Building safer, healthier and more resilient communities
We make communities stronger and resilient by preparing them for the worst.This includes teaching and equipping local people how to deal with disasters before they hit.
Local rescue is the first and most important level of preparedness and response. During this stage, the locals try to use available resources within their level of knowledge to survive the emergency.
For instance, during fire or terrorism incident, it is important that the locals know how to respond, as these disasters have a tendency of escalating fast before professional rescue teams arrive at the scene.
Curbing road carnage
To curb road carnage, for instance, St John Ambulance has teamed up with AA Kenya to roll out a training program on first aid and safe driving. So far this initiative has benefited more than 650 matatu drivers plying the northern corridor.
The lifesaving skills will see drivers reach victims of road crash in less than three minutes, as compared to ambulances which averagely take about nine minutes to arrive at accident spots.
A similar lifesaving training was also offered to communities living near 17 notorious accident blackspots along the same corridor, which traverses across 11 counties from Mombasa to Busia.
The organization has also put up emergency care centres at these 17 key blackspots to help stabilize the casualties prior to evacuation to hospital for treatment.
Teaching police in first aid skills
In addition, St John Ambulance also certifies trained police officers in first aid to improve their lifesaving skills. This is because they are often first to arrive at scenes of crime or accidents where they are required to assist the victims.
Further, a first aid competition is also organized by St John to test the level of police preparedness in giving first aid treatment and other emergency care.
Emergency preparedness in prisons
In Prison, St John Ambulance is teaching prisoners and wardens in disaster preparedness and first aid skills.
This emergency preparedness training was started in 2006 by 70-year-old prisoner David Ngari, who is serving life in prison, before St John Ambulance joined to support the project. Since then, more than 600 prisoners have been trained.
School disaster readiness
In schools, where administrators are still grappling with the challenge of serious school fire incidents, St John Ambulance has formed first aid clubs and equipped them with first aid, fire and incident management skills.
Going forward, St John is identifying more vulnerable communities e.g. urban slums, with intention to help them be able to withstand and bounce back from unexpected disasters.
Safer, healthier and more resilient communities it is the foundation that underpins preparedness and mitigation of many disaster risks that face our country.
