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News
Thanksgiving service for work of St. John Ambulance
A St John Ambulance vehicle.
A thanksgiving service for the work of St John Ambulance and its many volunteers in Clogher Diocese is taking place in St Macartin’s Cathedral, Enniskillen during 11am morning worship on Sunday, 16th September 2018.
The service, to be conducted by the Dean of Clogher, the Very Revd Kenneth Hall will be attended by The Lord Prior, Sir Malcolm Ross, the third highest ranked person within the Order of St. John under the Sovereign Head, the Queen and the Duke of Gloucester.
The most senior Knight of the Commandery of Ards in Northern Ireland, Viscount Brookeborough KG, will also be in attendance.
The service is to promote awareness of the contribution made by so many volunteers, some of whom have been with the charity for over 30 years, who with St. John Ambulance vehicles, attend sporting and community event, providing first aid cover.
The charity has 1300 adult volunteers attached to 28 units in Northern Ireland with a fleet of 63 ambulances. In addition there are over 1000 cadets and badgers.
Lord Brookeborough said: “Every one of these people is an unpaid volunteer. This is a service to thank them for what they do.”
He gave an example of the commitment and necessity to have St. John Ambulance at sporting fixture and at major public events. At the recent Clogher Valley Show, one of the largest one-day agricultural shows in Ireland, there were two St. John Ambulance vehicles present and by mid-afternoon, both were fully engaged and a third was asked to be on standby.
St John Ambulance volunteers are trained in first aid to treat all types of injuries ranging from headaches to heart attacks. They use these skills to provide first aid treatment at a wide variety of public events.
Volunteers often arrange further medical assistance and transport for patients or provide comfort and rest to people in need of more prolonged care.
A spokesperson stated: “St John Ambulance is the nation’s leading first aid charity. Every year, more than 400,000 people learn how to save a life through our training programmes, including hundreds of thousands of young people. Our volunteers provide first aid in their communities, keeping people safe at events, and working alongside the NHS in response to 999 calls.
“We’re also always campaigning to raise awareness of first aid and directly educate the public. We provide medical cover for events ��' from major sporting fixtures and music festivals to public gatherings. We’re the leading provider of workplace training, reaching over 250,000 people a year. Over half of the people we train are under 18. We don’t just teach life-saving skills ��' we offer life-saving opportunities as well. We give people access to important skills they wouldn’t otherwise get the chance to learn. First aid is such a simple skill, but it has an incredible impact. We want everyone to learn it, so that they can be the difference between a life lost and a life saved.”