Julie leads Molong St Johns in volunteer awards clean-sweep

Importance of a human life is central to all of us at this time.

 And it has been the driving passion since 1995 for Molong St Johns Ambulance first aid trainer, Julie Dean.

 Molong Cadet Division of St Johns run by the local former school-teacher, recently scooped the pool at the NSW Volunteer of the Year Awards presented online.

 As well as Julie picking-up both Central West Senior Volunteer of the Year and Central West Volunteer of the Year, the Central West Junior Volunteer of the Year went to Jazmin Pietrzak from the Cadet Division with Central West Adult Volunteer of the Year going to colleague Jade Kirk.

 Jazmin, 15, joined Molong Cadet Division in 2018 with the award for the aspiring paramedic recognising her outstanding work within Molong and the Cabonne local government area. She recently travelled to Parkes with a small group of Cadets and demonstrated how to do CPR to local Meals on Wheels volunteers.

 Jade herself joined Molong Cadet Division in 2010 and organises the training program for the Molong cadets. The next nearest Cadet Division is in Broken Hill, which means Jade does not have other people to bounce ideas off.

 Instead, she has used her computer skills to communicate with people around the State to find and develop the right training strategies and material for the Molong cadets.

 But for Julie, it’s the skills and confidence that the cadets learn that is her true reward, husband Les explained.

 “She’s been doing it for 25-years, I don’t know how many hundreds of kids have left Molong with a first aid in their resume,” Les said.

 “It helped them get early entry into Uni, and some have become paramedics, occupational therapists, firemen, nurses, those qualifications make so much difference. The skill in saving lives that Julie puts-out in the community, is very important,” he added.

 Julie started the local Cadet Division because she saw a special need in the rural setting of Molong for such a group.

 “I just thought that people who lived in this area needed life-saving skills. You’ve got Dad up the paddock working on the farm, people working outside with equipment and a long way from help, if anything happened,” she explained.

 What better way to learn such important skills, than when you are young and receptive, she said.

 “They’re cadets until they’re 17, though then can go a bit longer if they want to, and then they join the senior St Johns service,” she explained.

 The Cadet Divisions, she said, aren’t quite as common because of perceptions that young people aren’t interested in volunteering.

 “Most groups wouldn’t have teenagers volunteering, because they believe that teenagers just wouldn’t be bothered, but that’s not the case.” Julie herself has acquired credentials in 86 different courses and volunteered 6426 hours to St John Ambulance.

 While the recent Balloon Glow at Canowindra was their last major event where they provided first aid, the lockdowns have affected the local group like most other volunteer organisations.

 “We had a huge crowd there and we catered for their first-aid… but for most volunteer groups, I think their membership has been hit by COVID,” she said.

 This has proven doubly-so for St Johns Ambulance volunteers, with their distinct uniforms and first-aid stations often their best recruitment tool.

 “Normally, when we were doing duties at shows and other events, people come-up and have a chat and decide to join from there,” Julie explained.

 “We usually have Thursday night training sessions, but, of course, this has all been on hold since COVID hit,” she added.

 During the recent Zoom presentation, local members Andrew Gee and Phil Donato congratulated Molong Cadet Division on “scooping the pool” of awards for the Central West. They acknowledged the volunteer work of the Cadets and officers in St John Ambulance Molong Cadet Division

 Julie likes keeping busy and is also Secretary of GrowMolong, a community group which works on projects to improve Molong as a town and as a place to live.

The NSW Volunteer of the Year Awards are run by The Centre for Volunteering to recognise the outstanding effort of volunteers working across all sections of communities throughout the State.

 The awards are supported by principal partners the NSW Department of Communities and Justice and ClubsNSW, which represents the State’s 1400 not-for-profit clubs.

 “I just have to say ‘thank-you’ it was very surprising. I actually didn’t know it was coming-up. I had put in nominations for the cadets, but I didn’t know mine was in it as well,” Julie concluded.