A legal assistant at Sheffield’s Taylor&Emmet LLP is dedicating all of her free time – and some of her working hours – to St John Ambulance, to support the Covid vaccination roll out.
Helen Hardy, who works fulltime in the probate team at the firm’s Banner Cross office, is doing a further 20-30 hours a week as St John’s district delivery lead for South Yorkshire.
Having been a member of St John for 38 years, Helen was asked to take on the position when the organisation was chosen to help roll out the Covid vaccination plan. She has overall accountability for the area, supports the vaccination centre site leads, escalates any delivery concerns and looks after the wellbeing of volunteers.
Helen has worked as a legal assistant at Taylor&Emmet for almost 19 years, joining the Banner Cross office in 2009. The firm is fully supporting her volunteer role and is giving her time off to support the vaccination effort.
Sharna Poxon, Taylor&Emmet’s head of HR, said: “We are in awe of how hard Helen is working to assist St John and deliver the vaccination programme across the region, giving up every evening. She is a longstanding, highly respected member of our team and we are very proud of the individual sacrifice she is making for our collective good.”
In addition to her district role, Helen has also volunteered to be a St John patient advocate at weekends. Having completed her training, she is hoping to fit in three shifts a month at vaccination sites, such as Sheffield Arena.
Helen started her work with St John as a junior cadet at the age of seven, following in the footsteps of both her parents, who have been volunteers for more than 55 years. Before Covid, she was acting as area event lead for South Yorkshire and spent most weekends at first aid events, giving up around 1,500 hours annually to the role.
