ASB Social Media Silence

Yesterday I spent some time with the talented people at the St John Northern Communication Centre. This is the call centre responsible for the Northern region of New Zealand and handles requests for St John services, including 111 emergency calls. To say it was an eye-opener would be an understatement. These dedicated men and women remain calm, professional and helpful while dealing with some truly intense situations. Aided by a state-of-the-art computer system that quickly establishes medical problems and dispatches vehicles, many calls only last for a couple of minutes before the St John operators have all the information they need to quickly get an ambulance to the scene. The operators work with a computer system that shows a live map with ambulance locations on it and uses sophisticated menus to categorise information and quickly send it to the crews on the ground (or in the air in the case of the rescue helicopters!). The set up was very impressive and the sheer number of calls I witnessed really drove home how important this money we're raising is. Please make sure you donate, as every dollar counts. You never know when you might need St John, but right now St John needs you.