Volunteer from Black Country stars in St John Ambulance campaign
A teenage volunteer from the Black Country has shared her story as part of a new campaign from a health and first aid charity.
Rebecca Edwards, 17, from Dudley, is featured in the St John Ambulance's Ask Me campaign which aims to raise awareness of their work.
It has seen more than 2,000 posters and billboards covered in portraits of volunteers to highlight the important role of the charity.
The posters, including Rebecca's each feature a quote – encouraging the people to ask them about their real-life experiences.
And for the St John Ambulance Cadet, the quote is: "Ask me why life means so much more now". She said: "I first started volunteering with St John Ambulance simply as a club to do in my spare time but once I realised the fantastic opportunities that you can get involved with from training to helping on duties and events, I couldn’t get enough of it and stayed with it.
"The fact that I am able to save people’s lives is just mind-blowing - I can’t compute that but when looking at the other volunteers in the organisation and seeing the amazing work that they do as well it’s, it’s just crazy.
"I would say to a young person thinking about joining St John Ambulance simply go for it. You will not regret it and it is an amazing organisation – just please sign up."
More than 30,000 St John Ambulance volunteers have given over 840,000 hours of time to support hospital wards since the start of the pandemic, along with helping with the vaccine roll-out.
Chief executive Martin Houghton-Brown said: "We have long played a vital role in supporting the health of the nation – through world wars to a global pandemic.
"Despite thousands of people interacting with St John, millions don’t completely understand all that we do; many don’t even know that we have 10,000 young people as a vital part of our charity’s work, for example.
"We are well known for our presence at events but, even then, the fact that we are volunteers is often missed. There are so many ways in which St John serves communities, from training and education to homeless outreach services meeting the needs of the most vulnerable.
"The last year has seen our profile raised through our Covid-19 response supporting the NHS but, as the world starts to return to normal, we need to remind everyone why St John matters every day, not just in a national crisis.
"It’s time to tell the world what we do, and who better to tell the world than our own incredible St John people, saying, Ask me."
Members of the public can find out more about St John Ambulance and how to get involved at sja.org.uk
