As an essential emergency service, St John is continuing to deliver its emergency ambulance operations and Patient Transfer Services in response to the move to Alert Level 3 in Auckland and Alert Level 2 for the rest of the country.
St John ambulance officers in Auckland will be routinely wearing personal protective equipment (PPE), such as masks and gloves, to keep the public and themselves safe, and staff have been instructed to reinstate droplet barriers in emergency ambulances as they deem appropriate.
Processes around emergency ambulance transportation of patients to hospital have been updated, and ambulance officers in Auckland have been directed to only transport family members with patients in exceptional circumstances, to keep families and health workers safe.
St John has suspended all classroom-based first aid and mental health first aid training courses in Auckland, but it continues to offer these courses online.
Many of St John’s community health services such as Friends of the Emergency Department, Hospital Friends and Outreach Therapy Pets will not be operating in Auckland at Alert Level 3.
For the rest of New Zealand, first aid and mental health first aid training courses continue to operate as per normal, although some St John community health services may be suspended.
St John is working very closely with the Ministry of Health in response to COVID-19 and recommends the public follow the guidelines and advice about staying safe.
If you have COVID-19 symptoms, call Healthline on 0800 358 5453 for advice and information. If it’s an emergency, call 111 for an ambulance.
For support with anxiety, distress or mental wellbeing, call or text 1737 to talk with a trained counsellor for free, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Please attribute to Dan Ohs, St John Ambulance Director of Operations.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION AND IMAGES CONTACT:
St John Communications Advisor
M 027 318 1553 | E beverley.tse@stjohn.org