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A funding boost has enabled the creation of a brand new ambulance station in Whangaparāoa, which St John says will improve its emergency response times on the peninsula.
The new station is in Karepiro Drive in Stanmore Bay. Until now, crews had to travel to the peninsula from the St John base in Silverdale Village, or from a post that it has operated at Manly Fire Station since 2015.
A St John spokesperson says it vacated the Fire and Emergency premises in Manly during last year’s Covid-19 lockdowns, to enable physical distancing of crews.
Six new full-time ambulance officers have been employed at the fit-for-purpose Karepiro Drive station to provide emergency ambulance services along the whole peninsula.
The recruits are operating one ambulance from the station, 6.30am-12.30am every day. They are supported by two additional officers, hired to provide relief to crews right across the district.
St John Rodney territory manager, Megan Fairley, says the service is thrilled to have a dedicated team of ambulance officers serving the Whangaparāoa community.
“This is a milestone in improving our response times to patients in the area and will lead to better patient outcomes,” she says.
“Because of the geographical nature of the peninsula, it has been difficult to meet our response targets in the past. We now have an amazing team of highly skilled and experienced ambulance officers who are already making a difference.”
The ambulance works with a network of other emergency vehicles to ensure that when the local ambulance is committed, another crew from nearby will respond.
St John received additional Government funding in last year’s budget to hire more ambulance officers. These were placed in communities that have been experiencing the most challenges to response targets – one of which was the eastern part of Whangaparāoa Peninsula.
The Karepiro Drive site is leased to St John at a standard commercial rate, which it says is commercially sensitive.
