Celebrating Volunteers' Week 1st - 7th June 2023

From 1^st- 7^th June we’re celebrating Volunteers' Week, which is a great opportunity for us to recognise the extraordinary contribution made by our team of more than 1,200 volunteers here at EEAST.

Our volunteers work right across the Trust and throughout the region. Over 900 volunteers provide support on the frontline as members of our community first responder (CFR) team. Our patient transport service (PTS) volunteers support patients with getting to and from medical appointments and health facilities and take on hospital portering to ensure patients are able to navigate their way around medical buildings for appointments.

We also have volunteers who work as part of our independent community engagement group (CEG) and carry out audits, represent us at local events and help us gather feedback to continually improve our service.

Our EEAST Heart volunteers go into local schools and community groups to deliver basic life support skills and training, and our co-response colleagues work for other blue light services, or the armed forces and provide resilience for us when we’re faced with high demand.

Over the years our volunteer chaplains have also provided support and advice when colleagues require it. We’re currently developing a new model for our chaplains to make the service more inclusive and ensure that we can offer the same level of support from our chaplains wherever you’re based.

During Volunteers' Week, we’ll be sharing their stories across NTK and our social channels. We’re hosting an Instagram Live event on Monday 5^th June, where our community response team will be talking about volunteering and the opportunities we offer as a Trust. We’ll also be hosting a dedicated Q&A session next week, led by Lorna Hayes our community partnership lead, for our volunteers on Tuesday 6^th June from 5-6pm. Details are being sent directly to volunteers around how to join, but you can also click on this link.

Find out more about some of our volunteers who have shared their own experiences with us during the week.

Thank you to all our amazing volunteers.

Published 1st June 2023