Volunteer Week: It’s a privelege to serve others says Geoff

 

BY JULIA WADE

In celebration of the 1.2 million New Zealand volunteers – a large percentage quite possibly living in Mangawhai – National Volunteer Week (June 16-22) highlights the selfless contribution of those who dedicate their spare time to others or a worthy cause. 

As part of this week, St John would like to honour a local resident, valued volunteer ambulance officer for six years and ‘humble man’, Geoff Sim. 

As a St John paramedic he works not only his paid casual shifts but also volunteers his spare non-rostered time, serving an average of one 12-hour shift per week. However Geoff, a clinical charge nurse for Auckland’s Emergency Department, says it is an honour to serve his community. 

“I love it, it’s good fun. I get more out of it than the other way around,” he says. “It's a privilege to go into people’s homes and deliver care to them. When I'm working at the hospital, it’s like the patients are at my place but there’s something special about being able to go to someone’s house, to be there in their place.”

Geoff is also a qualified resuscitation instructor and runs a CPR training business, teaching high level courses for medical professionals including doctors, nurses and dentists in New Zealand and around the Pacific. 

His time with St John began after he had ‘a couple of experiences in the community’ while living in Auckland, encouraged to join as a volunteer by a couple of friends who worked in the organisations West Auckland operations team. 

“I realised I did not have confidence knowing what to do in an incident ‘pre-hospital’, I only knew what to do once a person was admitted to hospital,” he says. “I decided I need to learn how to respond better to an incident.” 

After becoming a qualified paramedic once completing an AUT post-graduate ‘bridging course’, where registered health professionals could get into paramedicine, Geoff moved to Mangawhai and joined St John in a casual paid position but also continued as a volunteer. 

He says he credits his family for their ‘great support’ for his volunteering work, Geoff’s partner is a nurse as well ‘so understands shift work’ and his children ‘are used to it I guess’. 

“Having a close relationship with the Mangawhai St John team means I’m happy to jump in and help when it’s needed,” he says. “Mangawhai is a small community which means we can call on each other to help, we’re all here to support each other.”

Geoff Sim credits his family for their support of his volunteering work.