Prolific charity worker Pam Gunn has resigned from St. John Ambulance citing a lack of sensitivity from its leadership following the death of her husband to cancer.
 The past three months it is understood that 14 volunteers have resigned their positions and that more resignations are expected in coming days and weeks. The total number of resignations is expected to be well over 20 with grievances understood to range from changes to the running of the organisation to the treatment of Mrs. Gunn. 
Multiple sources have told this newspaper that during a meeting on Tuesday night resignation letters were handed in from Enniskillen division members to staff of the newly formed St. John Ambulance South Western Area.
When asked about the resignations by The Impartial Reporter yesterday (Wednesday), St. John Ambulance head office in Belfast responded by saying they knew nothing about the meeting.
“Nobody here is aware that any meeting took place. So, we cannot make any comment at the moment.”
Mrs. Gunn, who had volunteered with St. John ambulance for over 25 years, was the first person to resign in April of this year following what she claimed was a lack of sensitivity from leadership.
“My husband was dying of terminal pancreatic cancer and my son had just been diagnosed with cancer, but St. John didn’t want to hear my sob story. I just hate what this has done to me. I have volunteered for 25 years, I would regularly put 80 hour weeks into St. John and for it to end this way is very sad and I will never go back.”

A change to the structure within the St John Ambulance across Northern Ireland saw the Western Area split in two, to become the North Western Area and South Western Area. 
Mrs. Gunn claims that the Enniskillen branch requested a meeting to go over their concerns at the changes, and that it was at this meeting, attended by the new chief executive of St John Ambulance and the Chief volunteer in Northern Ireland, where allegations of mismanagement against the Enniskillen division were made.
“They came down and made all sorts of accusations and said they had grave concerns about how the division was being run and what we were and were not doing.  They said that if this division was in England it would be shut down or taken over. It was very hurtful. A lot of what they claimed was completely false and we were able to prove that,” Mrs. Gunn said. 
She did, however, admit that when it came to recruitment and the running of badges and cadets the Enniskillen branch were unable to provide these, but also pointed out that there was a reason for this: 
“I put my hand on my heart and said that there were some things that were not done. I explained the reasons for that. My husband was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer, it was a relapse and he lived for three months. At that time there were seven people who were cadet leaders, myself and my two daughters and two sons included. That is why we did not start cadets, because there were five us who were from the one family and you cannot run that with just two leaders,” Mrs. Gunn explained.
“I said to them, at that meeting, that I was sorry that I had put my family before St John, for the first time in my life. I felt that they did not take the circumstances of the situation on board and I just felt that the whole way it was handled was very insensitive.”
Mrs. Gunn explained that she had felt completely broken by the events of the past few months but that she wanted to thank her colleagues in the Enniskillen division.
“I am so grateful to the members of the Enniskillen division for their support and I would like to thank them for all their help over the years.”
It is understood that support for local events is now being provided by St John Ambulance divisions from outside the county.