St John Ambulance Victoria wins Melbourne Award for community first aid services

St John Ambulance Victoria has been honoured with a prestigious Melbourne Award, taking out the category of Contribution to a Community by a Community Organisation at Saturday night’s City of Melbourne 2013 Melbourne Awards Gala Ceremony.

Held at the Melbourne Town Hall, the Melbourne Awards celebrate the inspirational Melburnians who dedicate their time and energy for the benefit of the city.

St John Ambulance Victoria was recognised for its long-standing service to the City of Melbourne, where it has provided vital community programs and lifesaving first aid services at the City’s best-known events and venues for over 130 years.

In 2012, this involved attending to 9805 casualties at 1335 events including the Australian Open, Spring Racing Carnival, Moomba Festival, Melbourne Marathon and, most famously, the MCG, which, through St John involvement, is claimed to remain the safest place to have a cardiac arrest outside of a hospital.

The Melbourne Award also recognised St John’s contribution to community health and wellbeing through key programs such as its Heart Start initiative, which gifted defibrillators to Melbourne and Victorian sporting clubs, as well as its partnerships with 13CABS and Metro Trains which ensure the safety of people travelling within the City of Melbourne.

St John Ambulance Victoria CEO Stephen Horton said the award was a testament to the organisation’s commitment to achieving first aid resilience across the community.

“St John Ambulance Victoria is a self-funded, not-for-profit organisation that works to ensure every person that visits the City of Melbourne is kept safe - our services are intrinsically linked with key events and milestones that have helped shape Melbourne’s unique history,” Horton said.

“This award is an important stepping stone in helping to raise awareness of our vision to have at least one person educated, equipped and prepared to provide first aid in every home, workplace and public gathering.

“We’re very excited to be named among Melbourne’s most successful organisations.”

St John’s heritage with the City of Melbourne extends back to 1883, when it commenced the first ambulance service using hand-drawn Ashford Litter stretchers. In 1908, St John established the original First Aid Volunteers Association, which assisted in providing the first public first aid duty in Victoria for 100,000 visitors who queued to view the Melbourne arrival of the Great White Fleet (US Navy Battle fleet). The organisation has provided first aid services at historic events including the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games and the 2006 Commonwealth Games.