Val Jacobs has been volunteering her weekend nights away for close to a decade on Maidstone’s Urban Blue Bus, initially inspired by “a TV programme called Party Paramedics about a similar organisation to us and thought to myself I’d like to do that!”.
A decade on and Val is integral to the operation as she tells CommunityAd of her many roles “I am the administrative manager, and I also seem to have become the media spokesperson/logistics/utilities/blanket washing manager/chief cook and bottlewasher! In reality, as I am a volunteer worker, I do the donkey work of admin, such as maintaining and preparing the accounts, ordering new supplies, uniforms etc, and I am the main contact point for the media, the police and other organisations such as OneMaidstone”. Val wouldn’t have it any other way though and the community-minded lady took the time to answer a few of our questions about life on the Urban Blue Bus.
Urban Blue has been on the road for over a decade now, what challenges have you faced in that time and what changes have been made to the service?
We started with a purpose-adapted double decker bus that was also used as a sexual health information suite for schools, and it also used to be rented out to the NHS for Homeless outreach work, but the current bus has none of the facilities needed to do this so our income stream is much reduced. Having said this, we work well as a voluntary Charity organisation and have adapted our role model to offer low-cost first aid event work for those in the Maidstone area and we also offer free first aid cover for small community events. We are very proud of our working partnership with Maidstone United, we have been supplying them with match day crowd medical cover for 4 seasons now. COVID-19 has meant that our entire yearly income from event work in the summer has been cancelled so this is a real blow to our financial situation. Maidstone has suffered from venues closing and a night out has typically changed, so whereas 10 years ago it was predominantly younger people getting a little too drunk, we now see a range of age groups as patients, with injuries and illness suffered on a night out too as well as drink and the (fortunately) rare drug-induced problems.
The bus is made up entirely by fabulous volunteers, isn’t it? If any readers are perusing thinking to themselves ‘I could volunteer a few hours’ why should they do it? And what role would they have?
We need volunteers with not only first aid but practical skills, such as support staff who are there to help fill out patient information forms, assist the first aiders and most importantly make the tea and coffee! We just ask that volunteers can commit to one Saturday night a month minimum, and have a driving licence and own transport to and from the town centre late at night. We find we get a lot of volunteers who are looking at a career in the paramedics and ambulance service. It’s a good grounding for them, but anyone just looking to help out is welcome.
What makes Maidstone such a pleasant community to be a part of?
We are looked upon as part of the furniture on Saturday nights now and we always find that people are very appreciative of what we do. We work closely and have great support from Maidstone Street Pastors, OneMaidstone and Kent Police and we really couldn’t do what we do without their help. We also receive great backing from both the Lions and Rotary clubs, the bars and venues and last but not least, from Cllr Denise Joy who is one of our finest supporters.
Anything else you like to add, please feel free?
We are always looking to raise money and have advertising and sponsorship opportunities available and of course we always need new volunteers, we couldn’t do it without them! Anyone wishing to get in touch can either call 01622 763309 or email [email protected].