Area executive officer Lynn Cain said St John started running health shuttles from Lumsden and Winton to Invercargill a few months ago and there was definitely a need for the service across Central Otago.
The service would be available to anyone with limited mobility, outpatients or the elderly, she said.
"The idea was it would take people from their homes to doctor's appointments, but both Lumsden and Winton St John found there were plenty of other transport options within the community for that.
"So now they're running shuttles from the area to Invercargill Hospital for specialist appointments and co-ordinate with any discharged patients to take back to the area."
Mrs Cain said patients from the Wakatipu would be transferred to Invercargill's Kew Hospital or Dunedin Hospital by ambulance in an emergency but often did not have fresh clothes or sufficient money for public transport when they were well enough and discharged.
St John in Lumsden, Motueka and parts of the North Island had launched the shuttles, with patients contributing $5-$10 for the service.
The shuttles were driven by specifically recruited St John volunteers.
"This is a service we would love to start up and fund-raise for, to begin in the new year," Mrs Cain said.
The proposed service could shuttle clients from Wanaka to Dunedin via Cromwell, Alexandra and Lawrence on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
The service could then run from Wanaka to Invercargill via Queenstown and Kingston on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
A volunteer position would have to be created to co-ordinate the shuttles with medical centres and hospitals, Mrs Cain said.
"People often ask why we can't take patients back when doing a transfer to Dunedin or Invercargill, but once we've taken the patient into hospital we then have to be available for emergency calls."
Mrs Cain said St John was seeking commercial sponsorship from Central Otago businesses to help in purchasing a mini-bus with wheelchair access and for the service's running costs.
Wakatipu St John is also launching Caring Callers, a volunteer programme where staff match callers to those with a need.
The idea is to support the housebound, elderly, young parents, those who wanted help feeling safe in their homes or just someone to talk to.
"The call is made at a certain time every day, whenever they agree to," Mrs Cain said.
"We're working with Age Concern and Presbyterian Support Services, who have visiting friends services. We're not in competition with them, it's another safety net."
She said St John had six callers but no calls for their services at the moment, though it would be contacting medical centres to see if there was anyone who would benefit over the next few weeks.
The third Wakatipu St John initiative was to find a business or organisation in central Queenstown that would agree to have a life-saving automated external defibrillator (AED) pack on its premises.
An AED does not require medical training to operate and can increase the chance of survival by up to 40% when dealing with a sudden cardiac arrest.
The $4000 packs are found at the Queenstown Events Centre, Queenstown Airport and golf courses in Kelvin Heights and Arrowtown.
The Invercargill Licensing Trust distributed 75 AEDs around Southland and within a year the packs had saved five lives.
