We are here to step forward and help the country and, as an essential emergency service, St John is well positioned to respond to a pandemic like COVID-19.

We continue to provide emergency ambulance services throughout New Zealand. St John triages all 111 calls to determine the urgency of the patient's condition. We aim to send the most appropriate ambulance to the patient in greatest need as soon as possible.

St John ambulance officers frequently deal with infectious diseases and to protect our patients and our people, we follow best practice clinical guidelines, including wearing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) when attending patients with suspected COVID-19.  

We will continue to ensure contaminated surfaces and equipment are cleaned or safely disposed of in biohazard bags and keep the ambulance environment as safe as possible for patients and staff.  

St John continues to operate its Patient Transfer Services. Our drivers are following Ministry of Health guidelines to keep patients and themselves safe. This includes increased hygiene and cleaning in our vehicles such as wiping of seats, door handles and steering wheel.

In-class courses are still running, including courses in the Auckland region. However, we will continue our focus on health and safety. This includes maintaining social distancing, and following good hygiene and sanitisation practices to ensure you feel comfortable in your learning environment.

• Hand sanitiser will be readily available to participants
• You will not be required to breathe into the manikins

You are welcome to bring along your own face mask and wear it in class.

If you feel at all unwell or have a cough on the day of the course, please support our efforts to protect others and reschedule your course for another day (free of charge).

While our standard terms and conditions state there are no refunds for First Aid courses, you can swap to a later date and/or location free of charge.

For customers within the Auckland region:

• Equipment testing and troubleshooting will happen over the telephone rather than in person.
• If a visit to someone’s home is required, we will manage all requirements without entering the property, unless absolutely necessary, to keep our customers safe. Our team will provide you with instructions before our representative arrives at your property.
• We will take extra care with clients who feel unwell and help them take appropriate action such as calling Healthline, their GP or a family member.
• We will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates as necessary.

 For customers outside the Auckland region:

• Equipment testing and troubleshooting will continue as normal, with St John staff following appropriate social distancing and health and safety practices. In some cases, staff may interact and manage testing and troubleshooting over the telephone rather than in person.
• When visiting a customer’s home, we will manage all requirements, maintaining social distancing and undertaking safe hygiene practices to keep our customers and staff safe. Our team will provide you with instructions before our representative arrives at your property.
• We will take extra care with clients who feel unwell and help them take appropriate action such as calling Healthline, their GP or a family member.
• We will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates as necessary.

Our National Event Health Services Team are open for bookings and enquiries via eventhealthservices@stjohn.org.nz or 0800 4 EVENTS.

Whilst a a significant volume of events are likely to be postponed or cancelled at Level 2/3 there are a number that are still able to operate either due to low numbers or approved industry specific guidelines. Cancellations secondary to COVID will attract no cancellation fees.

Health Shuttles are operating throughout the country with increased health and safety measures such as mask wearing, sanitation and minimising the number of persons carried at any one time.

All St John Community Care Services are operating under level 2, with the exception of Outreach Therapy Pets, however Community Careers will not be visiting rest homes.

We have made the regrettable decision to cancel National Competitions for 2020 as due to timeframes there will not be another opportunity to run these competitions for this year. We understand this is disappointing to the competitors and organisers.

All Auckland divisions from Wellsford to Pukekohe have moved to use the online platform for delivery.

All other divisions around New Zealand may continue to meet but will meet at level 2 guidelines.

St John is a charity and only part funded by Government. Our charitable status means we continue to need to fundraise throughout the year to ensure our frontline emergency ambulance service has the right equipment and resources to enable St John to be there for all New Zealand communities.

Like many organisations and charities throughout New Zealand, we have been greatly impacted by COVID-19 including direct loses in fundraising and commercial income. We are grateful for the generosity of New Zealanders and organisations who support us with donations, fundraising events and by purchasing St John products and services.

Awaiting further information – please check back later.