St. John Ambulance Seeks Donation from City
Prince George, B.C. – They are present at practically every event where a crowd is expected. They are the folks with St. John Ambulance, and they are asking for some help from the City of Prince George.St. John Ambulance provides free First Responders services to groups in and around Prince George. Because SJA is a non profit organization, they can accept donations to cover expenses for things like equipment.
According to the St. John Ambulance, they have provided about $78 thousand dollars in free services to the community in 2015, and that does not include the service they provided during the Canada Winter Games.
The SJA Division 803 is launching a 12 month fundraising campaign to buy a mobile first response unit. They expect to spend about $50 thousand dollars for the mobile unit and equipment to properly outfit the unit.
Council has agreed to honour this request but it’s not clear on where the dollars would be found. It is possible it could be added to the budget for 2016, or it could come from accumulated surplus. Staff will prepare a report and bring suggestions to Council at the next meeting which is set for the 22nd of February.
Comments
Why do they need a “mobile response unit”? They are not authorized to transport patients and their “responses” are limited to venue sites. This money would be better spend contracting BC Ambulance which could provide highly trained paramedics not level 2 or 3 first aid attendants.
500,000 grand in money for bikes lanes in a winter city, take the money out of that. Much more useful.
@alpine, St. John Ambulance Brigade is a nonprofit charitable organization that are run completely by volunteers. The unit will be used by our Advanced Medical First Responders (not OFAs) to treat patients in privacy and in a controlled environment. St. John Ambulance volunteers accompass members of the community from every background including; paramedics, nurses, med students and much more.
It is true that BCAS is capable of code 3 (lights and sirens) transport however, they are unable to commit to events if they are dispatched for calls. In this situation, the event would be left with no coverage until a unit comes back.
The mobile unit will allow St John Volunteers set up at events. It’s not for transport of patients. BCAS only has a few
Units in the area, and couldn’t fill the need. If BCAS is called for an emergency they would leave the event empty.
Many SJA volunteers are Medical Students, Paramedics, and Medics that work in Industry.
A Treatment Unit would allow volunteers to offer services at additional events and provide a treatment area prior to passing off to a higher level of care. In the event of a disaster the unit could be used as it would meet provincial standards for an Ambulance.
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