Sarah Staples has been volunteering with St John  Ambulance Guernsey since 2015. She gives her time as  an event first aider, community first responder and member of the Ambulance Reserves.

Sarah joined St John back in 2015 after completing a 2 day “First Aid at Work” course. She said: “I think everyone should know basic first aid, you never know when someone may need you.  Thankfully the most common injuries we see at events tend to be things like wasp stings and people needing a plaster, but I have also dealt with more serious injuries like broken bones.”

“We have a fantastic team of volunteers with very different day jobs and backgrounds they are very much like “an extended family”. I think anyone who is thinking about joining and learning many new skills along the way, should definitely come and see what its all about it would be lovely to see new faces we will make you feel very welcome”

As  one of our volunteer Community First Responders Sarah has undertaken additional training and is now able to respond to immediately life-threatening emergencies in her vicinity in the minutes before the Emergency Ambulance Service arrives. All of our first responders carried an AED and first response back and are alerted by text message by the Joint Emergency Service Control Centre.

During the Covid-19 pandemic Sarah also joined the volunteer Decontamination Team to help deep clean ambulances to free up paramedics to respond to the next medical emergency in a clean vehicle.

We are really grateful to people like Sarah who give their time to help St John care for our island community.