St. John Ambulance making a big move
St. John Ambulance has a strong advocate with one of its directors in Calgary.
I recently arranged a meeting with Kim Laing, St. John Ambulance director of regional development for southern Alberta, to find out more about the organization and in particular its move to a new, larger building this year. She was keen to share the information, but I also discovered just how much passion she has in fulfilling the St. John Ambulance tradition of saving lives. She also volunteers her time both in this community and in many countries around the world where her expertise has been used.
When I first encountered the organization here, it was located on Olympic Way. It purchased its current space on 12th Street N.E. in 1988 but has long since outgrown it — and its parking allocation.
Laing is responsible for offices in Lethbridge and Medicine Hat as well as Calgary, where 160 active volunteers and 200 instructors constantly use the facilities not only for its firstaid training but many other programs. Its course calendar gives details of sessions including the teaching of health-care providers, babysitters and refresher and advanced courses for emergency medical responders. It instructs on hazardous materials used in the workplace, transportation of dangerous goods, marine first aid, and training to become a certified children’s restraint systems technician. There’s pet therapy and the adventurous can even learn about wilderness first aid.
I didn’t realize that St. John Ambulance, a charitable association that has been dedicated to serving others for more than 900 years, is not publicly funded. It relies totally on public donations, corporate sponsors that support initiatives — such as “Sponsor a Sitter” that helps youth through the Boys and Girls Clubs to learn basic skills in caring for young children — and a host of highly skilled volunteers.
We have all seen them at events but the organization does not charge for their services — even though they are required to be there for events such as marathon races and festivals to obtain a permit.
There has never been an annual fundraising campaign but Laing and her staff are in the thick of a capital campaign to help pay for the new building. She is very happy with the sale of her existing location and the purchase of a 36,000 square foot Remington Development building between Deerfoot Trail and the airport lands in Deerfoot Industrial Park.
It will not only provide adequate space for her own use as well as for the use of other non-profits — about 50,000 people visit each year — but it has 150 parking stalls plus on-street parking.
A strong indication of the kind of staff that work for St. John Ambulance can be realized by the number that volunteer their spare time to serve it. Laing is a good example. She was a volunteer instructor in the 1980s before joining the staff in 1993, and she still is a keen volunteer as a certified firefighter in Nobleford and with the Alberta College of Paramedics.
Beyond that the avid hockey fan serves with Hockey Canada and Hockey Alberta, working with conduct and safety processes, and she is an in- structor, coach and official.
But I really enjoyed our conversation regarding her other volunteer humanitarian work with the International Red Cross, which she has served worldwide. I would like to learn more about her experiences with the Medical Missions Program that has taken her to help with crises in Afghanistan, Haiti, Kenya, with the aftermath of hurricane Katrina and with the devastating wildfire in Slave Lake.
But today she is concentrating on raising funds — and organizing volunteer labour to help get the new home completed.
Scott Land & Lease has achieved remarkable success since Gregg Scott founded it 20 years ago to become the leading land company in Western Canada, now with six strategic locations in Alberta, B.C., and Saskatchewan.
John Houghton, former counsel with the Calgary office of Lawson Lundell, has joined Scott Land as vice-president of corporate development. It’s a good fit as Houghton shares the company’s strong philanthropic culture; he was a volunteer with the ’88 Winter Olympics, Heritage Park Foundation, and is incoming chair of Parks Foundation Calgary.