The Order’s charitable work is carried out by the St John eye hospital in Jerusalem and 41 national St John organisations worldwide – with volunteers and staff of over 360,000.
The Order of St John itself is an Order of Chivalry of the British Crown. Her Majesty the Queen, the Sovereign Head of the Order, honours individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the work of Hato Hone St John, by awarding membership, at different grades, in the Order.
The Order is a Christian Order, founded on Christian principles and all we do is inspired by Christian ideals. However we warmly welcome people of any faith or no faith, who are motivated to share in our mission.
St John organisations provide a variety of services in their countries. Each has developed its own specialised activities to meet the particular needs of the communities it serves. These services include quality first aid care and training, ambulance services, community health care, and programmes for the training and development of young people.
St John prides itself on being an organisation that responds to the needs of the people it serves, which explains the huge diversity of activities from organisation to organisation such as: home based care training for people living with HIV and AIDS in Africa; kidney dialysis in Malaysia; disaster preparedness training in the Caribbean; cliff rescue in Malta, blood services in Papua New Guinea, to name just a few.
Find out about the history of St John in New Zealand >>