St. John Ambulance Brigade, whose presence at events around the Island is often taken for granted, are now finding it difficult to meet the needs of the various sporting organisations.

And this week Commissioner Eugene Raynor offered both an apology and explanation to those groups which may have experienced difficulties because of the lack of first aid available on Sundays when there were few personnel available to cover sports.

"We ask the indulgence of the organisers of all events with the fact that our members are indeed volunteering their time for duties and that the Brigade is in no way able to dictate attendance if personal priorities occur at short notice," said the Commissioner.

"This past weekend requests were in hand for three events beginning at 8.00 a.m., two of which ran all day until 5.00 p.m. Two other events began at 12.00 p.m. and ended at 5.00 p.m.

"The Brigade was obviously stretched to cover all the timings for these events and by the Friday beforehand it was thought that all avenues were covered."

Requests for the St. John Ambulance to attend sporting events come from those where injuries are more likely to occur. Such events on Sunday included the national triathlon championships at Clearwater Beach, motorcycle racing at Southside and motocross action at Coney Island.

"Even though requests for first aid cover are received with sufficient notice, we are not in a position to guarantee individual and personal availability when the date for the function arrives," explained Raynor.

"This matter is further compounded when five or six organisations are requiring the first aid cover on the same day and within the same time periods." Raynor admitted the obvious solution was for an increased number of volunteers.

"We have always encouraged organisations to have some of their members trained in first aid so that this sort of inconvenience would occur less frequently," said Raynor, who could not promise that such a situation would not occur again in the future. "Consequently we now offer this apology to organisations that may have been inconvenienced this past weekend, on previous occasions and those which will be affected in the future.

"The Brigade does its utmost to maintain an adequate number of trained personnel to provide cover for requests throughout the year. Occasionally it finds itself with a critical situation of requiring members for duties but because of the ongoing training and re-training, personnel priorities and last minute changes in scheduling by organisations, it is sometimes impossible to guarantee the cover that had previously been agreed."

The charity, which has been functioning in Bermuda for more than 60 years, faced an uncertain future last year with a decline in volunteer numbers, though steps have now been taken to address that problem.

Earlier this year they revealed plans to purchase a fourth ambulance, estimated to cost in the region of $66,000.

But there are other expenses for the charity, which relies on volunteers and donations from the public to keep them functioning, such as fuel for the vehicles and hundreds of dollars for new equipment.

The charity gets hundreds of requests each year to attend various functions. Each ambulance must have a driver and at least two personnel trained in first aid.

When responding to requests for their services they inform the organisations that, while not charging a fee, a donation to offset expenses is greatly appreciated. Raynor noted some responded favourably while others ignored the request.