Yorkshire Ambulance service is looking to recruit more Community First Responders on the Yorkshire Coast.
The volunteers are often able to get to medical emergencies before ambulance crews can arrive.
Neil Marcy is a Community Defibrillation Officer with Yorkshire Ambulance Service, he says they provide a vital service.
The Ambulance Service says that their CFRs are:
"trained to provide life-saving treatment to patients in the vital first few minutes of an emergency until our ambulance crew arrives. If effective treatment is provided quickly, lives can be saved and disability reduced. This is especially true for heart attacks and medical conditions which have caused someone to lose consciousness.
When a 999 call is received in our Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), an ambulance response is dispatched. At the same time, a CFR on-call in the area can be alerted and asked to attend the incident to ensure that help reaches the patient as quickly as possible.
As our volunteers are based within the community, they may only be a minute or two away from a medical emergency and very often their role is to simply provide vital reassurance to patients and their families until the ambulance crew arrives. However, in extreme cases, such as a cardiac arrest, they can perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and use an automated external defibrillator (AED) to try and restart someone’s heart, which can potentially save their life."
Barry Wood is the Community Defibrillation Trainer for North York Moors and Coast, he says the community first responders come from many walks of life.
Anyone who wants to help their community can become a CFR.
No previous medical experience or training is necessary, but you will need a caring attitude and be able to cope with potentially distressing situations.
You need to:
- be aged 18 or over
- hold a valid, full UK driving licence, with no more than three penalty points
- have access to a vehicle
- be prepared to undertake a Disclosure and Barring Service Check
- be prepared to undertake occupational health screening
- be prepared to undertake our CFR course.
CFR Volunteers receiving training in a classroom from ambulance staff
You will be asked to attend a welcome evening and introduction to Yorkshire Ambulance Service.
Subject to your application to become a CFR being accepted, and the completion of relevant checks, you will be invited on a training course.
For more information on community first responding, or to apply to join the team, please contact the Community Resilience Team, or apply at Community First Responder Vacancies.
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