Donation from Western Power
Thank you to western power community fund for approving our grant application. We have purchased 6 new physio control CR2 defibs.
On call with SNCR
David & Conor flying the flag for SNCR. Reporter Alastair Ulke out on call for a shift in the scheme car. A great insight to how the role of a responder changes from dealing with a patient to dealing with family members once the ambulance crew have left the scene.
It’s not all about saving lives every shift, as a community first responder you need a few hats. The role of the responder has changed and expanded over the years. We were trained to get to a life critical scene within minutes because the responders are in the local community.
Community Support
It’s true we are a self funded charity. Like every charity we have running costs. We also have setup costs, every time we equip a responder we have to pay for their kit. SO we spend a lot of time looking for funding. We have various channels that we manage to get funding from and we are always looking for new sources of funding
We operate in various communities and we are lucky enough to qualify for grant funding from local parish councils. Since early 2018 here are some of the parish councils who have helped fund South Northants Community Responders.
Community AED training
Maidford Parish Council have just installed a community AED (Automated External Defibrillator) these are also know as Community Public Access Defibrillators or CPAD. Leroy from East Midlands Ambulance Service was invited along to do a talk on the benefits and use of the newly installed device. SNCR were invited along to support and to talk a bit about our role in the community.
The training consisted of
- An introduction to EMAS and SNCR.
- A video and power point presentation, highlighting the benefits of early intervention.
- Practical – parishioners were given the opportunity to practice CPR on a resus dummy.
The evening attracted a group of about 30 members of the local parish. Leroy went through a presentation on how to access and use the CPAD. The evening started with a few unsure faces, parishioners thinking, ‘well what could I do’ after a short presentation you could see that early intervention and ‘hands on CPR’ can dramatically increase the chances of survival.
Becoming a responder
This was my second go at becoming a responder, about 7 years ago there was a scheme in Weedon, Northamptonshire. But after only a few months the scheme folded. It took a while for me to look into being a responder again and eventually I found South Northants Community Responders.
Call Out Statistics
Since 2012 South Northants Community Responders has seen a significant increase in the number of call outs. The scheme has grown in size and with the introduction of the scheme car this has enabled our volunteers to be available to their communities more often.
An article on the BBC on the 6th March 2019 touches on the use of responders which improves call times “community first responders who may be closer to the scene and often know the areas better than ambulance crews”
- 2012 to 2018 sees a 586% percentage increase in call outs
Day One, Solo
Every Responder has a different experience on their first shift as a Community First Responder, here is the account of Conor’s first solo experience.
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