ROYAL TOUR FUNCTIONS

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27148, 18 September 1953, Page 10

ROYAL TOUR FUNCTIONS

PLANS FOR FIRST-AID SERVICES ST. JOHN AMBULANCE PREPARES (From Our Own Reporter) WELLINGTON, September 17. Plans to provide a first-aid service on a nation-wide scale during the Royal tour are being made by the St. John Ambulance Brigade. Taking as its model arrangements made in London, for Coronation Day, the brigade will provide between 6000 and 7000 uniformed men and women for general first-aid duties throughout New Zealand. Each of the 10 St. John Ambulance districts throughout the Dominion is making separate plans to meet local requirements, but a conference to correlate their efforts was held in Wellington last week. The secretary for New Zealand of the Venerable Order of St. John (Mr K. A. Falconer) said today that his organisation was co-operating with the police, municipal and transport authorities, and Automobile Associations.

Mr Falconer visited London for the Coronation, and studied first-aid arrangements there. A total of 8200 men and women were on duty in London on Coronation Day, and they handled 6000 patients, including 210 hospital cases. Basing plans on his experience in London, Mr Falconer has been able to give a great deal of practical advice. A tremendous amount of preliminary work has already been done. Every St. John. Ambulance volunteer for Royal tour duty has been supplied with details of the Queen’s itinerary. The arrangements differ front centre to centre, but in most areas there will be a first-aid official every 100 yards along the route which the Queen's car will take. In the main centres, mobile casualty clearing stations will be established at strategic points. In Wellington, hotel lounges will be used, and in Auckland large covered furniture vans will be parked at various points. Even the covered tents used by workmen for street repairs will be pressed into service.

First aid posts will be provided at various points along the highways to be used by the Royal party. Where possible, telephone and radio communication will be used between firstaid stations. In Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, existing radiotelephone circuits, such as those for ambulances, will be used, but amateur radio transmitters will also be asked to assist.