The challenges of working as a volunteer ambulance officer are many, but when your role encompasses four Wheatbelt shires and requires being on call at all times, it takes a special person to remain a volunteer for the long term.
Meet Peter Geraghty from Mukinbudin - he has been a St John WA volunteer for an incredible 43 years.
His four decades of service has been acknowledged at a State level when he was named as one of three finalists for the 2024 RAC WA Volunteer of the Year award.
In his time with St John WA, Mr Geraghty has spent a minimum of volunteering 20 hours per week and is on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week receiving and attending call outs across seven St John WA depots.
The seven depots cover an expanse of 18,000 square kilometres in the Wheatbelt and include the shires of Trayning, Mount Marshall, Mukinbudin and Nungarin.
"We manage this whole area from the Kununoppin sub-centre," Mr Geraghty said.
"One committee runs it all and we fund the whole operation from whoa to go, all 12 ambulances from our sub-centre."
The commitment by Mr Geraghty has not gone unnoticed by Mukinbudin shire president Gary Shadbolt, who described him as a humble achiever who has the respect of the entire community.
"I have known Peter my whole life and believe there is no one more deserving of this award nomination," Mr Shadbolt said.
"He has sacrificed his own social life to a lifetime of dedication to St John WA by being available 24/7 for nearly 50 years.
"He has served not only the Kununoppin sub-centre, but also been available to do hospital transfers throughout the Central Wheatbelt for many years."
Mr Shadbolt said Mr Geraghty's dedication was formally recognised locally when he was announced as The Freeman of the Shire by the four councils (Mount Marshall, Mukinbudin, Nungarin and Trayning) a few years ago.
"This was only the second time this was done in over 100 years," Mr Shadbolt said.
"The first being Dr John Radunovich who Peter worked closely with for many years."
St John WA regional manager Wheatbelt Matthew Guile said Mr Geraghty provides superior leadership at from one of the largest sub-centre's in WA.
"Peter's role has grown in complexity over the years, but he ensures that even while maintaining his own full-time business the operations of the sub centre take priority," Mr Guile said.
"There is no doubt in anyone's mind that the ambulance service would not operate anywhere near as effectively or even at all, if not for the tireless contribution by Peter Geraghty."
Mr Geraghty said the biggest cost to the Kununoppin sub-centre is the ambulances themselves, and the demand to assist with hospital transfers from the Merredin sub-centre significantly contributes to their earnings.
"An ambulance is only valid for a 10 year life, being an emergency services vehicle," he said.
"They have to be replaced every 10 years, so due to the number of vans we have to have a three year plan, because you can't just go in and buy one, you have to order them as they are custom built.
"In the last five years we've bought six vehicles costing just over a million dollars and we funded the whole thing ourselves, and we've got another three on order.
"We're doing a huge amount of transfer work for the Merredin sub-centre because they just can't physically do it, we average anywhere between 25 and 35 transfers a month and that's where we get a lot of our funding from.
"That's why we've been able to buy these ambulances and within the next two years we will have a full fleet of brand new ambulances, all the newest models you can get."
Mr Geraghty answers every 000 call made in the area.
"Since 1985 I've answered every call, never missed one," he said.
Mr Geraghty's volunteer career with St John WA began in October 1980 and he took over the responsibility for receiving the emergency calls in 1985, that's 39 years of interrupted dinners, weekends, birthdays and sleep.
Mr Geraghty also runs a business, the local BP on the main street in Mukinbudin.
That level of dedication to St John WA and his community is phenomenal but to Mr Geraghty it's second nature and involves not only time but travel.
"Pure and simply the whole operation is a volunteer scenario," he said.
"All up in the sub-centre we've got 34 volunteers.
"We've got a co-ordinator in each town but I run around once a fortnight, check everything and that usually involves 300km of driving after hours, after dinner and that works for me."
News of Mr Geraghty's finalist announcement was recently shared on the St John WA - Kununoppin Facebook page where locals voiced their strong support.
Mr Geraghty, who is the only regional finalist in his category, will attend the awards gala hosted by Volunteering WA on Thursday, May 23 in Perth with wife Robyn.
He will join the 21 other finalists named across seven categories as part of Western Australia's Volunteer of the Year Awards program.
"I do it because I want to do it, but at the end of the day, we need to do what we do and you've got to look after those who need it, which often comes at a personal sacrifice," Mr Geraghty said.
