IN PICTURES: St John WA officially opens new Albany sub-centre with a ceremony and tour of the premises

St John WA officially opened its upgraded Albany sub-centre on Tuesday, celebrating the milestone with a ceremony and a walk-through of the modern facility.

The purpose-built centre features 19 undercover ambulance bays, alongside new offices, first-aid training rooms, meeting spaces, volunteer break areas and a kitchen.

It also includes quiet rest zones, additional storerooms and secure parking, designed to better support crews and volunteers.

St John volunteers, staff and community members attended the opening, exploring the new facility before a formal ceremony.

Speeches were delivered by St John WA chief executive Kevin Brown, district operations manager for the Great Southern Toni Melia and station officer Jason Boschin before the event concluded with afternoon tea.

Mr Boschin said the upgraded building would allow St John to improve its services for the local community.

“This (building) allows us to provide a greater and enhanced service to the community of Albany and also to the underlying communities as well,” he said.

“For us who occupy the building it allows for us to do our job better — we have better facilities . . . we are now ready for challenges in the future.

“This is an ecosystem where everybody comes together to provide a safe and appropriate journey for our patients.”

Ms Melia said the team in Albany were excited be operating out of this new facility.

“We’re really excited to be able to share this with everyone and have it as a great meeting place for our staff and volunteers across the Great Southern and we welcome volunteers and staff from other areas to pop in and visit us and have a chat,” she said.