St John Association of Fiji

Who we are

St John Ambulance Fiji was established in 1939 as part of the Auckland New Zealand Centre. Two years later, Fiji became a branch of St John Ambulance in the UK before becoming an independent Association run by a National Council with headquarters in Suva.

Fiji at a glance

Fiji, officially the Republic of the Fiji Islands, is an island nation in the South Pacific Ocean east of Vanuatu, west of Tonga and south of Tuvalu. The country occupies an archipelago of about 322 islands, of which 106 are permanently inhabited, and 522 islets. The two major islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, account for 87% of the population.

In 2007 the population of Fiji was estimated as 918,675. It is mostly made up of native Fijians, people of mixed Polynesian (partly Tongan) and Melanesian ancestry (54.3%), and Indo-Fijians (38.1%), descendants of Indian contract labourers brought to the islands by the British in the nineteenth century.

Fiji, endowed with forest, mineral, and fish resources, is one of the more developed of the Pacific island economies, though still with a large subsistence sector. Fiji experienced a period of rapid growth in the 1960s and 1970s but this slowed in the early 1980s. Since independence there have been four coups in Fiji, two in 1987, one in 2000 and one in late 2006. The military has been either ruling directly, or heavily influencing governments since 1987.

What we do

A number of initiatives and programmes are already in existence, including the traditional St John operations of ambulance, first aid training, youth, and volunteer community duties.

First Aid Training Courses:

St John is able to offer on-site training to business houses and educational institutions.

Community Care

The Fijian Community Care programme teaches basic first aid, hygiene skills, basic home nursing skills, and safety at home. The programme delivers services to outlying villages within the Suva area, specifically targeting lower socio-economic environments.

The Community Care Officer runs programmes at the Police Stations.  Attendees are trained in basic first aid and receive a Certificate. The service is free-of-charge and provides a valuable network within the community,” building bridges and filling the gaps”.

The Community Care programme utilises multi-language publications as handouts.  e.g. a single A4 pamphlet written in the Fijian language outlining basic First Aid steps and emergency care.

Ambulances:

St John Fiji has received four pre-owned ambulances.  The Embassy of Japan donated two of the vehicles and the National Road Safety Council gave the others. St John Fiji is a signatory to a Memorandum of Understanding with the Fijian Ministry of Health, which mandates St John to develop Emergency Ambulance Services in Fiji. The ambulance activity has been developing since 1997 and is focused on Suva.

Youth Training

Youth activities (Cadets) within St John presently involve over 1000 young people in Fiji. The Cadet Programme is run almost exclusively in schools with the main Instructors being schoolteachers and volunteers who come in to the school environment.

Public duties: St John Fiji volunteers attend major events to provide first aid care to the general public.