Year 9 student, Alex, shares her experiences volunteering with St John Ambulance, and explains how you can get involved.
Hello, everyone; I’m Alex.
I’ve been given the opportunity to write about my experience with St John Ambulance. I decided to join St John around two years ago due to my love and passion for the medical world. It’s not as scary as you might think!
St John has many different divisions around Australia. Each week there is a meeting consisting of different topics. We receive badges for each topic covered as we learn how to deal with each situation. For instance, we recently learned about Trauma and Triage. Each division has a different day and time for their meetings. These topics are also called Modules.
After you complete five modules, you complete a First Aid course. These can run over one or two days (based on your preference). Once this is done, you can start to do duties!
When you finish your certificate, you become a Youth First Aider, and you’ll receive a login giving you access to all St John events. This also lists all your hours you’ve completed.
When you go to the AFL or Australian Open you might have seen first aid post. The people working at the posts are volunteers with St John, just like me. You can volunteer to do duties at events like the AFL games, Run Melbourne, Taylor Swift concerts, musicals at Her Majesty’s Theatre, school fetes, local soccer club tournaments, the Australian Open and more!
This is a really good opportunity for students to meet other kids who are all incredible. You meet so many amazing people along the way and make so many friends. It’s also great for learning and building your skills. This is especially good for people who are thinking of taking a pathway in medicine and nursing.
If you’re interested in becoming a youth member, email your local division.
There is an annual fee of $130 and a once-off joining fee of $50. A uniform is provided at no cost as well as the First Aid course.
For information about division meetings and contact details, please click here.