AMBULANCE YEAR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23838, 13 December 1940, Page 9

AMBULANCE YEAR

INCREASE IN ACTIVITIES RECORD IN ALL BRANCHES Never in the history of the Auckland centre of the St. John Ambulance Association lias there been so much activity as there was last year, according to the annual report, and all previous records were broken in every branch of the association's work. The transport service had a very busy year. Altogether 16,600 patients were carried and 102.000 miles covered. The work of the ambulance department became more exacting each year, and the staff was congratulated upon its excellent record. The report stated that the district nurses visited no fewer than 11.54.6 patients, involving a distance of 28,425 miles during the year, and there was a marked increase in the number of patients attending the out-patients' clinic, showing the continual development in this type of nursing attention. Girls from the Queen Victoria Girls' College who intended to take up nursing went each day to help the sisters in their work. Before the outbreak of war the classes of instruction in first-aid, home nursing and other subjects were well attended, but since then large classes were started in every district, and both the association and the brigade were taxed to meet the public demand. Instruction was piven to senior pupils in primary schools with marked success, and in several instances cadet divisions were formed. Lectures and examinations were held in 70 schools throughout the Auckland Province and in all suburbs of Auckland. "Considerable assistance has been given to men discharged after service overseas," the report concluded, "and to men discharged medically unfit for home service. It is anticipated that this assistance will have to be forthcoming for some time to come, but it is hoped that more definite instructions will be issued by the National Patriotic Fund Board as to whose responsibility it is to care for men on their return to this country."