London and South Newsletter September 2020

W 34 September 2020, Issue 47

CONTENTS MESSAGE FROM CAROLINE LUCAS, COUNTY
PRESIDENT FOR SUSSEX
P3 Important message
P4 Reward and Recognition COVID as County President
P5 London & South People
P6 London & South I was amazed at how quickly St John Ambulance Sussex mobilised
Noticeboard back in March. Our Events Lead Darren Owen, District Clinical
P7 St John National Officer and Trainer Sally Elliot got together with Callum Ward very
early on with the provision of the very impressively rolled out Covid
Noticeboard Care Course. They set about training as many people as they could,
P8 Fundraising Update to get them onto the frontline as quickly as possible. We had
P9 MyWellbeing volunteers working in the Nightingale London Hospital and
Ambulance Crews supporting the London Ambulance Service
ATTACHMENTS: throughout lockdown. The same team then set up contracts for
volunteers to support the NHS in the Royal Sussex County Hospital,
1. Adventure and Training Brighton, and the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath. They
Course registration for pulled together many other volunteers to support them in training,
Trainers/Leaders pastoral care after shifts in hospital and on the frontline. Others
helped construct rotas, logistics and volunteered at the Ambulance
2. Student Volunteering Hub in Brighton.
Newsletter

3. Community Operations
Training- roles and
vacancies

4. Temperature on
Events

5. Volunteering in a
patient- facing role
checklist

6. Supplementary Health
Questionnaire and
Consent form

TELL US YOUR We set up a pastoral care team led by our Chaplain Peter Irwin-
NEWS Clark with six of us available to speak to anyone who needed to. Kim
Godwin set up a tea and coffee zoom chat twice a week which was
We would love to hear from a lovely opportunity for volunteers to come together.
YOU!
At the beginning of Covid, I had never been on a Teams or Zoom
The regional newsletter is chat, one of the great permanent changes in our lives. It is
published monthly on the first marvellous not having to drive anywhere and to be able to call
Wednesday of the month. meetings quickly, and to be able to have updates from London has
If there is anything you would been invaluable. Zoom does not replace a face to face meeting, but
like included in it please send it it will prove to be very useful alongside normal meetings.
to [email protected]
by the 20th day of the month.

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September 2020 Issue no 47

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My own family are rather vulnerable and therefore I have not been
able to be out supporting in the way I normally would, so thank
goodness for the telephone and Zoom.

We had the great sadness of losing one of our most active and long
-serving volunteers in the middle of lockdown. Hilary Thompson was
a great communicator and friend to many. Despite none of us being
able to be present at her funeral (except for one representative)
there were 64 of us lining the Old Shoreham Road in the rain and
socially distanced. It did us all the world of good to see each other. It
was an incredible turnout and Hilary would have loved it.

As County President my role has been supporting as many as
possible with encouragement and long chats when required.

It has been a time in all our lives we will never forget, and the St
John Sussex Volunteers have been quite remarkable in the time
they have given to support the sick, the bereaved and each other. I
must also mention our Virtual Unit, which has been a huge success.
We have about 73 airline crew volunteers who have delivered
around 2000 hours in the hospitals in Sussex and many of them
want to stay with us and become SJA volunteers, which is great
news. Thank you to Dan May-Jones who has stepped in to become
a Virtual Manager and is also a Chair for Sussex Priory Group.

Best wishes

Caroline
County President St John Ambulance Sussex

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IMPORTANT MESSAGE

WHAT DO I NEED TO DO BEFORE GOING OUT ON SHIFT?

If you are returning to operational service or are deploying to a
role/environment you haven't been deployed in before, please
complete the Pre-deployment questionnaire.

If you are in any doubt about whether health issues / conditions
would affect your deployment (during COVID-19, you can visit the
NHS website to see who's at higher risk), you are advised to also
complete an Supplementary Health Questionnaire, which should
be returned to [email protected].
We have attached copies of the relevant forms in case the links above don’t work.

We have also included the links to other relevant documents which are also on Connect:

- St John COVID risk reduction framework
- St John COVID working and volunteering safely
- COVID Secure activities for moderate risk category

As a reminder, please see the information below from Events Team:

• During Covid so far, SJA people have been required to fill out a Pre-deployment questionnaire.
• This is still the case and applies to events and community operations as well as the NHS

support.
• Anyone deploying should complete the pre-deployment questionnaire (attached) and those

who have a medical condition which may affect their ability needs to complete the pre-
deployment questionnaire and an SHQ (attached).
• If you don’t have any conditions which may affect your ability to deploy, then the pre-deployment
form needs to be returned to [email protected]
• If you have a condition that might affect your ability to be deployed then complete both forms and
email them to [email protected] for a decision on fitness to deploy from our
Occupational Heath team.
• You may be able to be supported in deploying with a personal risk assessment from
Occupational Health if you fall into a risk category.

We want to protect anyone in the high or moderate risk groups from any potential exposure to COVID-
19.

