The staffing boost was ''really positive news'', St John Southern Lakes district operations manager Pauline Buchanan said.
St John has approved $4 million funding for 57 additional paid ambulance staff throughout the country.
Alexandra is one of four South Island locations to gain extra staff, with Christchurch receiving 10 staff, Temuka two and Picton one.
Fundraising and the organisation's commercial activities will finance the new roles and recruitment would begin as soon as possible, St John chief executive Peter Bradley said last week.
The aim was to have 20 new staff employed by July 1 this year and the remaining 37 staff by January next year.
''The benefits to patients will be more effective services and more efficient response times. It's another step to achieving our ambition of right care, right time,'' Mr Bradley said.
The review identified the need to fill resource gaps and to make staff roster changes, he said. It covered ambulance resources, vehicles and rostered personnel, compared with patient demand for emergency ambulance transport, non-transport cases and patient transfer services.
Mrs Buchanan said the extra staff was ''good for Alexandra and ultimately, great news for the wider Central Otago area''.
Mr Bradley said the additional Alexandra jobs were needed to meet current and projected demand.
There are five St John paid staff based in Alexandra now. More money - $500,000 - was also being devoted by the organisation to a volunteer sustainability strategy to meet the challenges of recruiting and retaining ''valuable and essential'' volunteers.
The money would go towards induction, training and support.
''We do have challenges for recruitment of volunteers in Otago, especially in the more rural areas.
''People have many demands on their time at present - work, family and other important commitments.
''The work we are currently doing, and plan to continue, on volunteer sustainability will help to address this, '' he said.
As well, funding would be provided for another 13 staff to provide relief cover when staff were on leave. Four of those relief roles were for cover in Alexandra, Temuka, Christchurch and Picton.
