On Friday 22nd July the Telford & Wrekin Community First Responders, Kim Jeffries & Paul Wood, visited the Club to describe their work.
Community First Responders [CFRs] are volunteers who respond to 999 emergencies to support West Midlands Ambulance Service. Telford & Wrekin CFRs are a Charity based organisation that relies on public funding to purchase essential equipment to aid in patient care, this equipment typically costs £2000 per CFR.
All Training is carried out West Midlands Ambulance Service [WMAS] and provides each CFR with a Nationally recognised BTEC FPOS qualification. CFRs support their local communities and are usually first on scene, an ambulance will always be dispatched as backup to the CFR. In many illnesses or injuries the first few minutes are critical and simple interventions can be performed in order to save lives or prevent disability. All CFRs carry the essential equipment to save lives including an Automatic External Defibrillator.
A CFR is fully trained to deal with many medical emergencies: Cardiac arrest, stroke, heart attacks, trauma injuries, seizures, diabetic problems, unconscious patients and breathing problems. Once fully trained and operational, a CFR will book on call with Ambulance Control. This could be from work or home. CFRs are dispatched to emergencies within their local communities, usually within 5 miles of their base location. However, when demand is high, CFRs will be used and sent all over Telford and the surrounding areas.
Once on the scene, the CFR will assess the patient and carry out the appropriate action to make the patient more comfortable. A CFR will take the patient’s full medical history so on arrival of an ambulance a swift hand-over can be given so that the patient can be taken to hospital. CFRs carry all the essential equipment to deal with medical emergencies.
Follow this link to reach the Telford & Wrekin Community First Responders website.