A town on Western Australia’s south coast has put out an urgent appeal for volunteers to join the St Johns Ambulance Service. The Walpole Saint Johns sub-branch is one of many rural towns struggling to find new recruits to replace retiring volunteers, as populations across small country communities continue to decline.
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00:00Cathy Broadbent is a volunteering veteran, joining her local Warpole St John almost 30
00:11years ago.
00:12I decided, well, I'll give it a go.
00:14I didn't even know whether I could even cope with it.
00:19Hundreds of call-outs later, the long service awarded ambulance driver is ready to step
00:25back and hand over to the next generation.
00:29But new recruits are proving hard to find, and it's a growing problem.
00:34St John has 160 branches across Country WA, staffed by more than 4,300 Country volunteers.
00:45Many are retirees, looking to retire once again.
00:49Without the service, a small town just, it falls apart.
00:56The volunteer shortage is putting pressure on those who care.
01:01Working as much as all of us do, and then doing the call-outs, we get fatigued.
01:06Danielle has found a new recruit, close to home in Jeremunga.
01:11My Nana's also a St John's officer, yeah, and then my mum, and now I've joined up as
01:18well.
01:19Nana is Cathy, and Danielle is his mum.
01:23He's a rare recruit, and the Country service needs more.
01:27It's a younger generation that's going to be taking over, and we need, we just need
01:32the volunteers.
01:33Hopefully, his presence will encourage others.
01:38A family of helpers.
01:40I think a lot of people would be surprised what they can do.
01:44If you are young and you want to join up, don't be afraid.
01:47Yeah, and you'll get a lot of satisfaction, and you will learn a lot of things.
01:52The people you need, looking for help themselves.