St John Week 17 - 24 June 2007

St John Media Release, 7 June 2007

St John Week 17 - 24 June 2007: Help us save lives

St John ambulance officers, calltakers, dispatchers and their fellow St John members are very humble.

They’re usually the last to talk about the difference they make to communities all over New Zealand - 24/7, 365 days a year. Instead they quietly go about their work, providing an essential service and care to the people of New Zealand.

Our people often perform extraordinary feats of courage and compassion –often above and beyond the call of duty, often in difficult circumstances and often against the odds.

Whether it’s going out in stormy seas to provide medical care to a stricken yachtie, attending an emergency scene or simply holding someone’s hand when they need it – it’s the St John way to put other people first.

The St John Appeal, from 17 to 24 June, is an ideal time for the people of New Zealand to contribute to the work we do – so we can keep helping you.

Our 12,000 members, both paid and volunteer, provide a wide range of health and community care services all over New Zealand in addition to ambulance. These services include emergency care and first aid services at events, first aid training, first aid kit sales, our St John Youth programme, and our wealth of community care services that help isolated, unwell or disabled people.

By giving as much as they can to the St John Appeal, New Zealanders will know they are helping us remain active in our communities.

More than 1.2 million St John appeal envelopes will be delivered to households across New Zealand in the week commencing 18 June. Proceeds from the appeal will help St John to fund services and programmes that are provided to local communities throughout the country.

The money will be used for a range of initiatives, including buying new equipment to help ambulance officers treat patients, providing trained first aid and emergency care volunteers at sports and public events, and supporting accident prevention activities.

St John Week Questions and answers:

Why does St John need New Zealanders to help?
St John is a community services organisation. Without the support of New Zealanders, we would not be able to provide the wide range of emergency care, health-related and community care services we currently provide.

We are funded from a range of sources, including taxpayer funding for ambulance services, patient part-charges, community donations, fundraising activities within communities, and contributions from a range of health-related commercial activities we undertake (such as the sale of first aid kits, and St John Lifelink Alarms for people who may need urgent medical attention at home at any time). We also rely on volunteers, who make a vital contribution to the work we do and who work alongside our paid staff.

Who are the people on the St John Appeal envelope?
The ‘faces’ on the front on the St John Appeal envelope are ambulance officers Ngatai Rauputu and Tania James [Please see photo attached]. Both say they love serving the community with St John.

Ngatai Rauputu: Ngatai first became involved with St John as a member of St John Youth. After using the first aid skills he learned with St John Youth to help ambulance officers attending an unwell family member, he decided to volunteer for ambulance duties. Ngatai volunteered during night shifts for 15 years while working as a sheep farmer. During this time, he studied to gain his National Certificate in Ambulance. In 1996, he decided he loved the work so much, he became a paid ambulance officer. After further study, he is now a Paramedic, Team Leader and Education Tutor.

Tania James: Tania first volunteered for ambulance duties in 2003. Her first contact with St John was also when ambulance officers helped a family member. Tania saw the care the two ambulance officers provided, particularly to the children. St John was undertaking a recruitment drive a short time later, and Tania put her hand up to become a volunteer. Asked what motivates her as a St John volunteer Tania says: “I enjoy the variety of work. In an ambulance you don’t know what will happen each day. I also enjoy having the opportunity to meet and assist people.” Tania is working to complete her National Certificate in Ambulance, and this year has enrolled in a Certificate in Health Studies.

Pedalmedics: Also featured on our Appeal envelope this year are some of our Pedalmedics - ambulance officers on bicycles. At some of the more than 7,500 events we service every year, we need innovative ways of moving quickly and safely through large crowds to get assistance to people in need. Our Pedalmedics were first set up in 1999 to be used in the Americas Cup Village in Auckland. Today they cover events like the Round The Bays fun run and walk held in Auckland each year. Pedalmedics are trained volunteers. Their bikes are stocked with the same equipment you would find in a standard ambulance first response kit – including a defibrillator, oxygen, and general medical and first aid items.

Quick Facts: Did you know?
§ St John delivers ambulance services to more than 85 per cent of New Zealanders
§ Our ambulance officers treat and transport more than 300,000 patients a year
§ We attend more than 207,000 emergency incidents a year
§ We respond to 40 patients every hour on average
§ St John has 185 ambulance stations – providing services from Cape Reinga at the top of the North Island to Bluff at the bottom of the South. We also have ambulance services on Stewart Island and the Chatham Islands
§ We have 535 ambulance and operational vehicles nationwide
§ We have 6,000 volunteers (2,200 of these in ambulance services), and just over 2,000 paid staff
§ We have more than 140 Area Committees who support the work of St John at a community level
§ We train more than 50,000 people in first aid every year – with each of these people sharing their skills with more than three people. This means our first aid training reaches up to 140,000 people a year
§ Our services also include:
Ø Health Shuttles to help people get to medical appointments
Ø A Caring Caller telephone friendship service to support isolated people
Ø Friends of the Emergency Department volunteers, providing comfort and support to hospital patients
Ø The St John Safe Kids programme, teaching children what to do in an emergency.

ENDS

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