Media Release

20 April 2009

As part of the St John Ambulance NT annual Ambulance Vehicle replacement program, funded through the NT Governments Capital contributions/funding, 5 new ambulance vehicles have been completely fitted out with state of the art communication and emergency response equipment by the team at the St John Ambulance Workshop, with all work completed in the Northern Territory.

Fleet Supervisor, Mark O'Shaughnessy and his team at the St John Ambulance workshop coordinate all repairs, maintenance and new ambulance builds, in addition to managing the existing St John Ambulance NT Fleet and all new purchases. “The Mercedes vehicles come to us as an empty shell,” said Mr O'Shaughnessy. “Our Winnellie based workshop converts the vehicle into a fully operational ambulance, equipped specifically to respond to the types of emergencies encountered in the Northern Territory.”

Ross Coburn, Chief Executive Officer, St John Ambulance Australia NT Inc says “We are proud that as a Territory based organisation, we have the capability and expertise to complete the highly technical work required to fit out a fully operational ambulance vehicle.” Mr Coburn said “The additional contracted work we are doing for remote community health organisations across the Territory and Western Australia, is a strong testament to the skill of the St John Ambulance Workshop team and they are to be commended.”

Fitting out the new ambulance vehicles involved the installation of storage lockers, lock down stretchers, attendant seating, work  bench, computer modules, oxygen and gas piping, hand rails, radio consoles and reverse camera monitors.

The new ambulances will replace decommissioned vehicles and will be commissioned to service in the Darwin region over the coming month. The next round of St John Ambulance vehicles to be purchased and fitted out, will include the additional ambulance vehicle, recently made possible by the Northern Territory Government to service the Palmerston region.

Media Contact:  Cheryl Martin   0408 809 368  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .