St John Ambulance SA Ltd Annual Report 2024-25

Emeritus Professor Bill Griggs AM ASM MStJ Chair of Operations

Chair of Operations Report

Annual Report 2024/25 Our Operations volunteers and staff have continued to demonstrate progress, innovation, and commitment across the past financial year. This is made possible by the dedicated members whose expertise, compassion, and generosity are intrinsic to what we do at St John SA. Their collective effort continues to strengthen the wellbeing and resilience of communities across South Australia, and I am proud to lead this cohort. 28,000 first aid event duty hours were provided to keep communities safe, while a further 26,239 of training hours, and 20,189 of administrative and support hours prepared our volunteers to provide high quality services to our community. Together, their efforts represent a $2.73 million contribution to the South Australian economy – something they should be very proud of. Across 1,700 events and emergencies, 435 Health and Medical Services volunteers delivered support to the community, from providing first aid at major public gatherings and responding to emergency activations, to supporting local community events. No matter how big or small the deployment, the public felt safer knowing that St John was there. Importantly, these contributions also eased the I wish to highlight some exceptional contributions of our volunteers over the past year. Almost

pressure on our state’s health system through hospital avoidance and finding other more appropriate avenues for follow-up care. In the Operations Training space, it was exciting to introduce a new pathway for volunteers aged 16 and over to join an adult team rather than having to stay at the youth level, recognising their readiness for clinical training and their aspirations for future healthcare careers. This change reflects our commitment to creating clear and inclusive development pathways for all volunteers. It was also pleasing to see an increase in our volunteer trainer numbers in the past year, enabling greater access to ongoing training and development across our volunteer cohort. I thank all those members who have stepped up to support this important initiative. Our operational capability continued to expand with the arrival of a brand new Multi-Purpose Vehicle (MPV) fleet and the addition of the first new Mercedes Sprinter ambulance to our fleet in quite some time. These investments support both our event operations and our growing role in Non Emergency Patient Transport (NEPT), ensuring our resources remain modern, safe, and reliable. This year, we also saw multiple activations under the State Emergency Management Plan (SEMP) for

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