Mr Scott, based out of the Albury division, has now been appointed the Assistant Commissioner for regional NSW and will oversee 39 divisions across the state.

“It’s a volunteer role looking after everything in regional NSW,” he said.

“We’ll be forecasting for the future and looking at strategic capability within St John and better integration with emergency services.

“Relationships have kind of gone quiet between emergency services and ourselves – we used to provide coverage at fire grounds for the firies – but we’re trying to regain that.”

Originally from Western Australia, Mr Scott has worked as a paramedic in Queensland and Wagga and moved to Albury a year ago.

“I think because I do move around with work, there’s many St John divisions and you’re able to pick up friendships and networking opportunities,” he said.

“In Queensland I was the emergency controller for St John responding to Cyclone Marcia, and I also attended Cyclone Yasi and the Queensland floods.

“I ran the Ekka for a couple years and the health response put into that, with about 30 medicos around the showground.

“From big things to little things, it’s always good.”

St John provide support at events, give public access to defibrillators and provide first aid training with 57,944 people trained by St John across NSW last year.

The Albury crew, based on Kiewa Street, have about 30 active volunteers, which includes youth aged from eight years old up to 18 in the cadet division.

“We’ve just finished a five-day stint at the Henty Field Days and provided an increased medical coverage to that event,” Mr Scott said.

“We had two paramedics onsite and volunteer paramedics that took a lot of workload away from NSW Health.

“We had at least five casualties that would have been in ambulances that we managed onsite.”

“The most rewarding part is being out there and providing a capability.

“We’re always looking for volunteers; we have divisions in Albury and Corowa.”