St John's ambulance

[seagulldown]

I'm thinking of joining the local branch of St John's ambulance. Lots of info on their website but I dont know anyone in real life who is a member to ask what it's really like. Anybody here volunteer for them and have experiences you'd like to share? Good or bad! Many thanks

I was a volunteer for 6 years in London, only stopped when I had a baby as I couldn’t commit to all the training.
I had a great time, and would go back. Experience will vary depending on where you are and if you ‘gel’ with your local unit.
What do you want to know specifically?

Thanks for replying. Sounds positive so far. I do wonder how much time it really takes up. I have been told I don't have to attend meetings every week. Realistically I could do every other week, do you think that could work? I have young kids but they are with their dad EOW so can attend events during those weekends

A friend joined when she was in london for her masters and saw pretty much every west end show for free. Are you in London? A schoolfriend gets to see the Rugby everyweek for free too.

Every other week is probably ok.
You also have to do a certain number of hours of ‘duty’ each year (I forget how many) outside of meeting times - do, for example, providing first aid cover at football matches. Or Christmas fairs!
Duties are a mixed bag - 90% boredom and drinking tea, 9.5% patient contact for fairly simple things (plasters, splinters and the like) and the 0.5% when it all goes ugly and you get an actual emergency (so I’ve had three heart attacks, several diabetic emergencies, broken arms and leg that are definitely not pointing in the right direction and stuff like that)
That being said, I understand that London was particularly busy in terms of casualties (we got lots of football duties, Notting Hill carnival and New Year’s Eve carnage for example).
I really enjoyed my time, it was a good group of people (some of whom are lifelong friends as a result) and it felt nice to feel that you had made a difference. I feel proud that the actions of my ‘team’ helped save lives. The training was excellent and I always felt supported, and not ever put in a position where I was overstretches in terms of my ability.
It did turn into a massive time suck though - I would usually do over 300 hours a year and my best friend would get close to 1,000 hours (but she was a bit nuts tbh).
Go to a meeting and see what you think. It’s not for everyone and, like I say, you do need to gel well with the other unit members as you’ll be working closely with them in sometimes difficult circumstances

Not London but in Brighton so still pretty lively and lots of events!

You’ll have fun in Brighton! And if you are willing to travel you can probably easily come up to London for the big ones like marathon and Notting Hill.
I really miss SJA - I would go back but I now live out in the sticks and it makes my ‘local’ unit too far away to be practical
Make sure you have a strong stomach though, as bodily fluids become a fact of life!

Thanks v much. That's all great information. More hours than i expected over the year, especially from your friend . Haha at the division of time and level of boredom/tea drinking.

My stomach is pretty strong and I have some healthcare and operating theatre experience, all be it from many years ago, but should be ok with the many fluids. I think I'll try a few meetings and see how it goes.

My uncle was a volunteer member. He wore a uniform. Amongst other things, he was present at football matches which caused great envy. At work, when a doctor came round to do medicals, he would assist.

He had a little skeleton in a box which I used to play with when I was little. That sounds a bit strange now but didn't seem so at the time.

Little skeletons in boxes sound like my family. Perhaps that means I'll be a good fit to volunteer after all!