St John needs more members

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 13, Issue 635, 7 May 1996, Page 6

St John needs more members

The first 10 months of the reactivated Order of St John in the Waimarino Area has been a sharp learning curve for all the committee and has focussed mainly on topics of promises and the need to promote the Order in the area, according to the committee chairman Bob Peck. "Now that the theoretical aspects of these themes are more or less understood the next 12 months will require some solid input to make practical headway," he stated in his report presented at the group's annual meeting last Wednesday. He welcomed Neville O'Riley as director of resources who brought with him "long practical experience both as a member of the Taihape St John Ambulance Di vision and as a first aid instructor", said Mr Peck. The subject of premises is not yet resolved although several options have been investigated including existing buildings and a possible coalition with the rest home trust and the regional health authority, said Mr Peck. "Further investigation is needed, keeping in mind the level of activity and funding that can realistically be

achieved in the area. In the interim the ambulance service is housed in the premises at 40 Queen Street, Raetihi, which is currently adequate although not suitable for training purposes as it is. Any premises would be required to be largely community funded and any on-going commitment must be taken into account. Mr Peck said currently they have only two qualified field officers able to offer their services at community functions. This needed rectifying, in fairness to those officers, he added. "One avenue to expand this base of field officers can be achieved by firstly running first aid courses which we will be advertising in May and also by taking advantage of the fact that many businesses in the W aimarino have employed St John training in Workplace First Aid, which means we already have people with First Aid Certificates able to proceed with little effort to become qualified in the Community Service arena." He said an intensive membership drive was needed. Mr Peck added that he was deeply concerned that no members of the general public attended the meeting.