FREE AMBULANCE

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20085, 14 November 1930, Page 5

FREE AMBULANCE

REQUEST FOR SUPPORT

MAYOR RECEIVES DEPUTATION

A deputation representing the St. John Ambulance Association waited on the Mayor (Air J. K. Archer) yesterday morning, asking that he give his support in his official capacity to the appeal which the organisation has recently launched.

Dr. J. Restell Thomas, president, said that its principal work was purely in the service of humanity. It had three branches, teaching, brigade, and transport. Students were required to show a good knowledge of first aid work, and otherwise their qualifications were such as could not be bought. The work of the Association was absolutely humanitarian; it had 110 other axe to grind, and it was not political. Another body, the Tire Brigade, was doing work of a similar community nature, and it preserved the safety of property, and incidentally it might save lives. It saved their pockets and tli£ capital of the insurance companies, and the work of the St. John Ambulance Association, being similar in character, was also of community value. Its objects were the saving of life and suffering, and it should receive tho same recognition as the Fire Brigade. In the past it had been hampered, and had hidden its light under a bushel. It was making its first public appeal, and felt it was justified in going to the people for money to enable it to purchase several. new ambulances and £13,000 to complete its building. "All that we ask for is your assistance," said the speaker. "Our objects are good ones, and we ask £or your sympathy and recognition." Dr. F. J. Borrie said that the work of tho brigades, which were composed of nursing sisters and men drawn from the classes, was carried on all through the year, and in the winter as many as fifty were oil duty on Saturday afternoons. All these people gave their services absolutely free during the week, and there were many calls on their time. Six or eight men were always required at the races, and twenty-four nursing sisters and six ambulance men at the Show. Two nursing sisters were on duty I in the morning, two in the afternoon, | and two at night, and two ambulance men were detailed to the Motor Olympia. Here, again, the service was free, and were the ambulance deprived of the support of the community, it would find a difficulty in training men and nursing sisters for their duties. Dependent on Public Support. The Association had to depend largely on what it drew from the public. In addition to the duties he had mentioned, the nursing sisters attended all large picnics, especially those organised by schools, a request for their presence often being received from the committees. The picnics took place usually on week-days, when it was difficult for ambulance men to attend. "We are trying to give the public a better service than they have had in the past," said Dr. Borrie. "We know it has not been all that could be desired, but we have been hampered by a shortage of funds. In the past transport has, in a great measure, been free. Those who could not afford it only had to show a note from their doctor to receive it." The Mayor asked whether it was a fact that, a guarantee was required in j some cases. Dr. Borrie: Not in the City. If anyone has been asked for a guarantee in j the City, it has been entirely against the regulations of the Association, and it' ha 3 been done without our knowledge. Had any such cases been reported to us, we should have dealt with them. It has been only recently that we have heard of such a complaint, and we have started an absolutely free ambulance now. We were gradually aiming at it; it was one of our objects in obtaining the property in Gloucester street to house our ambulances so that we should not have to pay for garaging and driving. We have been aiming at getting an ambulance under our control, and qualified drivers. Now we have one man on in the daytime, and another at night. A nursing sister goes out with each ambulance in the day, and one of the men at night, free of charge. Bishop Brodie supported the previous speakers. The Association, he said, had been established 45 years, and in that time had trained 20,642 persons in a knowledge of first aid work and of home nursing. About 1000 invalids were transported every year, and approximately 10,000 cases were treated. That was the record for the past few years. The Association was called in for service at race meetings and school picnics, and it never refused a request The services of the Association demanded the community's recognition. An ideal situation existed in. Christchurch for brigade and ambulance work. In Wellington these two functions had never been combined, and a free service had been established there. It was reasonable for the ratepayers to ask for a defence of the commercialised free service. Very little had been said by/the St. John Association about the free ambulance started in Christchurch, but there were very serious issues involved, and it preferred to leave the matter to the civic authorities. Bival Organisation. One question the legality of the work. Insurance companies, could not operate without guarantees, and friendly societies had to be chartered, while even a hawker required a license, but this society had started without any guarantee or social backing. It was really a question of legality. The »_t. John Association had travelled along in a conciliatory way, but now the question of legality was being raised. The word "ambulance" had . historic significance in Christchurch, and#he had said to a canvasser for the free ambulance that the response to its appeal would be influenced by the fact, that people had been subscribing to the hi. John Association year after year. While he could not say that the Society s canvassers had misrepresented the position, he knew that many of his own people had subscribed, thinking that they were giving to the St. John Association. A voluntary free ambulance con d be carried along much more cheaply than a commercialised one. They had Wellington as an example, and there £2495 had been paid in salaries last year. For the same period only £oo had been received from .thei Christchurch City Council, by the St John Association, while in Wellington the City Council had contributed. £ooo. A fr<»e ambulance conducted _bv the St. John Association would give all services gratis except those covered by a Court award, and would be , much cheaper thsn one such as i existed in Wellington. "The establishment oi the new society has had a terrifying effect on some of the Association members." paid Bishop Brodie. ''lf -anything .is-'don© to affect the St. John Association, it is going to be a very serious matter, indeed. I say ; this not only.-.as a citizen of Christchurch, but also as educationist. T shall not lie satisfied until a course of first aid snd home nursing is compulsory for ihf higher classes in the primary schools and in the/.secondary schools. That happy day may be further delayed because of the difficulties raised

