The St John Ambulance is in dire need of funds.

Growing debt, a sharp decline in volunteer numbers and dilapidated vehicles have put the non-profit in “financial straights”, meaning it can no longer offer vital services to the hundreds of events it attends every year.

Accumulated debt over the past eight years stands near $300,000, exceeding the charity’s revenue by 90 percent, St John Ambulance (SJA) Commissioner, Stephen Gunn, told Hamilton Rotarians yesterday.

The charity provides emergency medical treatment and an ambulance service at many public events free of charge, with men and women volunteering over 9,000 man-hours every year.

Dr Gunn said the service was “failing because we were too proud to tell those people who were in a position to support us in the first place.”

Following an article appearing in The Royal Gazette a few weeks ago, he said SJA had “received an extremely gracious offer, which will enable a new ambulance to be purchased for our use.”

“However we still need to stock this new ambulance with a stretcher and specialised equipment which will cost us in the range of $13,000.

“Even though the donation of the ambulance does not directly pay off the debts, it will provide SJA with another available vehicle to attend events, which may have been cancelled by us due to a lack of transportation, which results in increased revenue.”

The promise of a new ambulance comes at a crucial time for the charity, as only two of its five ambulances are fully operational.

Dr Gunn said that only two of five were roadworthy — and these were often loaned out to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, which is struggling to maintain its own fleet.

The hospital’s four ambulances, which are just four-years-old, are being decommissioned because of repeated mechanical failure and the Bermuda Hospitals Board is having to rely on St John Ambulance to provide emergency back-up.

Dr Gunn said there were further concerns regarding volunteer numbers, especially with Regiment conscription coming to an end.

“In 2007, St. John Ambulance had 125 serving volunteer members, most of whom were young men who chose to serve the community through St. John rather than the Army. Due to the reduction in recruits from conscription and pending end of this requirement, the number of conscripted volunteer members has dropped and will be even more drastic in 2014.

“This year our total number of active volunteers was less than 50.”

However, Dr Gunn said he was pleased to announce over a dozen young men under 16 years old have joined SJA in recent weeks.

“This age group has historically been the focus of the Cadet Programme. However, as there is currently no platform for the Cadet Programme, these high school students are being trained as junior volunteers, who will eventually receive the same training as our adult volunteers.”

“This new opportunity does bring about additional expense though as the junior volunteers need to be properly identified for safety reasons. We need new uniforms for them. The reason for this is so that a young person isn’t put into a position of responsibility required of an adult. Currently I do not have separate uniforms for them.”

Financial restraints are now showing at the charity’s headquarters at Dunrossil House, which is in of a “major overhaul”, including new floors, new electrical wiring and plumbing.

Now, said Dr Gunn, the SJA was exploring “possible opportunities to raise our awareness and image to the community,” including new pamphlets, random parking of one of our ambulances around the Island for short periods, frequent articles in the paper and opportunities like this to address the public of our needs.

“We feel that by raising the awareness, this will assist us in developing partnerships and in return, revenue.”

Efforts to raise awareness appeared to have paid off immediately for Dr Gunn after one Rotarian suggested SJA partner with the Bermuda College’s automotive technology programme in order to fix some of the problems plaguing the ambulance fleet.

“That is a fabulous idea, and it will be something we will explore,” said Dr Gunn.

“Thank you.”