St John WA hosts annual Bremer Bay training weekend to keep regional volunteer training on track

Bremer Bay played host to a contingent of St John WA volunteers from across the Great Southern for their annual volunteer development training weekend.

Regional volunteer development officers attended a two-day training course on February 14 and 15 to brush up on essential skills, and learn a few new things to take back to their own sub-centres and teach other volunteers.

Volunteer development officers are experienced ambulance volunteers who support, mentor and train other volunteers in their sub-centres, and are responsible for helping their peers maintain clinical skills, running training sessions, and generally strengthening volunteers’ capabilities in emergency scenarios.

The Great Southern’s training weekend in Bremer Bay hosted 37 volunteer development officers, mostly from around the Great Southern district, but some also travelled from further afield in the Wheatbelt.

With the training going over Valentine’s Day, the attending volunteers got into the spirit of the special day and got together to make a heart outside the training centre, captured with a drone by Green Man Media.

Training at the annual weekend included simulated emergency scenarios and skill refreshers including dealing with cardiac conditions, emergency childbirth, high‑performance CPR, and handling environmental emergencies such as snake bites.

Great Southern regional training and development co-ordinator Sytske Wright said the annual training weekends, conducted by St John WA across regional areas were essential for providing up-to-date education, teaching tools, and a sense of community for volunteers.

“These weekends are held across regions and bring volunteer development officers together for skills practice, education updates and peer connection,” she said.

“Ambulance volunteers are a vital part of regional WA, and this weekend helps to bring these updated skills back to the regional teams to support ongoing volunteer training in their local communities.”

Ms Wright also said regional sub-centres were always on the lookout for new volunteers, and encouraged anyone interested in volunteering to reach out to their local St John sub-centre.