Volunteer awarded for achievements

Dedication and possessing the drive and skills that made assistance possible to regional St John volunteers has led to a major award for a Rocky Gully woman.

Jo Wills was named Country Ambulance Service Volunteer of the Year at the recent annual St John State conference in Perth.

"It was a bit of a surprise," she said while taking a break from her farm work last Friday.

"You just get caught up in what you are doing."

As chairman of the Looking Forward Giving Back Committee, Ms Wills led the development of a structured, co-operative scheme to accumulate funds to assist all of the region's subcentres.

"Funds are combined from all subcentres into a pool to enable the purchase of equipment or for training courses, especially helping the smaller subcentres," she said.

"It's something where every-body wins."

Ms Wills said after 12 months of planning, the first round of funding was distributed earlier this year and used for the purchase of equipment. A second round will occur in December.

Based in Rocky Gully, Ms Wills is not only a level two ambulance officer, she is also volunteer district officer and treasurer with St John Ambulance.

St John Ambulance regional manager David Schober said Ms Wills had made a significant contribution to the region despite only being a volunteer for 10 years.

"Jo is an amazing volunteer with St John. Her influence has been outstanding," he said.

"She has helped drive our regional ambulance service forward as chair of the committee."

The LFGB committee was an initiative of the Great Southern Chairs in 2014and Ms Wills led it to source $100,000 of funds from subcentres which is invested in improving ambulance services across the region.

St John chief executive officer Tony Ahern said volunteers were vital in the provision of a country ambulance service.

"Jo led an initiative for Great Southern sub centres to share funding and access to much needed operational and training equipment," he said.

One other St John volunteer from the Great Southern to receive an award was Denmark's Mitch Harrison (Country Volunteer Development Officer of the Year), while the Mt Barker Sub Centre was named Sub Centre of the Year.