St John committee formation looks likely

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 12, Issue 576, 7 March 1995, Page 7

St John committee formation looks likely

New Waimarino ambulance station sites considered

Strong interest was shown by those attending a recent meeting held to discuss the reformation of a St John committee here, and a Waimarino committee is now a probability. The Order of St John, West Coast North Island Region, held a public meeting in Raetihi with Ruapehu mayor Garrick Workman as chairman. The meeting was held on Thursday night 23 February in the Waimarino Club Hall. Representatives attending the meeting were Harold Wynne, regional chairman, Ilona Orr, regional chief executive officer, Gregg Phillips, director of ambulance services, and Graham Curtis, director of community services. Another meeting is to be held in Ohakune on a Monday night, and will be advertised to get the support of the Ohakune community as well. Then a further meeting will take place to form a committee for the Waimarino area. Full support from the executives from Wanganui has been offered to get the Waimarino area committee functioning. The meeting was the second attempt to re-establish an area committee in Waimarino as the Regional Branch had lost touch with the previous committee and would need to have contact with the area to give help and support to the area. There are still two active people covering sporting events in the area who are doing an excellent job, the meeting heard. People are needed to help the two people to enable more coverage for the sporting events. Training would be given by St John and any enquiries can be made to the Wanganui branch. The Ambulance Service for this area has been contracted by St John since I April 1994. At present sites are being evaluated in Raetihi for the new Ambulance Station with the development of the new Waimarino Health Centre. Staffing for the Ambulance Service is adequate but more trained people are required to cover this service if there were an emergency or present staff were unavailable for any reason. The St John Ambulance Service has a service that people can join at a cost of $30 per year for a family group. Should the Ambulance Service be

required by any member of that family group then there is no cost for the use of the ambulance. A Youth Division is working in other areas and could be a possibility for in the future. All activities could be accommodated in the Ambulance Station.