It was 40 years in the making, but a family of growers has donated a $225,000 lifesaving gift to St John.
Pukekohe's Raymond Jivan, along with his parents and extended family, donated a new frontline generation three emergency ambulance to St John, to operate out of the St John Pukekohe station.
Although in some countries ambulances are fully funded by their governments, in New Zealand they depend on donations, volunteers and payment for commercial services and products.
Jivan said his father, Nathu Jivan, had been a successful market gardener in Pukekohe, along with his late wife Sandra.
The business of 70 years is still run by the family today.
Jivan said his father had been meaning to donate an ambulance to St John for many years and so he contacted his local Mercedes dealership last year, on behalf of his parents.
"It's been 40 years in the making and it was always a passion of Mum and Dad to do that," Jivan said.
"Mum passed away about three years ago, but they wanted to do something that would help the community. That is what Mum and Dad were always about.
"St John is quite reliant on donations and it's a charity. They have some good people there - you feel for them."
St John general manager northern region, Glen Hill, said St John needed to find funding each year for 38 frontline emergency ambulances nationwide, 12 of which were for the northern region - although this varied each year.
The new, fully-equipped frontline generation three vehicles cost $225,000 +GST.
"Our frontline emergency ambulances have a life span of about eight years, or retire after approximately 440,000 kilometres on the road and are sold thereafter," Hill said.
"Across the country, we have more than 700 ambulances and operational vehicles. Over the past two years, we have introduced about 70 generation two and generation three emergency ambulances."
Hill said while 10 ambulances and operational vehicles start and finish from hubs in Franklin, all the ambulances operated as a network and were deployed based on actual, or predicted demand using what is known as fluid deployment.
This meant St John always had coverage across the wider territory with paid crews.
Hill said the generation two and three emergency ambulances were innovative, practical and designed to keep ambulance officers safe as they treated and transported patients.
"They have powerlift stretchers which help reduce lifting injuries and a variety of high-tech life saving equipment including a monitor and defibrillator, an intravenous line, blood pressure cuff and a first response kit."
He said some of the unique features of the generation three ambulance included a roof mounted fan vent which could extract air out and blow fresh air into the patient compartment; a rear diesel powered heater to improve patient and crew comfort during winter; a new interior door handle to make it easier to open the rear doors; redesign of the side locker to improve kit storage; two new work surfaces to help when working on a patient; reduction in the amount of window tinting to improve exterior visibility and a new rear cupboard.
Each year St John receives more than 533,000 111 emergency calls for an ambulance and ambulance officers treat or transport more than 480,000 patients.
For the 2017/18 financial year, Hill said St John had contracts with the Ministry of Health and ACC who fund just over 72 per cent of the budgeted operating costs for the ambulance service.
Hill said the remaining 28 per cent was funded through emergency ambulance part charges, fundraising activities and generous donors like the Jivan family.
"St John is very grateful for the generous public support we receive, but recognise that the level of government funding we receive isn't sustainable so, in partnership with Wellington Free Ambulance, St John has submitted a request for a significant increase in government funding levels."
Jivan said his family felt "very proud" to give back to an organisation that helped so many people.
"At any given time, somebody is using an ambulance."
A dedication ceremony was held for the new ambulance at St John Northern Region Headquarters on February 28.