Yof 'i>?°'' n .Ambulance Associaspirit of silence inrl f . * ? n g ™.* the hooe th f +1 ,niet d'S l "**. 111 u, t ' lG uew service "would Tioda +h« n m a good spirit. J. Jj , new service will close withh , oss to its promoters, who e a mistake in unciertakin"' a v ork which is already being done. We nrir| eV °T aiKl c ] eve] oping our trans?nnr\" •• eur *' le transport of over 1000 invalids cost a little over £637. I \\ ould be prenared to defend the St. John Ambi'iance Association against any kindred society in Australia or New Zealand. We ask for your sympathy and public approval, so that it can go on with the work, and the fine •i° -n men a,u ' w omen undertaking it will be encouraged."

Factor in Industry. Mr A C. Bretherton said that if the electric current was cut off for tour nnnutes, Aulsebrook's lost £7O worth ot biscuits, and the St. John i.mbulance Association was like that, too. In Henry Ford's factories a workman with a flake of steel in an eye was dealt with by a nurse ; he was treated like a valuable machine. The ambulance was as much to the public as unemployment, but it was tiot yet regarded as an important factor in saving waste in inciustry. The goodwill of Christehurch people in this matter could almost be challenged, but they were just as generous as in any other town. They had never yet been properly organised and asked. Donations could not be given for a better purpose. Some people willed the Association money, failing to realise that it could make much more use of it during their lives. Referring to the doatli duties, Mr Bretherton said that oven as a business proposition the money could be better spent by the men interested. Conditions in New Zealand were not nearly so bad as people represented, and they had no need to be discouraged in their attempts to raise money. Mr C. W. Hervey said it was a privilegfe to be associated with ambulance work, and he hoped the misunderstanding in the City would be cleared up; many business firms had contributed under a misunderstanding. The Association intended to establish a free service from the Hurunui river to the Rakaia, and the difficulty over guarantees would not occur again. "I feel that the matter is of vital importance," commenced the Mayor. "At least the City should know where we are, and what the tendencies are." He had been approached in the past in regard to a free ambulance, and a gentleman from Wellington who had seen him in regard to the matter had left him with the impression that the free ambulance in that City was a public organisation, run in conjunction with the St. John Ambulance Association, and controlled by the community. He had always thought the Wellington organisation was of that type, but his mind had been disalbused when he was waited upon by the representatives of the Christehurch Society. The Christchurch free ambulance not under the control of St. John's would be a privately arranged matter under a commercialised Association in conjunction with people selling goods, and partly to advertise such goods. Its officers would be salaried. He had heard lately that the free ambulance and the.business had been separated. It was to be partly a service for the community and partly a business organisation. Refused Office of Patron. He had been asked to accept office as patron, but he had felt that this was a quite improper suggestion. He had said that he would be glad to see them render any service, but so far as recognising one business in th'e City as against # its competitors, he refused. There wag no need for him to say anything about the work of the St" John Association. It might not have had the public support warranted, but the organisers had been at fault, having been too modest and not a single form of social service .was more supported. He was very pleased the speakers had cleared up the point of the guarantee, as a few people were trying to make capital out of that. It had been said that even in tlie City, people, however, poor, had had to give a guarantee before transport was provided. lie knew that for years the service had been virtually free, .for he had been called on to give certificates to needy people, and no charge had been made to them. The vital issues were: Was Christehurch to have a free ambulance; and if so, under whose control? The time had come for a free ambulance service, and if those people who had undertaken the establishment of a service of some lcnid had goaded them into activity, they deserved credit, but he was definitely and emphatically of tha opinion that it should b3 a public service, either by. thu St. John Ambulance Association alone, or strengthened by representatives of the City Council and Hospital Board. While some ol" the officers would have to be paid, it was eminently desirable that the service should not bo commercialised in any sense. Apart from the question of legality, on which he agreed with Bishop Brodie. it was a matter of common honesty that tho people collecting money should make it •perfectly clear that they were not doing .;so for the St. -John Association. It was a matter of honour, decency, and lTonesty. They should indicate that they had no authority to collect for St. John Ambulance work. He had been authorised by the City Council at is last meeting to say that it would be emphatically in favour of the movement being publicly organised and controlled, and that it was opposed to commercialising the work.

Dr. Thomas thanked the Mayor for receiving the deputation. They felt some time a go, he said, that the committee was not strong enough, so a number of people were co-opted, and it was the intention materially to increase the membership of the committee so that it would be more representative. The word "free" always appealed to people. The ambulance service had always heon to all intents .mid purposes tree before, but, of course, it had to be paid for bv the commiinitv.