St John boost for Waimate

Waimate has welcomed news it is to get three new full-time ambulance officers following pleas for action.

Waimate District mayor Craig Rowley said the community was ‘‘ecstatic’’ when St John announced yesterday it would be increasing the number of fulltime staff in Waimate to four through the appointment of three new ambulance officers.

Rowley said there had been a combined effort and considerable amount of time spent calling for extra staff because there were ongoing concerns the service was in jeopardy. ‘‘We are ecstatic that the numbers of staff are going to be increased.’’

Rowley, who had first raised concerns about the ambulance service being in jeopardy in 2018, said it was an essential service for the district.

‘‘One of the major benefits of this will be the reduced stress on our current lone ambulance officer. There will be a great opportunity for the existing volunteer staff to enhance their skills . . . and there will be a real benefit to the district having seven-day-a-week coverage by paid, full-time staff.

‘‘Having the additional paid staff will much better support our dedicated local volunteers.

‘‘We’re exceptionally pleased to work with St John to further improve the level of service and provide an improved first response unit throughout the Waimate District.’’

St John said the new positions were part of the double-crewing project, which began after the Government increased funding in May 2017 to allow St John to end single crewing of emergency ambulances in New Zealand.

St John chief executive Peter Bradley described ending single crewing as ‘‘one of the most significant developments in our ambulance-service history’’.’

‘‘New Zealand is the only firstworld ambulance service with single-crewed ambulance responses, and we had been doing this up to 100 times a day across the country.

‘‘Adding additional staff in Waimate will ensure patients get the best available care when they need it.’’

St John South Canterbury territory manager Darryn Grigsby said the new appointments also enhanced the safety and wellbeing of dedicated ambulance staff.

Grigsby said a start date for the three new staff members had not been confirmed because St John was still working through a recruitment process.

‘‘Ambulance is an exciting and rewarding career, well suited to people who are caring, compassionate and up for a bit of a challenge,’’ he said.

‘‘Volunteers will continue to play a critical role in providing ambulance services in the area, working alongside the current and new staff, and we expect the number of volunteers to remain about the same.’’

Despite government funding, St John funds about 25 per cent of its costs through donations, income from part charges and commercial activities such as medical alarms to maintain current services.

‘‘One of the major benefits of this will be the reduced stress on our current lone ambulance officer.’’

Craig Rowley

Waimate District mayor