Flashing Lights Newsletter
The St John NT Monthly Newsletter
The St John NT Monthly Newsletter
As we enter the month of finals football (AFL and Rugby) I wish all you supporters out there that are still in contention all the best for some good finals games. During the month we have been very active working with the Board on developing a current strategic plan for the Organisation –“Towards 2020” as it will be known. The areas that we will be concentrating on as we plan for the future is delivering on the requirements of the Ambulance Service Contract, developing leadership from within, identifying and growing skills within the Board and Executive Management, developing an infrastructure plan that is visionary for the next 30 to 50 years and to keep all involved within St John well informed through a good communication strategy.
There is articles in the newsletter this month that highlight the progress of the
new Katherine Ambulance Centre, a recruitment plan for a Cyclone Shelter Membership within the Volunteers plus the sacrifices Craig is making to be the St John Ambassador for the
Ocsober program – well done Craig on a challenge I am sure many others could not undertake. I also take this opportunity to congratulate Anthony Garraway on his nomination in the NT Training Awards as a finalist within his category. This is true recognition of Anthony’s achievements over the last three years with his mechanical apprenticeship whereby he has been the leading apprentice each year.
St John were also involved with a number of youth employment expos recently which resulted in a request from the Casuarina Secondary College to have the CSC Stars visit the Casuarina Centre to see the varied number of work opportunities that exist within St John. We are very hopeful that this insight will result in CSC Stars participants seeking employment with us in the future.
We trust you all enjoy good health and look forward to your continued support of all that St John NT deliver. Just a reminder – only 85 days to Xmas.
Until next time,
Best wishes, Ross
Most of you will be aware by now that construction is well under way on the new Katherine Ambulance Centre, located. Click here to see a Google map of the new location. The successful tender to build was won by C & R Constructions, who have been progressing well with the initial build, despite some early rains. If you haven’t already seen the Facebook post showing the first 8 weeks of progress, click here.
Not to be put off by the rains, the 65mm of rain that fell in Katherine mid month turned the site to mud, but the C&R Construction team did a great job getting appropriate road base in there to allow them to keep going. BMD were the successful tenderer for the headworks and subdivisions of adjacent blocks around the new centre, they have commenced clearing, but have been delayed due to cleaning up of dumped asbestos and the unseasonal rain. Blockwork is now all but complete, with the main buildings, visiting officer quarters, treatment room, crew room, vehicle service bay and adjacent sheds all being completed.
St John Ambulance would like to extend congratulations to the participants of the Emergency Services Red Cross Blood Challenge. The challenge was run for three months from 1 July to 31 August. Special thanks to the St John personnel who supported this lifesaving cause and donated both plasma and blood. Their combined 15 donations saving 45 lives. Well done to all of those who participated, while we didn't win the challenge, NT Police Fire and Emergency Services took that accolade, we did help to make a difference and look forward to the challenge next year.
It's a breeze... and you could even save a life this cyclone season. It’s that time of year again. St John is gearing up for the cyclone season and we are recruiting volunteers to assist with first aid at cyclone shelters in the event of an emergency.
Inductions commence on 6 October, don’t miss out, click here to find out how you can be a part of this dynamic organisation.
Earlier this month, St John were visited by a wonderful group of girls from Casuarina Senior College who are part of the Stars Foundation Program. The program supports and enables Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander girls and young women to make active choices towards realising their full potential in all aspects of their development and wellbeing.
The aim of their visit was to educate them on potential career opportunities in the health field, particularly around Patient Transport and Graduate Paramedic roles, and we think it went over perfectly. It was our pleasure to have you!
“I just wanted to say a big thank you for having the Stars girls from Casuarina Senior College in your workplace. As I mentioned a lot of the girls have indicated an interest in health related fields and seem to just want to care. They came back to the school with a great understanding of the career opportunities available with St John as did the staff. The patient travel positions in particular seem to be a great pathway for some of our Stars.
Stars looks forward to many more positive interactions with St John.”
- Jason Greene, Transitions Manager
For more information about Stars Foundation, visit their site: http://starsfoundation.org.au
St John were honoured to attend the NT Training Awards held in Darwin earlier this month in support of Anthony Garraway. Anthony was one of four finalists for the prestigious Austin Asche Apprentice of the Year. Anthony was nominated by CDU for his dedication throughout his Mechanical Apprenticeship, Cert III in Light Vehicle Mechanical Technology, while working in the St John Ambulance Alice Springs workshop. Anthony was shortlisted as a finalist for this category, following his successful Apprentice of the Year award for the three consecutive years of his study. He became a fully qualified mechanic in July 2015.
While Anthony was unsuccessful in taking out the final award, St John are extremely proud of his achievements both throughout his apprenticeship training and his ability to reach this stage of the finals. He was gracious in defeat in what was an extremely competitive field. St John extend congratulations to Ella Cavallaro, for winning the award and on her outstanding achievements.
This year’s event marked 61 years of celebrating excellence in vocational education and training in the Northern Territory through the prestigious annual NT Training Awards. The awards are an official recognition of excellence and achievements in gaining the highest standards of knowledge and skills, in contributing to high standards of training, and for personal achievement in the vocational education and training (VET) sector. Northern Territory Training Awards.
Congratulations to Neda Aleksic, winner of the e-newsletter signup competition for August. Neda has won a Personal Motoring First Aid kit valued at $38.50.
Please pass our newsletter onto friends and colleagues and encourage them to join our mailing list, they will also go in the draw to win a Personal Motoring kit.
One winner will be drawn each month.
In previous newsletters, we have used this area to thank and acknowledge the generous support of our business supporters and sponsors, but this month we would like to take the opportunity to thank the children and staff of Mataranka Primary School just outside of Katherine.
The school was recently visited by one of our Community Educators who delivered our First Aid in Schools program to the whole school. Our program is specially tailored to suit the needs of children in Pre School through to Year 8, with an aim to “Make First Aid accessible to all Territorians.” The children were very excited about the visit and decided to hold a ‘Pyjama Day’ at school for a gold coin donation to assist this Program and managed to raise $100.
Last year we taught 11,805 children across the Territory as part of our First Aid program, however it is very rare that we receive donations from schools to assist us to continue to deliver this valuable program, thank you Mataranka Primary School for your kind donation.
If you would like to find out more about the Free First Aid in Schools program click here.
To help us achieve our goal of ‘Making First Aid a part of every Territorian’s life’ please contact
marketing@stjohnnt.asn.au
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