There has also been a noticeable decline in the number of first aiders at the Red Cross in Drenthe recently, says Corine Selders. “Before the corona period we had a total of about three hundred volunteers in this province, now there are about two hundred.”
That number has been fairly stable for some time now, she continues. “The basis is good, although in the past year we sometimes had to make stricter choices when it comes to deployment at major events.” Next week the Red Cross will start a new recruitment campaign to find new enthusiastic people and increase the number of volunteers.
Selders finds it difficult to explain where the decline in recent years has come from. “It could be that people have become accustomed to more free time during corona, which has created a barrier to taking up first aid work again.”