St John gets five new full-time winter staff

The Wanaka St John winter crew, 2008. (From left) Nobu Nakashima, Kate Ogle, Daniel Rooney, Ron...
The Wanaka St John winter crew, 2008. (From left) Nobu Nakashima, Kate Ogle, Daniel Rooney, Ron Smiles and Alex Taylor Photo by Marjorie Cook.
Five full-time St John ambulance officers are undergoing training and orientation in Wanaka this week in preparation for the winter season.

The previously understaffed Wanaka station has two full-time paramedics and was promised four new full-time staff to help cover the skifields this winter.

But it has ended up with five, following a recent decision to appoint Cromwell crew member Alex Taylor to the town to supplement the day crews and assist in hospital transfers.

The four new medics include Wanaka residents Kate Ogle, a former chef and snowboard instructor, and Nobu Nakashima, a former ski patroller and back country guide.

They have been employed off the volunteer roster.

Ron Smiles is an advanced paramedic from Oxford, UK and recently immigrated to New Zealand with his family.

Daniel Rooney has relocated temporarily to Wanaka from Christchurch, where he worked in St John's education programme.

Wanaka station manager Ron McMillan said yesterday having the extra staff meant there would be three crews available on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and two crews rostered on Monday through to Thursday.

The full-time staff would work from 10am to 6pm and cover night skiing at the Snow Park, while volunteer crews would attend after-hours call outs, he said.

Mr Smiles said he was looking forward to his first job in New Zealand.

The Smiles family has settled into a rental house and Mr Smiles has his fingers crossed a permanent St Johns job will eventually become available.

Ms Ogle and Mr Nakashima are also keen to find permanent work in the service after the winter season ends.

St John has proposed two new permanent positions be created in Wanaka to support the existing officers and volunteers all year round, but a decision by the Ministry of Health and ACC is not expected until next year.

Recently, Wanaka Medical Centre GPs raised concerns about the pressure the St John service was under to crew ambulances and problems caused by delays in transferring patients to hospital in Clyde (90km away) or Dunedin (280km away).

 

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