A COMMUNITY-MINDED sixth-former has been named WorldWide Volunteering’s (WWV) volunteer of the year for the south east for developing his bedside manner in the stroke rehabilitation ward at Crawley Hospital.
Sasha Santhakumar (pictured) applied to volunteer after Amy Holtz, from WWV, a charity that promotes volunteering both at home and abroad, came to talk to the sixth-formers at his school.
He said: “Until then, I hadn’t really considered volunteering because I didn’t really know what I could contribute.”
Sasha said volunteering appealed to him because of the benefit both to others and himself. It has since aided his application to study medicine at university.
After nine months at the hospital, he says he now appreciates the great demands on those in the medical profession.
He added: “This experience has really made me appreciate not just medicine as a whole, but also every person that puts their heart and soul into their vocation - not just the doctors but the nurses too.
“The most important thing that I learned during my volunteering is that it really is important to help people as much as we can. It isn’t the quantity of people that we help, but how we help those people.”
Amy Holtz, from WWV, said: “Sasha is a shining example of a young person who’s capable and cares enough to contribute to the inner workings of his community.
“Starting out with some trepidation, he grew in self-confidence as he helped and chatted with the patients. In fact, he enjoyed volunteering so much that he didn’t even realise he had clocked up 60 hours!
“WorldWide Volunteering is pleased to honour Sasha with the award for 2010-11.”