The new St John Ambulance Station in Tūrangi is officially opened. Photo / Dan Hutchinson
The new St John Ambulance Station in Tūrangi is officially opened. Photo / Dan Hutchinson
Emergency services and supporters came together on Saturday to celebrate the opening of a major new asset for the Tūrangi community.
St John Ambulance’s Tūwharetoa Area Committee handed over the keys to an impressive new ambulance building on Saturday while uniformed local police, firefighters, ambulance staff, community leaders and supporters watched on.
Former committee chairman Fraser Lake said the old garage was well short of the required standard.
“So in the event of an earthquake it would fall down, crush the ambulance and it wouldn’t be able to go and help anyone.”
The new building was built to the highest earthquake standard so it could double as an operational facility in the event of a major disaster or emergency.
Lake said the project had been a 10-year journey, involving lots of individual donors and one very large contribution from King Country Trust of $504,214.
St John Lakes Territory manager George Clicquot said Tūrangi staff responded to more than 900 calls from the station each year.
“It is easy to think of this as being some sort of sensible investment in infrastructure but we have invested in so much more.
“From a team of a little over 40 different staff who will work out of this space over the next 12 months I wish to sincerely thank you all for having contributed to making this incredibly valuable space possible.”
Local historian Ngaiterangi Smallman said the first ambulance was gifted to the southern lake community by Tūwharetoa in 1962, when the biggest town was nearby Tokaanu.
He gifted some photos from the era to be hung on the walls of the station.
A photo of the first ambulance for the southern Lake Taupō community is held up at the opening of the new Tūrangi Ambulance Station. Photo / Dan Hutchinson
“Tom Dempsey was the ambulance driver at the time and the Dempsey whānau is still big in our town and many of our aunties were the volunteers of our time.
“These photos represent a shared history between Tūwharetoa and St John Ambulance and it is part of our dedication that our hapū, our iwi have long cared about the health and wellbeing of our people and all the people who have come here to live upon this land.”
St John Ambulance priory officer Sonya Marshall said their buildings were more than just “bricks and mortar”.
“They are places to connect, they are second homes. For some of us who spend too much time here, they are our first homes and they look after our things and they look after us and all of our tupuna, everything we carry from our history and everything we bring today sits in these walls and protects us.”
