Meet Ophelia Fernando, a First Responder and Team Leader with St John Ambulance Victoria. Her journey began back in 2019, when she joined the Djerriwarrh Division as a youth member, nervous, unsure, and looking for her place in the world.

When Sam first signed up to volunteer with St John Ambulance Victoria, he was just a high school student looking to complete his Duke of Edinburgh award. Today, nearly seven years later, he is an acting Regional Manager for the Metro region, and he hasn’t looked back since.

St John Ambulance Victoria is calling on the state government to follow South Australia’s lead and mandate defibrillators in all public buildings, as it expands its lifesaving Defib In Your Street program to Werribee.