"What seems like a bright idea at 3am after a few bevvies may not seem so bright in the cold light of day," St John Wakatipu operations team manager Alana Reid says.
Each year, the team at the Frankton-based emergency service team assume their "non-judgemental, treat-everyone approach" as they prepare for summer callouts, many of which are alcohol or assault related and can end up being "life-changing or life-threatening".
Ms Reid has been a volunteer ambulance officer for six years and a paramedic for two, and has treated teenagers as young as 14 for alcohol overdoses.
"It's not having a few drinks.
"It's the excess - drinking to the point where you're ... losing that judgement."
