Bluff quartet eyes more success on West Coast
Tuesday, 15 August 2017
Four 13-year-olds in the St John youth division in Bluff are doing extra study for a South Island final.
Fundraising to send the quartet to the final at Shantytown (West Coast) in September began within 24 hours of them winning the Southland title at Lumsden on June 25.
The Bluff team - Jorja Glassey, Calvin McCrone, Izaya Simeon and his cousin Zara Simeon - was one of five competing at the Southland youth competition, others being Lumsden, Te Anau, Gore and Invercargill.
'We were so stoked to win,' Jorja said.
She and her teammates are committed to doing their best in competitions. For the past four months they arrived an hour early on training nights at Bluff's St John station to do extra study.
As well as general first aid questions, other topics the team could face at the South Island final are drill (marching), communication, health care, leadership and a written first aid test.
Jorja's father, Bob Glassey, who is a paramedic, said the communication section could involve giving a 15-minute presentation on any aspect of St John's work.
The first aid test might be about amputations, what to do in an asthma attack and administering medicine.
Possible health care tests could be on bed making, wound dressing and feeding people with disabilities.
The four teenagers are clued-up on first aid and know how to operate a defibrillator and are competent in performing CPR. At 15, they can do first responder courses.
The minimum age to be an active member of St John is 8.
Learning programmes for youth are important in St John and guest speakers, such as firefighters, visit the Bluff division.
The West Coast-bound quartet and other youth in Bluff's St John do many hours of community work, Glassey's wife, Wyma, says.
'They help the elderly…they're community minded.'
Izaya and his mother Hayley Simeon are known in Bluff for delivering small gifts to residents at Christmas. More than 600 received gifts last year.
The Simeons bought candy sticks to put in hundreds of home-made Christmas crackers. Bluff and Invercargill businesses and organisations donated goods and money to the Simeons' Christmas project. Money donated was used to buy more treats.
Jorja (attends Bluff Community School), Izaya (Southland Boys' High School) and Zara (Southland Girls' High School) are thinking about careers as doctors or nurses, while Calvin (Southland Boys' High School) is keen to be a biologist.
Wyma Glassey is the St John divisional manager for youth and station manager at Bluff.
Zara's mother, Terina Simeon, and Calvin's mother, Felicia McCrone, are first responders.
Bob and Wyma Glassey started the St John youth division in Bluff with 25 children in 2012. The number is now 11.
There are 13 ambulance officers in the port town.