According to a release the St John Anniversary Week will include visits to the Ptolemy Reid Rehabilitation Centre, Gentlewoman’s Association and other outreach programmes, while the climax of this annual event will be the graduation of 80 students on Saturday.
The release said this year with the support of the Head Office St John International Office (London) Order of St. John Association, funds were obtained from the German Foreign Office in Berlin to train Guyanese in disaster preparedness and first aid.
These courses which are presented without charge have benefited some 1,400 persons so far, including professionals, teachers, scouts and other groups.
Courses were conducted in Regions Three, Four, Five, Six and Ten and the training will continue, the release added.
The Order of St John of Jerusalem is an ancient noble order of chivalry and was founded in the 11th century by a group of Italian merchants who established a hospital near the church of St John the Baptist in Jerusalem to care for sick pilgrims and crusaders, the release said.
In 1887, the informal units became the St John Ambulance Brigade to provide uniform and medical reserve for the armed forces. The next year, the British Order of St John was reorganized by Queen Victoria as the British Order of Chivalry – the most venerable order of St John of Jerusalem. Since then the reigning monarch has always been the head of the order.
The local association was set up in 1933 under the leadership of the late Dr LH Wharton and the brigade, which is paramilitary was formed in 1952 with Sir Frank Holder as commissioner. Since its establishment it has been involved in first aid and home nursing, ambulance training, mother and child care, public and civic duties, primary health care, care of the elderly, and training of the joint services.
