In case of emergencies please ring 999/112
Meet Our Community Engagement Team
 | Name: Ger O’Dea Role: National Community Engagement Manager Division: National Headquarters Email: gerard.odea@hse.ie Ger, a qualified Paramedic has served with the National Ambulance Service (NAS) since 2005. After 14 years service working on an emergency ambulance and at the Southern Region Ambulance Control Centre, he was promoted to the grade of Community Engagement Officer in July 2019 with responsibility for the North Leinster area, developing & supporting Community First Responders Volunteers & Groups. Since November 2020, Ger has held a new role within the NAS of Community Engagement Manager with responsibility for the Community Engagement Team and working collaboratively with all stakeholders on the implementation of the Out Of Hospital Cardiac Arrest Strategy for Ireland. Coming from a background in the voluntary agencies and as a retained firefighter, he has always and continues to work closely with community groups of all diversities and he is dedicated to strengthen the link between the National Ambulance Service and the communities whom we serve, ensuring emergency responses are maximised to save more lives of our citizens. | |
 | Name: Mark Callanan Role: Community Engagement Officer Division: West Email: Mark.Callanan@hse.ie Operating as Community Engagement Officer for Area West since June 2017, Mark Callanan is a qualified Paramedic, formerly based in the Midwest region. Now maintaining responsibility for most of the western seaboard, Mark can be fount meeting Community First Responders anywhere within Counties Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Galway, Mayo, Roscommon, Limerick, Clare, or North Tipperary. | |
 |
| |
 | Name: Amanda Ross Role: Community Engagement Officer Division: North Leinster Area Email: amanda.ross@hse.ie A recently qualified EMT, Amanda was appointed as Community Engagement Officer in March 2020, taking responsibility for Dublin, Kildare, Wicklow, Laois and Offaly. Amanda has worked in the Health Service for over 27 years' with 11 of these years working in St. James's Hospital. Amanda has been working in the National Ambulance Service for the last 6 years and prior to joining the Community Engagement team Amanda had been working as Business Support Manager. Amanda was one of the founding members of the Community First Responders scheme in her local area and helped out with a lot of groups in the surrounding areas to help train new members of their groups and assisted in running a lot of Community First Responder courses. | |
 | Name: Jonathan Lynch Role: Community Engagement Officer Division: NAS - South Email: Jonathan.Lynch@hse.ie Jonathan joined the Community Engagement Team in 2021 taking responsibility for the southern region, namely counties Carlow, Wexford, Waterford, Kilkenny, Cork, Kerry and South Tipperary. Before joining the Engagement team, Jonathan worked as a paramedic in the North East region of the Ambulance Service. He has a keen interest in all things community, having developed a number of community first responder programmes around the country along with active roles with Civil Defence and Volunteer Centres Ireland. Prior to joining the Ambulance Service, Jonathan worked in the third level education sector managing student welfare and services. | |
 | Name: Yvonne O’Shea Role: Community Engagement Administrator Division: National Headquarters Email: Yvonne.OShea@hse.ie Yvonne has been working as administrator with the Community Engagement team since 2014. Her role primarily involves looking after the National Ambulance Service IHF training site, supporting volunteer instructors who are affiliated with national ambulance service Yvonne is an IHF/AHA BLS Instructor and a CFR Instructor and has carried out a lot of voluntary work. She is currently an active member of her two local Community First Responder groups. By background she is a qualified Paramedic and has worked as an Emergency Medical Controller/Dispatcher from 2001 |