A reminder about The Community First Responders Scheme.
The Community First Responder Scheme is a partnership between Yorkshire Ambulance Service, NHS Trusts, and local groups of volunteers.
Unfortunately it is not always possible to get an emergency vehicle to a patient with a potentially life-threatening condition within the first few vital minutes, particularly if they are in an outlying rural area.
Therefore the Ambulance Service devised a plan to get help to those people in the vital first minutes of their medical emergency.
The Yorkshire Ambulance Service decided to train volunteer first responders to work as part of a dedicated team of people whose aim is to reduce the number of pre-hospital deaths in Yorkshire .
First Responders aim to provide cover 24/7 for their community. They have regular training meetings and are re-assessed every 6 months; this keeps the responders up to date with any changes, and ensures they keep the skills learned up to date.
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The role of a community first responder is:
- To provide emergency care until the arrival of an ambulance.
- To attend local emergency calls to patients who may be in a state of collapse or have other potentially life-threatening conditions such as cardiac arrest, stroke, chest pain, breathing difficulties etc.
- To provide oxygen therapy where necessary
- To manage patients suffering from potentially life-threatening medical conditions prior to the arrival of an emergency ambulance response.
- To respond to emergency 999 calls within their own community to help increase the chances of survival for cardiac arrest patients by the use of an Automatic External Defibrillator.
Members of the community do not need the first responders’ telephone numbers. If anyone needs an ambulance they should dial 999. The person who takes the call will know whether the emergency is something that a first responder can help with and they will call the responder on duty at that time, who will respond as long as it is safe to do so. As volunteers they have the right to refuse to respond if it is too dangerous.
If a responder is asked to help by anyone other than the ambulance service, for a fall, or road traffic accident, they have the right to refuse. They are not trained to deal with trauma. If they choose to help then they
do so as a ‘good samaritan’ and not as a responder.
We have a team of 11 people currently managing 24/7 emergency cover for our area. ( Rosedale and Hartoft)
To maintain this level of response we NEED more volunteers.
This will involve initial training, then maintenance training. The time you will be ‘on call’ is entirely up to you. Ideally it would be for three 24 hour periods per month, but one will be acceptable.
If anyone in the community feels that this is something that they are able to do, please contact the scheme co-ordinator Linda Dagg tel. 417003
FOR ALL EMERGENCIES RING 999 OR 112 FROM A MOBILE (if in a service area)
