The National Distribution Union is joining a march by the small isolated community of Wairoa at 11.00am today in a protest over the reduction of local ambulance services.

The protest will start at the town centre at 11.00am and march down to the local ambulance station where local St Johns management will be present.

Wairoa, which is 90 minutes from Gisbourne and 120 minutes from Napier and Hastings, often loses road contact during winter.

National Distribution Union delegate and St Johns Paramedic Adrienne Andresen said that the protest isn’t about the threat to jobs or loss of ambulances, but over a proposed reduction in services in a small isolated community.

“For six years since our fourth paramedic left and wasn’t replaced, we three remaining St Johns paramedics have taken up his work to ensure that the community still had two ambulances on the road twenty-four seven,” she said. “In response to the communities demand for the return of a fourth fulltime paramedic, St Johns have offered a part-time first aider who can only do patient transfers.”

“But of most concern are proposed change to our rosters that would reduce the second ambulance to nine to five, Monday to Friday,” she said. “When we asked management who would man the second ambulance at night or in the weekend, they told us they would do a ring around”

“Currently our response time is 3 minutes, but under this proposal it will drop to 20 minutes ? a delay that could mean the difference between life and death,” she said.

NDU National Secretary, Laila Harré, said that joining together with the professionals who staff the Wairoa service and the Wairoa community was the best chance of winning support from St Johns, the DHB and the Government.

“New Zealand is a network of rural communities and provincial towns and the loss of services to the community in Wairoa is a risk to us everywhere,” she said. “The proposed changes in Wairoa are a symptom of the running down of rural services throughout the country ? it’s time to stop treating the rural communities like second-class citizens.”

The march was called at a public meeting last Monday chaired by local Mayor Les Propert.

The National Distribution Union represents ambulance drivers in the area.

ENDS

Photos and video footage will be available through Simon Oosterman, NDU Publicity Officer on 021 922 551

Contacts:

Adrienne Andresen, St Johns Wairoa Paramedic on 027 450 3658
Laila Harré, National Secretary on 021 839 661