St John long service recognised

Riversdale St John Ambulance Service members Dave Hurley (left) and Steve Whitten were given 12-year service medals recently. The brigade’s longest serving member, Lorna O’Connor, holds a certificate acknowledging her then 42 years of service. Since then, she has notched up 43 years of service.

Mr Hurley said their watch included ‘‘Riversdale, Waikaia, down as far as Mandeville, out to Otama, Nine Mile Road, and up as far as Balfour''.

They were honoured recently with 12-year service medals at a function held by the Hokonui area committee at the Gore and Districts Memorial RSA.

While together they have 24 years of experience in the emergency service, their total is unmatched by the 43 years of service given by Order of St John Officer Sister Lorna O'Connor, of Riversdale, who shared her memories with the men.

‘‘There was no ambulance when I started - you had to cart them all by your own vehicle,'' she said.

Luckily, she had a station wagon.

Riversdale has six fully trained primary care 2 officers, and when their pagers beep they have two to three minutes to get into the ambulance and on their way to the emergency.

‘‘We're all 24/7, so whoever turns up first gets to go,'' Mr Hurley said.

Mr Hurley manages the six-person team and said there was always room for more volunteers.