Congratulations to James

. . . but you may or may not want to see him like this . . .

 

 

 

. . . depending on how you're feeling.

 

Nearly three years ago James completed his training and became a CFR (Community First Responder) as part of the Endmoor group. He carries a pager and is called out by the North West Ambulance Service to 999 calls within our local area. The group covers an area roughly from junction 36 to 37 of the M6, and eastwards of Kendal as far as the A684. This also includes Lupton and the new Auction Mart at J36. By knowing their own locale First Responders can arrive before the ambulance. This is taken from the NWAS website, and explains better than I can -

Community First Responders are teams of volunteers who live and work in local communities. They are trained and activated by North West Ambulance NHS Service NHS Trust to attend certain calls where time can make the difference between life and death. Such calls would include Chest Pain, Breathing Difficulties, Cardiac Arrest, Unconsciousness, Fitting, Arrest of Haemorrhage and Diabetic Emergencies. The responder provides care and support to the patient and relatives until the arrival of the emergency ambulance.

Very often, the role of a responder is one of reassurance. In instances where someone has chest pains, simply giving oxygen can make a big difference.  In extreme cases, they can perform CPR (cardio-pulmonary resuscitation) or use a defibrillator to restart the heart. Chances of survival decreases by 10% with each minute a person's heart has stopped beating. So the CFR's availability in the local area means they can respond quickly and start treatment as early as possible.

Each volunteer makes themselves available on call to suit their personal circumstances. They carry basic life saving equipment, and a simple to use Automated External Defibrillator (AED).

The Ambulance Service control centre sends Responders to immediately life threatening medical calls within their local area. They are dispatched at the same time as the ambulance crews but because they are often in more rural locations, may arrive more quickly than the ambulance.



Since last July James has been training to be an ECFR (Extended First Responder). This has involved practical training courses as well as intensive online study (modules to complete followed by assessment). Last weekend the final assessments took place over two days at Shap Wells hotel and James has now attained ECFR status. He even won a prize for best overall performance in scenarios (3 creme eggs!).

 

He now carries pain relief (Entonox) as well as Oxygen and Dextrose Gel for hypoglycaemia and has the capabilities to respond to twice as many incidents, including falls, head injuries and trauma. It's not just the type of calls that has increased, but also extra categories of people he can attend.

 

He has twice as much kit now, including two gas cylinders. It's packed up and stored by the front door, so as soon as his pager goes off he can drop everything, throw it into the car and be off down the lane in minutes.

 

The NW Ambulance Service has a YouTube channel, including this video showing a typical First Responder.

 

So, if you've just rung 999 the first person you see could be James.

 

P.S - I should also say Congratulations to Martin Smith of Endmoor who is now also an ECFR.


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