St John's message this winter
St John on Neighbourly is a way to connect with our communities across New Zealand and keep the public up to date with news, information, and tips across our frontline Ambulance Services, first aid training, event medical services, AEDs (defibrillators), first aid kits and supplies, medical alarms, St John Youth programme, and a wide range of community and volunteer programmes.
This winter, St John urges the public to prioritise health & wellbeing. The most important thing you can do is be immunised against influenza and seek advice from a health professional if you are unwell. Each winter the surge of 111 ambulance calls continues to increase, which despite St John’s best efforts to triage and treat people in-home, places a lot of pressure on the ambulance service and the hospital emergency departments.
St John has issued five key messages to the public to help them look after themselves and each other this winter – read them here: goo.gl...
⚠️ DOGS DIE IN HOT CARS. If you love them, don't leave them. ⚠️
It's a message we share time and time again, and this year, we're calling on you to help us spread that message further.
Did you know that calls to SPCA about dogs left inside hot cars made up a whopping 11% of all welfare calls last summer? This is a completely preventable issue, and one which is causing hundreds of dogs (often loved pets) to suffer.
Here are some quick facts to share with the dog owners in your life:
👉 The temperature inside a car can heat to over 50°C in less than 15 minutes.
👉 Parking in the shade and cracking windows does little to help on a warm day. Dogs rely on panting to keep cool, which they can't do in a hot car.
👉 This puts dogs at a high risk of heatstroke - a serious condition for dogs, with a mortality rate between 39%-50%.
👉 It is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act to leave a dog in a hot vehicle if they are showing signs of heat stress. You can be fined, and prosecuted.
SPCA has created downloadable resources to help you spread the message even further. Posters, a flyer, and a social media tile can be downloaded from our website here: www.spca.nz...
We encourage you to use these - and ask your local businesses to display the posters if they can. Flyers can be kept in your car and handed out as needed.
This is a community problem, and one we cannot solve alone. Help us to prevent more tragedies this summer by sharing this post.
On behalf of the animals - thank you ❤️
How are you celebrating Christmas this year?
From hot air balloon rides to cotton ball scooping games, folks around Hamilton have their festive plans sorted.
On a sunny Monday when most people are already on holiday, there were a few homecomers on Hamilton streets.
How are you celebrating Christmas this year? Tell us in the comments (adding NFP if you don't want your words used in print).