Community First Responders
A Community First Responder is a volunteer who is trained by the Ambulance Service to attend emergency calls in the area where they live or work.
Their aim is to reach a potential life threatening emergency in the first vital minutes before the Ambulance crew arrives on scene.
Community first responders are sent by ambulance control to life-threatening emergencies such as cardiac arrest. They live or work in area where a group is set up and can get to an incident in just a few minutes while an ambulance resource is on its way. Their role is to help stabilise the patient and, in doing so, keep the patient alive until the arrival of the more highly skilled ambulance crew, who are trained to undertake further life saving techniques.
The concept of Community First Responders originated in America through work undertaken by Dr Richard Cummins. He discovered that if a series of events took place in a set sequence, a patient suffering a cardiac arrest had a greater chance of survival. These events are known as the ‘Chain of Survival’.
If the Ambulance Service can send a Community First Responder who is trained in basic life support, in using a defibrillator and in administering oxygen, to a collapsed patient within three to four minutes, that patient’s chances of survival will increase by 10% for every minute that the Community First Responder is there prior to the arrival of the Ambulance crew.
Get Involved
Each Community First Responder scheme is always looking to increase their team members, so, if you have spare time and would like to get involved, we would like to hear from you. The sections below give more information about community first responders.
Who can become a Community First Responder?
