National Volunteer Week – St John celebrates its dedicated volunteers
St John CEO Michelle Fyfe said one of St John’s strengths was its ability to harness the combination of career staff and volunteers, which together ensure Western Australians have access to leading ambulance and first aid services across metropolitan Perth and regional WA.
“Our regional volunteers are a key part of the State’s country ambulance service, helping St John attend to 653,776 patients in Western Australia last year,” Ms Fyfe said.
“Most day’s people won’t need us, but when something does go wrong, St John volunteers, alongside career paramedics in larger areas, are there to deliver lifesaving services and support to the community.
“I say a very, very big thankyou to our volunteers. They make the world of difference.
“They give us their passion, their drive and their enthusiasm. We couldn’t do what we do across this very large state without them.”
St John volunteers are stationed at 160 regional and remote centres across WA, from the Great Southern to the Kimberly. Some centres are staffed by a mix of volunteers and career paramedics and others are run fully by volunteers with support from St John.
In the metropolitan area we have 5858 volunteers and 3247 across the regional area.
“We now have more volunteer roles in St John than ever, including Event Health Officers, Community Transport Volunteers, First Aid Assistants and Awareness Officers, Early Childhood Education Volunteers, as well as a variety of roles in the regional ambulance service,” Ms Fyfe said.
She said the diversity in age and gender reflected the fact that volunteering was something that appealed to a wide range of people.
“It also reflects the fact that volunteering isn’t something left to a handful of people. We have some volunteers who are high-school aged, right through to those in their 80s, and all make an invaluable contribution to their communities,” Ms Fyfe said.
“National Volunteer Week is an opportunity to recognise and celebrate not only our incredible St John volunteers, but all those people who volunteer their time in the WA community.”
Current volunteer numbers by region:
| Region | Volunteers | Change on Previous Year |
| Goldfields | 232 | 12% increase |
| Great Southern | 413 | 13% increase |
| Midwest | 412 | 7% increase |
| Southwest | 722 | 9% increase |
| Kimberley | 148 | 12% increase |
| Pilbara | 272 | Materially the same as last year (273 in previous year) |
| Wheatbelt | 1048 | 4% increase on previous year |