TRAVEL AUTHORISATION REMINDER

1. Don’t travel 100+ miles in your car. Please first get approval via Travel Request Authorisation Form
when you are travelling in a non-St John vehicle or booking accommodation.

2. Using public transport.
Please use the new form to get authorisation for all volunteer-related journeys on public transport.

3. Accommodation.
Please also use the form to secure approval for booking accommodation during your volunteer duties.

More information is available on Connect.

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REWARD AND RECOGNITION

Thank you for all the nominations you have sent last month, we will ensure they all
receive the appropriate recognition. Please don’t stop nominating your colleagues
through our L&S Reward and Recognition Form
If you have any feedback on the R&R process or any ideas or suggestions you would
like to put forward please email [email protected]

STAR OF THE MONTH

Adam Michael and Josh Tolson, volunteer EMTs

We were having difficulty transferring a baby for end of life care to the local
children's hospice from the neonatal intensive care unit in Brighton. The
specialist neonatal transfer vehicles were busy and SECAmb unable to
help due to their workload. Within half an hour of putting out a request for
help, Josh and Adam had responded to volunteer to transport the baby,
family and accompanying medical team to the hospice. Their selfless action helped support her family
through the final hours of her life.
Huge thanks from the team at the Trevor Mann Baby Unit and Hannah Pool.

THANK YOU TO

Charley Cooke
Area Manager
As the HUB manager at Guildford, Charley takes all challenges in his stride working hard to keep all
involved happy. The task of HUB commander is relentless and has new challenges each day. His
commitment and dedication to SJA is remarkable and does not go unnoticed by his team.
Thank you Charley

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LONDON & SOUTH PEOPLE

BARBARA JOAN BEARD OSTJ, 12TH JULY 1938- 14TH JULY 2020

On Tuesday 11st August 2020 we have said goodbye to Barbara Beard.

Barbara started her journey with St John as a cadet in Sussex. Later in life she moved
to South London and met her husband Les, who was also a volunteer in SJA. Barbara’s
service and roles in the organisation were varied, however the one that was very
significant to me was the role of Secretary to the South East London Senior
Management Team. She has shown a wonderful commitment and no task was ever too
big or too small. I have known Barbara for over 35 years and I can recall one memory
that was the role she played for St John during the Gulf War in 1990/1991 called ‘Operation Grandby’.
As the Deputy Area Commissioner I recall that Barbara excelled in administration support, and
tremendous time was given when special training courses were set up, similar to today’s ‘Care Course’,
in order to undertake roles at the Queen Elizabeth Military Hospital in Woolwich and the Post-Acute Care
Centres set up by the military and St John Ambulance at the Royal Arsenal barracks to receive injured
service personnel. Barbara also served for many years as an active President for Bricklayers Arms
Division in SE London. In 1988 she was admitted to the Order of St John as serving sister for her
exceptional service and she was further promoted to Officer in 1998.
In more recent years Barbara will be better known for her roles in the Ravensbourne Fellowship and
stewarding at St Pauls Cathedral on St John’s Day and stewarding at Investitures at St John Priory
Church.
She was a tough lady often putting people in their place, including me, but it was always a pleasure
working with Barbara over many years and she will be sadly missed by many.
The Beard family life in St John however continues with her son Simon as a District Manager and her
daughter-in-law Sarah who has just been appointed as Chief Nursing Officer.
RIP Barbara Beard OStJ
Article by Mike Lambell MBE. CStJ. JP County Vice President Greater London

CORONAVIRUS COMMUNITY
CHAMPION AWARD

Congratulations to Southwick Unit
for receiving the Award from the
House of Commons and local MP.

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LONDON & SOUTH NOTICEBOARD

YOUTH HACKATHONS- A REFLECTION FROM JOE

On the 1st and 9th August, our St John Ambulance
Young People came together to have some really
positive conversations about everything going on right
now within our Youth programmes. We talked about
what makes online meetings engaging and exciting, the
process of Cadet- Adult Transition and we revisited the
Cadet Manifesto, to check the work we are doing right
now against what was submitted by cadets previously.
Both days were rewarding and refreshing, and we now
have hundreds of pieces of feedback to share with the
rest of St John. Thanks to the Volunteering and Young
People team for organising and putting it together, and
of course to our brilliant cadets for taking part in the
discussions!

Joe Game, Cadet

YOUTH COURSES ADVENTURE REGISTRATION

The National Adventure Team and Training Admin Team have been working closely to integrate the registration of
Youth Courses into the training course requisition system using REACH. This will mean that Youth Courses will no
longer need to be registered twice (once with Training and once with Adventure).

Regional Adventure Leads and their teams will now be approval links for all Youth Courses. This means that Youth
Courses won’t get final sanction until they have been viewed and approved by both Training and Adventure Teams.

We have attached a document for Trainers/Unit Leaders which explains the changes. Please cascade this to the
appropriate colleagues.

DEVELOPMENT DAYS

A new social opportunity.

