Hong Kong St John Ambulance celebrated its 140th anniversary this year. To commemorate the occasion, Hong Kong St John Ambulance hosted the Asia Pacific Youth Competition (APYC) 2024 on Saturday 27 July 2024, at the Wu Kai Sha Youth Village of the Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong.
To mark the occasion, we interviewed Cadet Corporal Adrian Cheng, from Hong Kong St John Ambulance Brigade, a participant of APYC.
Cadet Corporal Adrian Cheng
Hello, my name is Cadet Corporal Adrian Cheng. I have been a member of the St John Youth Command since the age of 12 years old.
This year’s APYC Youth Competition was my first. I became a part of the APYC Youth Competition in January 2024 through a Cadet Group formed by the Hong Kong St John Ambulance Youth Command. The aim of the group is to provide advanced first aid training to select St John Youth members. The selected members would go on to represent Hong Kong St John Ambulance Brigade in the Asia Pacific Youth Competition.
Before the competition started, I was both excited and nervous. After attending numerous training sessions with different trainers, my teammates and I were well prepared. We were slightly worried and anxious about making mistakes and losing the competition, but as soon as the competition started, we put those feelings to one side and tried our best.
After the competition had ended, myself and my teammates were originally quite devastated and disappointed that we hadn’t succeeded in treating the patients with perfection. When the results were announced, we were all extremely elated to have won the competition, as we didn’t expect to win. We celebrated with our trainers with great joy.
Since I hadn’t participated in a First Aid Competition before, I never expected to be able to become one of the team members of the Hong Kong Team. Having the opportunity to be chosen as the leader was surprising and unexpected. It was also a meaningful, memorable, and unforgettable experience.
Cadet Corporal Adrian Cheng
"I would like to thank all my trainers for providing useful tips and advice during the training sessions, and a massive thank you to my teammates for supporting me and staying with me throughout this journey."
History behind the Asia Pacific Youth Competition (APYC)
The APYC 2024 is an international competition event for St John cadets from the Asia Pacific Region to promote interaction and friendship among St John members from different establishments and facilitate mutual knowledge exchange through friendly competitions. Through competitions and related exchange activities, youth team members from different countries or regions in the Asia-Pacific Region get to know, learn, and communicate with each other.
The APYC 2024 is a five-day event consisting of a First Aid and Home Nursing Competition and visits different Hong Kong St John Ambulance premises, such as the Ambulance Depots, St John Ambulance Control Centre (SJACC), Cycle Response Unit, Dental Clinic, and the latest Virtual Reality game for training purpose. Through these visits, St John youth team members from different countries and regions will gain a better understanding of the development of Hong Kong St John Ambulance and share their services and latest developments in their establishment, which creates room for future innovation ideas in the development of the whole St John.
Nearly 100 youth members from six different establishments of the top St John Youth Teams from various regions (including Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Malaysia, New Zealand, and Singapore) participate in a total of 23 different scenarios of “first aid” and “home nursing” case handling competitions.
