All 600 St John emergency vehicles in New Zealand are to have GPS navigation units installed thanks to The Freemasons Charity.

The $125,000 project includes 500 ambulances and 100 support vehicles in the St John fleet operating from 193 Ambulance Stations throughout the country. Installation of the units is expected to begin in January.

RWBro Mark Winger, Superintendent of The Freemasons Charity, said the project was the biggest new community programme for the Charity in recent times and being able to help such a respected organization as St John was a privilege. “Like the Freemasons, St John has a long history of providing aid to those in need and we are delighted to enter this relationship where both parties have similar ideals”.

“This very generous gesture from the Freemasons will help us save lives” said Mr James Wood, Chief Executive Officer of St John.

“We are a charitable community organisation and our services are not fully government funded,” he said.   “We have been a leading provider of ambulance, emergency care and community care for 125 years, and for this we rely on the goodwill of many people and many organisations”.

He said the donation of the navigation devices was opportune, considering the growing use of ambulance services.

“In the last financial year St John treated and transported more that 370,000 people by ambulance to various hospital and community locations. This entailed 14,600 more trips and 740,000 more kilometers than in the previous year.

Every minute counts in the business of saving lives and this technology will greatly assist us and the community”.

The addition of GPS technology will provide up-to-the minute route maps and directions, assisting ambulance officers find the quickest route to accidents and emergencies. The NAVMAN units use NZ Automobile Association data, identifying roads congested or under repair and can work out the quickest route, having regard to traffic flow.

Mr Wood said the training of ambulance officers in the use of the Navman units was straight-forward. “We’ll start to get the benefit of this new technology immediately. Statistics demonstrate that the quicker medical treatment can be provided to an injured person, the better their chance of survival and recovery,” he said.

Bro Winger noted the many connections at a personal level between the two organizations with individual Freemasons working for St John in various capacities.

“We want to see this relationship developed in local communities where benefits can be gained by both parties – and we’ll be assisting Lodges and Districts to get closer to their St John”.

He also reported that negotiations had been opened with the Free Ambulance in Wellington and DHB’s in other North Island areas where St John didn’t operate the emergency service. ‘We hope that soon we can say that ALL ambulances in New Zealand will have this extra technology fitted by Freemasons”

St John use words to express their work we are familiar with. ‘First to care’ and ‘Caring for New Zealanders’.

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18.11.10

St John / Freemasons media release

Freemasons provide GPS navigation units to help St John save lives

All St John operational vehicles are to have Navman GPS navigation units installed in them thanks to the Freemasons.

The Navman GPS navigation units – with a value of $125,000 – will be installed in the fleet of 500 ambulances plus 100 support vehicles that St John operates from 193 ambulance stations around the country.

St John Chief Executive Jaimes Wood announced today “The introduction of these navigation devices will provide St John with up-to-the-minute route maps and directions, assisting ambulance officers to find the very quickest route to emergencies and call-outs.

Mr Wood says the training of ambulance officers in the use of the navigation devices was straight-forward. “We’ll start to get the benefit of this new technology immediately.”

“This very generous gesture from the Freemasons will help us get to people quicker – in situations where every minute counts.” he said.  “The support is also timely, given the increased demand for our services.

“In the last financial year St John treated and transported more that 370,000 people by ambulance to various hospital and community locations - 14,600 more trips and 740,000 more kilometres than in the previous year.”

The navigation devices will be installed in all St John ambulance and operational vehicles from January 2011.

President of the Freemasons Charity, Mark Winger said “These navigation devices use NZ Automobile Association data and can identify roads congested or under repair and can work out the quickest route.

“With the addition of this GPS technology – used in conjunction with radio contact and local knowledge - we hope valuable time will be saved in ambulances responding to accidents and emergencies.

We are delighted to be able to help New Zealanders and proud to support St John.”

ENDS