The origins of the Highway First Aid Posts began in 1927. Placed at strategic locations along the highways in Ontario, these posts consisted of a locked box with directions as to where to find the key. The individual who held the key, who may have, for example, owned a nearby business, was always trained in first aid. This individual would then unlock the box and often attend to the injured themselves.
This would be expanded into the Highway First Aid Posts in 1934 with cooperation from the Canadian Red Cross and the Ontario Motor League. At this time, 22 first aid posts were established at 10-mile (16 km) intervals between Toronto and Montreal. Local residents were designated to maintain the posts and recruit between four and twenty people to be trained in first aid by St John Ambulance. In the first three months, more than 100 patients were treated. The average cost of each post was $41.20 in 1936 and $55.53 in 1944. Ontario was divided into eight districts, posts were deliberately placed where they were remote from medical care and where accidents were frequent. An additional 12 first aid posts would be added in the Niagara and Hamilton areas.1
The Highway First Aid Posts were located in garages or service stations, sometimes as a separate building or located inside the garage itself. These garages would often use their own trucks to transport first aiders to the locations of accidents. St. John Ambulance Association trained these individuals in first aid free of cost. In 1942, large triangular signs were placed on the highway one mile from each first aid post with the logos of the three organizations.
The first First Aid Patrol Ambulance was purchased in May 1937. In its first year, it travelled more than 12,000 miles and was present for more than 20 accidents.2 In 1939, a second ambulance was purchased. The drivers of these vehicles were paid and were either qualified first aid instructors or, during the summer months, medical students. These ambulances were used to conduct continuous inspections of the First Aid Posts, train or requalify their personnel, and respond to accidents when they occur within the nearby area. Patrol Ambulance No. 1 provided first aid services during the Royal visit in 1939. Ambulance No.1 was in continuous service during the 1941 Canadian National Exhibition (CNE). 1,101 cases received first aid treatment, 116 of which were transported to hospital.
In 1936 there were 26 Highway First Aid Posts. This number would grow and contract until by 1944, there were 57. In this timeframe, 3,885 casualties were treated, of which 346 were considered to be serious. The number of posts peaked during this time at 65 in 1940 but would decrease during the war due to members enlisting in the armed forces or being needed in other industries.3 The Red Cross withdrew from the Ontario Highway First Aid Program in the early 1950s4. The Ambulances were in service until the mid-1960’s. The Highway First Aid Posts were shut down in the early 1970’s.5
Similar Highway First Aid Posts existed in other provinces, including Manitoba, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island.
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1 Strome Galloway, The White Cross in Canada 1883-1983. (Ottawa: St John Priory of Canada, 1983), 77.
2 Galloway, 78.
3 J.B. Wallace, The History of Highway First Aid Posts in the Province of Ontario, in St John Ambulance Association and Brigade Pear Book, 1946
4 Christopher McCreery, The Maple Leaf and the White Cross: A History of St. John Ambulance and the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem in Canada (Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2008),, 131.
5 Ontario Paramedic Association, History of Paramedics in Ontario, 2015, retrieved from OPA – Ontario Paramedic Association
