St. John Ambulance is a leading “care” charity internationally; with a global membership of nearly 300,000. St. John Ambulance is present in 42 countries and has diversified to meet local community needs around the world, continuing the tradition of providing humanitarian care to the sick and injured.
In Canada, the organization works with St. John internationally, sharing and gaining expertise as we all work together to improve and meet the needs of our local and global communities.
In addition to the support of the St. John Eye Hospital, the following are our current international initiatives:
- Zimbabwe—Cholera Epidemic Response
- South African Appeal
- Tsunami Relief
Zimbabwe—Cholera Epidemic Response
February 2009 London — Zimbabwe has been facing its most serious cholera epidemic ever. Last December, the disease spread across the country and claimed the lives of nearly 2000 people, due to the deterioration of state run infrastructure, including the sewage system.
St John Zimbabwe rapidly responded to the crisis and set up three rehydration centres, two in highly populated suburbs of Harare and one in the town of Gweru.
St. John volunteers set to work cleaning and looking after patients, ensuring they were receiving the best possible care in such dire circumstances. Cholera is an extremely contagious bacterial disease. It is spread by drinking contaminated water and hand contact with human waste, which is then passed to the mouth. If left untreated it causes severe dehydration and death. However, it is relatively easy to cure, using oral rehydration solution.
The rehydration centres and volunteers are equipped with protective clothing, cleaning equipment, water purification tablets, rehydration salts – which has been funded by donations from St. John Priories around the world. Volunteers work side-by-side with hospital staff, Medicin sans Frontieres and UNICEF to combat the disease and save many hundreds of lives. Teamwork, cooperation and hard work have been the key to their success.
Bill Moore, St John Chairman for Zimbabwe, spent time with volunteers at the centres and spoke highly of their work. “Our St John volunteers are not only hard-working, dedicated and disciplined but they now realize the importance of what they have been doing. Some of the volunteers are graduates of the child-headed households' programme but many of the others are from Mbare High School.
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| Former Lord Prior, Eric Barry, GCStJ |
The former Lord Prior, Eric Barry visited this school when in Zimbabwe and it proves that the work St John does in schools and with child-headed households is bearing great fruit. Eric Barry says: "My lasting impression of my visit is how cheerful the teenage students are, despite the desperate circumstances in which they live, and how proud they are of their St. John skills. I am very proud of them."
St. John Ambulance Canada donated $5,000 to the Eric Barry International Development Fund.
Your support for the Eric Barry International Development Fund is urgently needed to help St. John volunteers provide care for cholera patients. Donate Online through CanadaHelps.org or by mail or phone.
To learn more about the international mission and development activities of St. John, please visit www.orderofstjohn.org
Disease Listing: Cholera General Information | CDC DFBMD
South African Appeal
Caring for people — that's what we do in South Africa
The Priory for South Africa in collaboration with the University of KwaZulu-Natal has developed an award winning home based care and advanced home based care training program to provide the people of South Africa with the skills and training required to care for those who are suffering from illness but are unable to access medical care. The program meets South Africa Development Community (SADC) and the UN Millennium Goal requirements.
The goal of the "South Africa Appeal" is to seek financial support to develop the capacity of St John Associations to train Home Based Caregivers and First Aiders in the community. The program will provide caregivers in rural and urban areas with basic health care skills and training, regardless of education or literacy level, in order that they may provide care to sick or dying family members in the home environment. Course topics include personal hygiene, management of infectious diseases, mother and child health, feeding and nutrition, wound care, caring for young and elderly patients as well as HIV / AIDS patients.
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Tsunami Relief
St. John Ambulance National Office coordinated its relief efforts to assist St. John Ambulance Sri Lanka in meeting the needs of the victims of the tsunami disaster. First aid materials and pharmaceuticals were gathered for St. John in Sri Lanka to assist with their relief efforts. St. John Ambulance Canada provided first aid supplies, volunteer assistance, and is developing a disaster management training program as well as first aid instructor training.
Donate today to the Tsunami Relief Fund »