St John Ambulance invites community into new and improved sub-centre in Gnowangerup

The Gnowangerup community was finally able to welcome the new upgrades to the town’s St John Ambulance sub-centre at the weekend.

The Gnowangerup St John Ambulance sub-centre was completed in late 2019 but the community had to wait 15 months to officially open it following several postponements through 2020.

More than 50 people came to the opening on Saturday.

The $450,000 upgrades have provided more than just a facelift to the original 1986 facility.

St John WA’s Great Southern regional manager Emma Doughty said the sub-centre had been transformed from a building providing “the bare necessities” to one she described as a “beautiful and amazing building”. “Our volunteers and the community should be very proud of a facility that is very much owned and part of Gnowangerup,” she said.

The new sub-centre has three ambulance bays, a medical store, an outdoor patio, upgraded kitchen and toilet facilities, and a brand new 64sqm first aid training room. Ms Doughty said St John never stopped operating out of the building even during renovations.