Media Release

Above from right to left - Bill Glasson, St John Ambulance Australia Volunteer and Elise Crofts

Every community thrives on the contribution of its Volunteers and we have all come to know and rely on our St John Ambulance Volunteers in black and white, there to provide first aid coverage for up to 30 events every week of the year across the Northern Territory.

St John Ambulance Volunteers are instinctively compassionate about others and dedicate countless hours of their own time to the well being of our community and more recently, communities abroad.

In early August 2008, St John Ambulance Volunteers joined a specialist team from the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons as part of the Australia-Timor Leste Program of Assistance for Specialist Services in East Timor, funded by AusAid, Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and St John Ambulance Australia.

Stationing themselves at the newly built hospital facility in the remote region of Oecussi, the team was greeted by large numbers of local people with eye complaints including poor vision, cataract and blindness. The team were responsible for assessing each individual case presented to them and over the next 4-5 day period, 64 cataract eye operations were successfully completed and some 350 Timorese people were fitted with glasses, following full eye examinations.

Above - Mark Compton, St John Ambulance Australia Volunteer

Mr Mike Mooney, St John Ambulance Chairman joined the team of St John Ambulance Volunteers and specialist medical personnel on this project trip, and is proud of the dedication shown by all of the Volunteers towards such a worthwhile project. “It was amazing, humbling and very satisfying to watch people who had not seen for some time get their cataracts removed and have their vision restored” said Mr Mooney. “It was a great success! Even if only one person had their sight restored, it would have been terrific. But to have restored the sight or given improved vision to over 400 people was very worthwhile and fulfilling”.

The voluntary humanitarian efforts of the ophthalmologists, optometrists, nurses, technicians and St John Ambulance Volunteers are to be applauded for their efforts towards this project. “Several of the Volunteers are ‘serial volunteers’ who freely give up a lot of their work and free time to assist in projects such as this one” said Mr Mooney.

St John Ambulance Volunteers undertook vital medical support roles in processing and treating Timorese patients and are keen to return to the large numbers of people still in need of treatment in the Oecussi region alone.

Above from right to left – Vincent Penry, Mike Mooney (St John Ambulance Australia Volunteer), Mark Compton (St John Ambulance Australia Volunteer), Kevin Vandeleur, Elise Croft, Natalie Stephent, Bill Glasson (St John Ambulance Australia Volunteer), Stephanie Hoegeri, Barbara Anderson, Peter Bell, Norbert Hogeri.

Mr Mike Mooney is available for interview, which can be coordinated by contacting: Cheryl Martin - 0408 809 368 – This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it