What is a Community First Responder?
Volunteering for our community...
Community First Responders are a group of volunteers, that are trained by the ambulance service to respond to medical and trauma emergencies within their community, whilst the ambulance is on route.
The training our volunteers receive is to a Level 3 national standard:
Basic Life Support
AED use
Diagnostic monitoring
Oxygen therapy
Hemorrhage control
Basic wound care
Why are we beneficial?
The original reason community first responders were created, was to assist with the ambulance service response to cardiac arrest patients. This has now developed into a concise medical and traumatic trained response role.
The CFR team are responded within a 5 mile radius of wherever they are on call, this allows a rapid response to patients, event without the use of blue lights. The local knowledge and awareness of the road network, allows our team to navigate to patients efficiently.
What does it take?
Each volunteer undertakes the recruitment process via NHS Jobs and attends a virtual interview with West Midlands Ambulance Service Community Response Team if shortlisted.
If successful at interview, they are invited to attend a 6 day training course, followed by 16 hours on call with an experienced CFR as a 'buddy shift'. There are also opportunities to see first hand what it is like to work on an emergency ambulance.
Once made 'live' by the ambulance service, our volunteers either respond solo or with another CFR, completing 208 hours per year (average 4 hours per week). They are dispatched to emergencies in one of our two response vehicles, and have all the communication equipment required to perform the role.
Other parts to the role...
Alongside responding, our CFRs are also required to undertake Community Education, and Fundraising for our charity.
Community Education - CPR, AED & PABK awareness training
Fundraising - To allow our team to fund the vehicles and equipment