St. John Ambulance

From the very beginning, St John has always been there for the New Zealand community, helping those in need, no matter where they are. While most people know St John for its emergency ambulance service, the organisation has strong ties with the local communities in New Zealand, too, with a variety of programmes and initiatives designed to enhance people’s lives and help work towards better health outcomes for everyone in the local community, be it urban or rural. Our Community Programmes include Caring Callers (a free service where volunteers phone clients regularly to check that everything is OK) and Friends of the Emergency Department (volunteers who provide much-needed comfort and support to patients and their families in hospital emergency departments), ASB St John in Schools (where school children are taught the skills to become life savers), and our Health Shuttles, a free community service that is run by volunteers and transports people to essential medical and health-related appointments – and then brings them home again. The reasons people use the service is varied and includes doctor visits, dental appointments, specialist appointments, hospital day-stays for minor surgery and any other types of health appointments.