St John Ambulance provides another year of care to Pride revellers

Over 100 dedicated volunteers from St John Ambulance in Sussex were on hand to provide medical care at this years Pride in Brighton and Hove, for the fifteenth year running.

The volunteers treated 221 patients ranging from cuts and sprains to a few more serious cases of unconscious and fitting casualties.

The St John Ambulance team included four doctors, six paramedics and five nurses as well as five ambulances, a communications unit, specially trained 'Forward Incident Teams' and a logistics support crew.

Assistant Commissioner Dan May, who co-ordinated the organisation's cover said: 'St John have been involved with planning this years event as part of the council led multi agency team for some nine months.

'Our staff started work from Thursday evening bringing together the huge amount of resources and equipment required for such a large public gathering.  On the day itself we covered a nineteen hour shift and were on hand to provide a range of care services to those attending the event both on the parade route, at Preston Park and later on at the St James Street celebrations.'

Pride's Operations Manager, PJ Aldred explained: 'Pride once again appointed St John because of their ability to resource what is the largest event in Brighton's calendar.

'St John Ambulance has a great understanding of what is needed for events of this size and their knowledge and advice both before and during the event was a key part of Pride's strategy to provide an event that is both fun and safe for those attending.'

She continued: 'I know that the tens of thousands of people attending this year's event were once again reassured to see the St John volunteers on hand to assist where needed.'

By bringing together a team of highly trained staff, including doctors and paramedics volunteers were able to significantly reduce the strain that such a large event would traditionally place on the South East Coast Ambulance Service and the local hospitals, by ensuring that all those attending have access to high quality care without the need to leave site or call in a statutory ambulance service resource.

First aiders were in constant communication with both the Ambulance Service and Royal Sussex County Hospital throughout the day in order to ensure that all agencies were able to plan their resources accordingly.

St John Ambulance is the UK's leading first aid and care charity and receives no public funding for their work. Expenses for this event were paid for by Pride in Brighton and Hove. All St John Ambulance staff provided their time voluntarily.

For more information about their work, contact the Sussex HQ on 01273 371500.