Efforts to provide a customised and fully medically equipped Toyota Land Cruiser to the township at the top of the lake have been under way for more than two years and were now close to completion, St John Queenstown operations team manager Kelvin Perriman said yesterday.
The Hamilton-built 4WD prototype would use a longer wheelbase and include a stretcher for the first time to enable patient transfers from Glenorchy to either a Queenstown ambulance halfway on the Glenorchy-Queenstown Rd, or all the way to Lakes District Hospital, Frankton, which would free Queenstown resources, Mr Perriman said.
The new two-crew-member ambulance would be able to travel with ease across the rocky and river-bed terrain of the Glenorchy and Paradise area, as well as its sealed and unsealed roads.
''It's essential for the Glenorchy community.''
''We're lucky we have three fully qualified ambulance officers in Glenorchy. They're volunteers and called out by pager.
''It's about 60 calls a year they're getting up there and the bulk of those are over summer.
''There is an approximate split between medical and accident-related calls.''
The Toyota would replace a more than 5-year-old Isuzu. Before it arrived, ambulance officers used a trolley donated by The Warehouse to push their gear from the medical rooms to their private cars and respond to emergencies.
Glenorchy residents and businesses raised about $20,000 towards the new Toyota, on top of the St John contribution. The organisation had applied to the Central Lakes Trust for $66,000 and expected to hear an answer later this month.
''St John identifies for smaller communities we need a versatile and robust vehicle rather than the standard ambulance,'' Mr Perriman said.
''If it's a success, and we think it will be, these vehicles could be rolled out across New Zealand.''
