St John Ambulans Seeks Space For Training At Corporate Premises

PETALING JAYA, Jan 6 (Bernama) -- The St John Ambulans Malaysia is seeking space at the premises of more corporate firms for use as centres to train more people in first aid.
Commander-in-Chief Datuk Dr Low Bin Tick said Saturday it was faced with the problem of lack of space in its endeavour to set up more training centres closer to the people.
"The problem is space. We hope that more corporate sectors could offer us some space in their premises for the purpose," he told reporters when met after the launch of a training centre at Wisma Glomac, Kelana Centre Point, here.
The centre was officiated by Parliamentary Secretary to the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun.
The space for the centre, located at the basement of Wisma Glomac, was provided free by the Glomac Bhd.
Citing the importance of first aid and CPR training courses for the people to enable them to render pre-hospital emergency aid to save lives, Low said more people could be trained if the training centres are closer to them.
St John Ambulans has 10 training centres at its national and state headquarters and has 50,000 members, 70 per cent of whom are students, and 80 ambulances.
Low said there are 800 trainers from the rank and file of the St John Ambulans but it hopes to get retirees, such as teachers and professionals, to become trainers.
"We like to open it up to other people. It is like a franchise. They can use our centres and facilities to conduct first aid training. Part of the income from the training would go to them and part of it to St John Ambulans," he said.
He added the money earned would enable the sustainability of St John Ambulans' free operation as the government's grant of RM30,000 was hardly enough for it to hold various activities.
St John Ambulans is also toying with the idea of forming mobile first aid squads where selected trained volunteers equipped with first aid equipment in their car boots would respond to any accident or emergency situation.
St John Ambulans Selangor state commander Burnard K. T. Yeo said the fee for the first aid and CPR courses was RM600 for a class without any examination, irrespective of the number of participants, and RM150 per person for a class with the examination.
For information on the courses, the public can contact the St John Ambulans Selangor state administration office at 03-3371 5005, 03-3373 5005 or 03-3374 5005.