A LOCAL volunteer ambulance committee are celebrating Redland Bay ambulance station's 20th anniversary.
The Redland Bay Ambulance Committee have raised $188,000 for the station since its grand opening on July 17, 1999.
Foundation committee members Jan Sommerville and Evelyn Richardson said locals formed the committee in 1996 to bring an ambulance station to Redland Bay.
"We felt Redland Bay was growing when we saw the farms disappearing and houses being built," Ms Sommerville said.
"The closest ambulance to here was either Cleveland or Beenleigh so there was a lot of travelling involved.
"Redland Bay was the first station to be built as a house and not a station.
"In those days we only had stretcher bearers and ambulance bearers."
Redland Bay ambulance station officer-in-charge Camron Morris said the committee worked tirelessly to raise money.
"Today a lot of the paramedics come straight out of university so the LACs purchase them stethoscopes, lunch kits and raptor shears," he said.
"It also goes into things like training equipment, defibrillators, text books and the computerised dummies we practice on.
"The guys also organise trauma teddies.
"There's a band of ladies in the bayside that knit the teddies and tag them with Redland Bay ambulance station.
"We give them to sick children and dementia patients."
Mr Morris said the committee volunteers had made a tangible difference to the station.
"We've grown a lot here," he said. "It is now one of the busiest stations in the bayside."
"Our growth is three or four times that of any other station in the area."
The committee will celebrate on Saturday night with a function at the Capalaba Sports Club.
They will share stories about their fundraising efforts spanning two decades.
