ST. JOHN AMBULANCE ASSOCIATION

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 119, 13 February 1941, Page 10

ST. JOHN AMBULANCE ASSOCIATION

Year’s Activities Reviewed

The activities of the association have continued to increase, states the annual report of the St. John Ambulance Association (Wellington Centre), which is to be presented at the annual general meeting tonight in the association's ball. Vivian Street. The report, summarizes the war work which Ims been undertaken at the request of the joint council of the Order of St. John and New Zealand Red Cross Society. Since the outbreak of war the committee has been training large numbers of men, who on receiving their first-aid certificates have volunteered for active service with the medical units of the New Zealand Expeditionary Forces, the report goes on. A total of 99 classes of instruction lurve Ixien held and instructed during the past 12 months, 2051 candidates qualifying for the association's awards. The association’s roadside first-aid posts at the Oriental i Bay bathing pavilion, Wellington Railway .Station. Glenside post office, Wellington City Aerodrome, Butterfly Creek. Eastbourne, and Main Road, Paraparaumu, continued to prove useful to the general public. It is anticipated that, this feature of the work will be further extended in the neat future.

During the period of the New Zealand Centennial Exhibition, more than 1000 cases were dealt with by mem-

bers of the St. John Ambulance Brigade. both ambulance and nursing divisions.

Dealing with the blood transfusion service, the report says that the Wel-

ngton branch of the service which is

administered from the Wellington centre's office provided a total of 367

blood donors for the year ended March, 1940. 'Phis included a number of donors who were called for the purpose of providing blood serum which was used for the determination of the blood group of members of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. The membership of the Wellington service is 202 men and 142 women, making a total of 350 members who are available for 24 hours of the day.

A large number of police constables have been trained by the association during the year and certificates forwarded to the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Cummings, for presentation to the successful candidates. A number of city traffic inspectors were trained in first aid and in all eases qualified for a first aid certificate. The importance of this work is fully recognized and appreciated by tlie chief traffic inspector, Mr. 1.. S. Drake, says the report. First aid courses of instruction were given dur : ing the year at the dental clinic, the lectures being given by Dr. J. O. Mercer and the practical work was in charge of Mrs. C. B. Gaby, M.B.E. No praise was too great for the work undertaken during the past two years by memltcrs of the Honorary Instructors' Association. Unfortunately it is not generally known, says the report, that the Wellington centre of the association possesses no fixed source of income, and that, it has to rely solely on voluntary contributions in order to carry on the humanitarian work in which it is engaged. Funds are urgently required, particularly at the present time. It becomes increasingly necessary that greater interest and financial support should be stimulated, sitecially by those organizations which ultimately benefit materially by , the instruction given in first aid by J-ie association.