For many of us, it has been a long and lonely few months. But as St John
inches cautiously towards normality again, we’re offering volunteers a
chance to meet up in person with others on a casual basis – with the
introduction of our new Development Days.

What are Development Days?

From 12 September, St John will start hosting Development Days focussing on three areas – Clinical,
Operational and People Development. These days will provide a perfect opportunity to meet up with
colleagues and friends – to chat, practise skills and support each other.
More information can be found on Connect.

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ST JOHN NATIONAL NOTICEBOARD

There’s a VT Live for that!
We now have VT Live sessions for Adults, Cadets and Badgers.
Click the links to find the latest schedules for each:
Adults
Cadets
Badgers
Cadet survey now live!
If you are a Cadet, please make sure you complete the
Cadet Survey
before 7 September 2020. This will help us to understand how
you want to be supported going forwards.

St John units: what happens next?

Have your say on our future direction by joining Martin’s live Q&A
briefing on Wednesday 9 September.

Read More

NEW IT SECURITY BULLETIN IS AVAILABLE ON CONNECT

To access the page
click here.

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FUNDRAISING UPDATE

Hello Everyone,

As valued supporters of ours, we would like to tell you about our online event, The
Massive Get Together - which is taking place, live and online, on Thursday 17th
September at 20:00! For the first time, we are uniting with 9 other valued charities to respond against the
impact that COVID-19 is having on the charity sector by staging The Massive Get Together in a bid to
raise £500,000, together! Streaming live from London to an anticipated audience of more than 20,000,
this special collaborative, relaxed, and fun online event will be hosted by TV and radio presenters Gaby
Roslin and Amanda Byram.
We are all inviting you to join us to take the ‘night off’ on Thursday 17th September, to kick back, relax
and enjoy our fun online event which will have ‘something for everyone’ - including performances of No.1
hits, classical music and comedy! Along with some fantastic prize draws during the event, we are
delighted to confirm that Chesney Hawkes, Nadine Coyle, Callum Beattie and Nina Conti will all be
performing – and there will be many surprise (and recognisable) appearances along the way…

UK charities are facing over a £12bn loss in income due to the COVID-19 restrictions as critical funding
and crucial fundraising events ceased overnight. This means that the UK voluntary sector is expected to
face a colossal funding shortfall by the end of the year. In the face of coronavirus, charities are
#nevermoreneeded for the essential support they provide in crisis and beyond, and how they shape our
society for the better.

For just £10 you will be supporting 10 incredible UK charities, making a positive difference within action
against homelessness and hunger, protecting the vulnerable, connecting communities, supporting end of
life care and volunteer provision, as well as helping emergency and crisis response services. £10 goes a
very long way!
The Massive Get Together charities are Marie Curie, The Children’s Trust, FareShare, St John
Ambulance, Royal Voluntary Service, Love Your Neighbour, Crisis, The Conservation Volunteers,
Thames Hospice and Volunteering Matters.

Tickets are available NOW by donating just £10 to help 10 charities at www.crowdfunder.co.uk/the-
massive-get-together. Follow us on Instagram at @TheMassiveGetTogether #TMGT & help us spread
the word!
Thank you in advance for your kind support – and we look forward to taking the night off with you on
Thursday 17th September! Please do share this with your contacts to help us spread the word!

Best wishes,

Hayley Kenward

Community Fundraising Coordinator

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Care first

Tuesday 1 September marked the launch of our new telephone support
service with Care first. The Confidential Assistance Programme number
will no longer be active and all calls should be made using 0333 212
7578.

Join an introductory webinar with Care first

We will be co-hosting some introductory webinars with Care first to give
you a greater understanding of the service and all that it has to offer.
You and your teams can book your place using the links below:

• Monday 14 September 2020 12:00 - 13:00
• Tuesday 15 September 2020 19:00 - 20:00

We hope this new and enhanced service will be of great benefit to all St John people. To help you understand and
promote the new service with your teams, we have the following resources available:

• Care first webinar – recording
• Promotional leaflet – to order hard copies please email [email protected]
• Promotional poster
• VT Live recording

Suicide prevention day – 10 September

The Clinical Director from Care first (our new telephone support provider), Jessica Sullivan, will be holding a live
webinar with an anonymous Q&A on the subject of suicide. The webinar is on Thursday 10 September at 12 noon.
You can register online to join.

If you would like resources to help conversations or to support people around this subject, you can find a leaflet
and poster in the resources section on CONNECT

VT Live Wellbeing Wednesday

These sessions are held at 19:30pm on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of each month. If you miss any sessions you
can catch up on the recordings at any time. Here’s what’s coming up in September:

• 9th September - Guest speaker, Ana Drakes, is delivering a Cadet special!
• 23rd September - Inspiration and motivation for a fitter life

Our general wellbeing leaflet guides you through all the support we have available.

If you can’t find what you are looking for or need any further information or support, please email
[email protected]

Have a great day

Helen Tester, Wellbeing Development Lead

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