Gedling’s MP, Tom Randall, joined a Parliamentary event thanking St John Ambulance volunteers and employees for their extraordinary efforts during the coronavirus pandemic, on Wednesday September 8.
Tom Randall MP enjoyed meeting Cara-Lee, a St John volunteer from Gedling whose role includes coordinating her fellow volunteers to support with vaccinations.
Since March 2020, tens of thousands of St John people have given more than a million hours of their time to care for people in hospitals, on ambulances, at events, through community projects, and by helping deliver the NHS COVID-19 vaccination programme.
Speaking after the event, Tom said “It was a pleasure to meet Gedling resident Cara-Lee and to hear about her volunteering experiences during the pandemic. She began volunteering by delivering food parcels in her local area and is now the permanent St John Ambulance volunteer vaccination lead in west Nottinghamshire, leading 394 volunteers. Cara-Lee is doing hugely important work in delivering the vaccination programme locally and I pay tribute to her and her fellow volunteers.”
The event followed praise for St John volunteers during the day’s Prime Minister's Questions from Boris Johnson and the event was addressed by the Secretary of State for Health Sajid Javid, the Charities Minister Baroness Barran, Minister for Vaccine Deployment Nadhim Zahawi, and Leader of the Opposition, Sir Keir Starmer.
Asked about the role of St John Ambulance at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday 8 September, Boris Johnson said: "They have been fantastic and I have met many many St John Ambulance volunteers during the last 18 months who have done an absolutely astonishing job.”
St John is now looking at how it can build a lasting legacy from the pandemic, ensuring clinically trained volunteers are ready to help the NHS when needed.
Chief Executive of St John Ambulance, Martin Houghton-Brown said:
“We want to develop and maintain the additional capacity we need to stand ready as the nation’s auxiliary ambulance service; to retain and engage the thousands of new volunteers who’ve joined us during the pandemic by creating new roles and opportunities within St John for them to help their communities through first aid; and to ensure the expertise and capacity of skilled volunteers like ours is included in future planning for emergency resilience and response.”
To find out more about St John Ambulance’s amazing volunteers and their work visit: www.sja.org.uk/AskMe
