Thanks to the team at St John Tauranga for hosting our April BA5.
It was another great event where we took the opportunity to network, connect, and catch up over drinks and nibbles, and welcomed several new members to the business community.
Hosted by Jane Swainson, Area Committee Chair, and Mat Delaney, Area Operations Manager at St John; they provided an interesting presentation that took us behind the scenes of New Zealand’s frontline medical response Ambulance Service.
In 2022, St John Western Bay of Plenty almost doubled its full-time paid staff. They operate an average of eight ambulances a day and five at night in the Tauranga and Te Puke area, and last year there were 24,000 incident callouts, which averaged out to roughly 63 jobs a day in the Western Bay of Plenty.
Furthermore, over the last 12 months, St John has taken over 500,000 111 calls nationally and has responded to 400,000. In general, there has been a 7 per cent increase in demand each year.
But they are more than just a medical response service and are part of a much broader picture of health care, offering first aid training, event medical services, AEDs, first aid kit supplies, medical alarms, youth groups, and a wide range of community programmes.
St John has been servicing the Tauranga community since the 1930s, and although 90 per cent of its funding comes from the Government and ACC, they rely on bequests, donations, businesses, and community partners to help make up the missing ten per cent.
Thanks to everyone who joined us for our April BA5. Our next BA5 event is at Modern Office on May 3.
Thanks again to our Principal Sponsors NZME and Farmer Autovillage.
See our events calendar for more upcoming Chamber events.
Check out the photos from the event below. Photos by Salina Galvin Photography.
