Johanniter: Volunteers are the backbone of all aid organizations

2023-11-18 08:15:32

President Bucher: Health and social services would not function without volunteers – they work 90,000 hours a year for the Johanniter in the service of the general public

Vienna (OTS) – On the occasion of the “Festival of Helpers” taking place in Vienna City Hall on Monday, November 20th, Johannes Bucher, President of the Johanniter in Austria, points out the importance of volunteers and volunteers in all aid organizations. “Without them, the health and social services in Austria would not function,” emphasizes Bucher, “and they are also the backbone of the Johanniter. Only through their commitment can we maintain our offers of help to people in need around the clock, 365 days a year.”

At Johanniter Austria, more than half of the 1,300 employees work on a voluntary basis. In total, Johanniter volunteers made their services available to the general public for almost 90,000 hours last year. “The Johanniter emergency vehicles with volunteer employees were deployed 140,000 times for rescue and emergency doctor transport, sick people, disabled people and school transport, covering over three million kilometers – so we basically drove around the world at the equator 75 times,” says Petra Grell-Kunzinger, Federal Managing Director of the Johanniter in Austria.

According to the last survey on volunteer activities from 2022, 3.7 million Austrians regularly volunteer and do so unpaid in clubs, initiatives or church organizations. As part of their work, the volunteers primarily look after people with illnesses, care needs or disabilities. The highest number of hours is spent on operations in the area of rescue services – a focus of Johanniter alongside disaster control, helping the homeless and working with senior citizens.

The Johanniter are part of the “Vienna K-Kreis/Helfer Wien”. This brings together all Viennese blue light and aid organizations as well as all security-relevant departments of the City of Vienna, companies close to it and private partners. The “K” stands for disaster relief, disaster protection, communication and competence. Once a year, these organizations are celebrated at the “Festival of Helpers” in the town hall under the patronage of the municipality of Vienna.

(SERVICE – The Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe in Austria, with 1,300 employees, is one of the leading rescue and aid organizations in Austria. 41,000 supporting members support the work of the Johanniter and, with their contributions, enable a wide range of social and charitable services, such as rescue services and Ambulance transport, assistance to the homeless, health and home nursing, palliative care, social services, first aid training, disaster relief and youth work: www.johanniter.at )