Rotorua business helps out St John paramedic

(From left) Specsavers co-owner Celeste Raisbeck, Steve Brake from St Johns and Specsavers co-owner Jason Langdon in store. Photo/Shauni James

Specsavers Rotorua decided to give a little back to St John and a local paramedic after his glasses were damaged during a recent job.

St John intensive care paramedic Steve Brake says the thing with wearing glasses at work is they are prone to being knocked off or damaged.

He says there has been a couple of incidents were they have been damaged, as some patients can be combative and unwell.

On this recent occasion, his glasses were knocked off his face and stood on.

Steve says they were fixed, but shortly after a temple piece broke and they had trouble sourcing the part.

He says he got a call from Specsavers out of the blue, saying they were aware of the damage and, particularly because of how they were damaged, offered to replace the glasses for free.

Steve says he was quite happy to pay so the offer was completely unexpected.

"To have them turn around and offer to replace the glasses, considering how much damage they had to them, was just fantastic.

"Obviously being able to see clearly is an important part of the job."

Specsavers Rotorua co-owner Jason Langdon says they wanted to recognise what St John did in the community, and after hearing about what happened they thought they would help out and give a little back.

He says St John is an amazing service full of volunteers who are helping people in need.

"There's nothing more important than life and they save people."

Steve says the St John medics need to be able to respond to a job in any way, so they can end up in situations such as going out on boats or being in the forest.

"It takes us to all these weird and wonderful places."

Steve says he has been in service for 19 years and has seen many changes.

He says they now have such a wide scope of medical procedures they can perform, and there are patients they can now attend and leave at home without having to go to the Emergency Department.

"It makes you feel good to be able to go out in the community and help people who are at the lowest point of their month, week or day."