New St John trailblazer

St John personnel (from left) senior order member Ian Rae, of Lake Hawea, Wakatipu area committee chairman Marty Black, of Queenstown, area chaplain the Rev Reg Weeks, of Wanaka, and Central Lakes territory manager Kelvin Perriman, of Queenstown, with St John Glenorchy ambulance officer Yvonne Gollop, station manager Callan Grimmer and ambulance officer Russell Varcoe, with Glenorchy's new 4WD ambulance yesterday. Photo by James Beech.

St John personnel from far and wide joined guests for the dedication ceremony in Glenorchy yesterday. The $100,000 Toyota Land Cruiser was modified in Hamilton and is expected to be a forerunner for St John serving other rugged parts of the country.

It includes a stretcher to enable patient transfers from Glenorchy to either a Queenstown ambulance halfway on the Glenorchy-Queenstown Rd, or transport all the way to Lakes District Hospital, Frankton, freeing up Queenstown resources.

Its 4WD capability will enable the three rostered voluntary St John Glenorchy ambulance officers to respond to emergency calls to unsealed roads and narrow rocky tracks and it will be able to handle tricky river crossings in the Glenorchy and Paradise area a 2WD ambulance would not manage. Glenorchy residents and businesses raised about $20,000 towards the Toyota, on top of $45,000 awarded by Central Lakes Trust. St John paid the remainder.