Health Minister has paid tribute to the
invaluable work of Northern Ireland's Community First Responders.
There are 22 Community First Responder (CFR) schemes across
Northern Ireland, comprising 407 volunteers who live within their
local community. The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS)
alerts the volunteers to specific 999 emergency calls in their
area and their work is complementary to the care provided by
NIAS.
CFR volunteers aim to reach a potentially life-threatening
emergency in the vital first few minutes before the arrival of an
ambulance crew. This service is particularly important in
rural and geographically hard to reach communities. CFRs who
live in the area can be on scene within minutes and can make a
real difference before the ambulance arrives. They are
able to provide basic emergency life support and use a
defibrillator if required
The Health Minister paid tribute to Ards Peninsula CFRs at a
recognition event in Bangor City Hall. The Ards scheme was
established in February 2015 and is one of the longest serving in
Northern Ireland.
Speaking at the event the Health Minister said: “It really is
impressive to be reaching the 10th anniversary of the Ards
Peninsula Community First Responders. With over 50,000
volunteer hours provided over the past ten years, the impact of
this group really is immeasurable when you think
of the partners, children, wider families and friends of each
individual treated.
“Community First Responder schemes such as this really do
represent the best of community and the best of humanity.
Selflessly giving up your own time and energy to help those most
in need, especially in our rural areas, is truly admirable.
And the Ards Peninsula CFR scheme has the added
challenge of dealing not only with the local community, but also
serving the visiting tourists as the population swells over the
summer months as people enjoy the coastline.”
Notes to editors:
1. All of these volunteers carry a fully stocked first aid bag
containing personal protection equipment, automated external
defibrillator and other equipment to support basic first aid. The
value of the contents of these bags exceeds £2500 each with most
of the equipment being single use so must be replaced regularly.
This is financed through fundraising activities and donations.
2. More information https://nias.hscni.net/services/involving-our-community/first-responders/
3. The Ards Peninsula Community First Responders call types are
broken down as follows:
- 8% of the alerts were coded as cardiac arrest
- 64% of the alerts were coded as chest pain
- 28% of the alerts were coded as ‘other'
