Wellington Free Ambulance launches annual postal appeal

1 June 2011
Wellington Free Ambulance

The only free ambulance service in the Southern Hemisphere launched its annual postal appeal today, to help keep the iconic service free and high-performing.

Wellington Free Ambulance the sole provider of emergency ambulance services across the greater Wellington region operates their free to the patient service thanks to the support of donations from the community.

CEO Alan O’Beirne says statistics of the work of Wellington Free Ambulance - the theme of this years appeal - illustrate the volume and breadth of the service provided to the local community every day.

“The numbers are incredible. Our frontline and patient transfer staff help over 150 people daily on average - that’s over 58,000 patients a year,” Mr O’Beirne says.

“This includes 1,285 vehicle accidents, 4,136 people with breathing problems, 4,741 experiencing cardiac difficulties and 4,341 people who had suffered a fall. We also worked out that we drove 2.2 million kilometres and used over 31,400 bandages.”

Mr O’Beirne says Wellington Free Ambulance can only continue to respond to this volume of calls, urgently and to a high standard with the support of the local community.

“Donations will help us continue to save lives and provide the peace of mind in knowing that in an emergency an ambulance is available - fast, 24/7 and free of charge.”

The appeal mail out will reach letterboxes in the greater Wellington region this week.

It costs approximately $19 million to run Wellington Free Ambulance every year. While a portion of the operational budget is met by government agencies including ACC and the Ministry of Health, the balance of around $3 million comes from sponsorships, grants, bequests, fundraising events and public appeals.

ENDS

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