Volunteers Plea For First Aid
The Sunday Age
Sunday September 24, 2006
ST JOHN Ambulance will next week launch an unprecedented marketing campaign in a desperate bid to maintain its volunteer first aid services across the state.
Its new state chief executive, Stephen Horton, said the charity, which provides first aid at about 250 Victorian events every weekend, was buckling under increasing demand."Not only are we struggling to fund what we do deliver, but each year there's a greater demand which just increases the pressure," he said. "We have had to refocus to become more competitive."The charity's only fund-raising activity to date has been tin-rattling at traffic lights, but Victorians have donated only $100,000 a year. The organisation has instead relied on its business arm - selling first aid kits and training packages - to fund its $15 million worth of voluntary first aid services every year.But increasing demand for first aid is outstripping the charity's business capacity, forcing the Victorian branch to call for public help. The glossy new campaign, St John Week, will include a business breakfast, charity ball, door-knock and first aid demonstrations. It will be run annually in Victoria.The promotion is a big shift for the St John Ambulance, whose values state that fund-raising is not to be an end in itself. But, Mr Horton said, the charity had no option."We are a charity that goes about our business very quietly, but in 2006 we are finding conditions out there in the marketplace very tough," he said.Last year volunteers helped more than 18,000 people at 7500 events, ranging from regional sport matches, rave parties and bush fires to major public events, such as AFL games, the Grand Prix and, more recently, the Commonwealth Games.The charity is also included in every Victorian Government disaster plan - but it receives less than 1 per cent of its money from the state.Demand for St John's volunteer services has risen annually by 10 per cent for at least the past five years, driven by increasing numbers of public events and tougher insurance requirements."Every time you increase your workload it isn't just more volunteers, it's more resources to support them," Mr Horton said. "The more crew you have, the more ambulances you need. It's not just Band-Aids and bandages, it's heavy-costing equipment such as portable defibrillator units."But the battle for the charity dollar will be tough amid constant campaigns for victims of natural disasters and war around the world, as well as those affected by poverty and illness closer to home.St John Ambulance's marketing and communications manager, Brian Kirk, is banking on the organisation's grassroots contribution to Victoria to attract support. "People simply aren't aware of our need and they aren't aware of our contribution to Victoria," he said.Mr Horton said the organisation also had to overcome public scepticism about the way charities spent donations. "We are here for the service of humanity," he said. "We are not here to build major corporate empires, we don't want 20-storey buildings. "One hundred per cent of our donations go where they should go."St John Week begins on October 5.
© 2006 The Sunday Age