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St. John Ambulance
The St. John Ambulance organization in Canada consisted of volunteer brigade units and nursing divisions. The organization was very active in the war effort, both at home and overseas. During the Second World War, St. John Ambulance units formed voluntary detachments and provided medical services, first aid training, and emergency preparedness training to military personnel and civilians. Members served in air raid shelters, prisoner of war camps, mobile surgical units, and military and civilian hospitals. Much of this work was undertaken in cooperation with the Canadian Red Cross.
On the homefront, members of the St. John Ambulance provided services to aid in the recuperation and rehabilitation of injured personnel residing in convalescent homes. Members trained caregivers working in convalescent and veterans' homes, drove ambulances, worked in blood clinics, and handed out first aid kits.
Another and somewhat different aspect of the work of the St. John Ambulance involved the training of personnel for the operation of various home defence programs—notably, the maintenance of civilian warning systems, the training of civilian air raid wardens, and the teaching of survival techniques to those civilians involved in home defence programs.
Reference
St. John Ambulance. “History.” (accessed September, 2007).