St John: Loyal supporters help
Golden Bay St John Committee chairman Stu Chalmers. Photo: Neil Wilson.
It’s all go for the Golden Bay Area Committee of St John.
Committee chairman Stu Chalmers says the organisation is experiencing changes on a range of fronts and is looking forward with confidence.
“The biggest thing is that we are really looking forward to having our new headquarters at the integrated family health centre at the hospital. It will be great to have all the services on one site. It will be ideal for everyone, but especially St John. We’ve had two separate buildings for some time and it will make a big difference to have our officers, our vehicles and our cadets’ training facilities all under one roof.”
Stu explained that the organisation was desperately short of good leaders for its cadet division.
“We had 16-18 keen cadets but we had to go into recess because our leaders left. Their lives took them to other places and it was a real shame for us. We could do with a couple of energetic and enthusiastic adults to deliver our courses. They go way beyond just first aid; they’re about life skills and leadership skills as well. The cadet division is an important part of the organisation.”
Stu was also keen to discuss the new all-wheel-drive first response unit that St John has based at Collingwood.
“It’s a purpose-built, fully-equipped ambulance - with a defibrillator - that can get to quite remote locations and deliver first-response care while the helicopter is being called in, for example. That kind of care can make such a difference to people’s recovery and can save lives. We’ve got five trained personnel living in and around Collingwood and some more on the waiting list. They’ve been training for six months or so. We have the unit temporarily housed in Collingwood and we’re looking for a permanent home for it. We know that the District Health Board is actively looking for a site for the doctors’ surgery for when Joan Whiting closes. Maybe we could share a site with them - we’re open to it, anyway.”
Stu explained that St John has a national policy of collaborating more closely with DHBs and he says there are plenty of successful models where facilities and services are shared “very easily and successfully”.
Locally, St John is grateful for the 225 Golden Bay households who belong to the supporters scheme. It costs $55 per year for a household of adults and children, or $35 for a single-person household. The scheme helps to support the volunteer-based service here. Brochures explaining the details are at the pharmacy, the medical centre, the Collingwood surgery and the library.
“The thing is that everyone is a potential client. You just never know when you might need an ambulance,” said Stu. “We really appreciate our loyal supporters and we’d like everyone to belong to the scheme. Like a lot of community groups, our funds are stretched to the limit. Our regional office and some of our ambulance stations around Christchurch need to be replaced or repaired, so smaller areas are on their own a bit more when it comes to funding. Our local committee would also be very happy to add two or three suitable people to head up our building subcommittee. That’s going to be a big priority for us in the year ahead.”
The St John organisation has almost 1000 years of history, and Stu says a key element of the internationally recognised body is the extraordinary volunteer ethos.
“It’s really a community looking after itself. We’ll always be there to do the job that the public expects. If we had to be government-funded, the quality of the service would halve.”
Neil Wilson
