https://stjohnwa.com.au/changelives.