St John honours 57-year volunteer

Shirley Foote ran into some male egos when she began ambulance work.

When Shirley Foote and some of her fellow female St John volunteers began assisting ambulance drivers in the 1970s, several men refused to ride with them.

Mrs Foote was one of the first women in Auckland allowed to attend emergency incidents after Doreen Wood, who looked after the district's female volunteers, made sure the region followed the rest of the country.

"It was the male ego," Mrs Foote said. "You just didn't have females on ambulances back then. Once they realised we could actually do the job they settled down."

The Papatoetoe resident this week received a certificate for her 57 years of volunteer work with St John and was the longest-serving northern region member out of 55 at a ceremony in Mt Wellington.

Her late husband John Foote also dedicated most of his life to the ambulance service. Their six children were also involved.

Mrs Foote has held nearly every position possible within St John around Auckland, including acting as the Papatoetoe divisional manager for 21 years.

She joined as a cadet in 1951 and received her service medal - awarded after 12 years' service - in 1964. She was admitted to the Order of St John as a member in 1977 and promoted to officer in 1994.

Mrs Foote started driving ambulances in 1994 and gave up only four years ago. "There I was at the intersection with my grey hair," she said. "People would do a double take and forget to go at the green light."

She is now a Friend of the Emergency Department at Middlemore Hospital. The role involves a variety of tasks including making beds and getting cups of tea and coffee for patients' relatives, and has even had her looking after patients' babies.

One of her most memorable moments was saving the life of her own son in 1968.

Brendon was 3 months old when he stopped breathing in his cot. First aid was just being introduced by St John and Mrs Foote had taken a couple of classes.

She was unsure what to do but as her husband drove to the hospital, she opened Brendon's mouth and thumped him on the back. He started breathing again and Mrs Foote gave him mouth-to-mouth until they arrived at the hospital.

As part of International Volunteer Day tomorrow, St John will also announce its honours list.