New equipment and support crucial
Golden Bay station manager Sue Netto, rural support officer Lindsay McCaw and ambulance officer Roy Thomas. Photo: Neil Wilson.
Plenty of Golden Bay’s key infrastructure runs on volunteer input—especially when it comes to the life-saving side of things.
The Golden Bay branch of St John’s Ambulance has 17 volunteers who operate the ambulance, attend sports fixtures and take part in training to update their skills and knowledge and pass them on to others.
The local St John branch is highly regarded for its ability to confront the challenges posed by isolation. St John personnel here are busier than ever, but they have some new technology to help them in their work. The ambulance was called out 32 times in June of this year and had done 17 call-outs for July by last Friday. Both figures were approximately double their 2009 equivalents.
“The ambulance that responds to emergency calls is one of the most important pieces of equipment we have, especially in the remoter parts of our region like Golden Bay,” says Lindsay McCaw, St John’s rural support officer. “The new Fiat ambulance is an excellent unit because it’s very stable and therefore good for patient comfort. That’s important when so much of your work involves going over the Hill.”
Lindsay, Golden Bay station manager Sue Netto and ambulance officer Roy Thomas were also pleased to be able to show off the new Stryker stretcher.
“It’s designed to dock neatly into and out of the back of the ambulance, and be raised and lowered without the ambulance personnel having to do too much lifting,” says Lindsay. “It has good big wheels that make it easier to manoeuvre on all surfaces, and the actual stretcher is detachable from the frame, too. It’s a great improvement on the old technology. We like to keep improving our equipment regularly.”
Golden Bay St John ran a successful promotion outside the supermarket in early July, taking blood-pressure readings and demonstrating the capabilities of some of its new equipment.
“It was very successful,” says Lindsay. “We need to connect with the public so that they know how we can help them and how they can help us as well.”
St John is always looking for more volunteers, and they have room right now for people who want to put something really worthwhile back into their community.
Neil Wilson
