EEAST thanks military medics who attended 1,000 incidents

EEAST CEO Neill Moloney took the opportunity of Armed Forces Day (June 28) to thank members of the armed services who volunteer to help their communities.

As well as employing veterans and having many reservists, the ambulance service also works closely with military co-responders - armed forces personnel with medical training who volunteer their services to respond to 999 calls in their local area.

EEAST has 60 military co-responders operating from RAF bases across the region: RAF Henlow, RAF Wyton, RAF Marham and RAF Honington.  

They operate from vehicles provided by EEAST and wear EEAST uniforms when on-call.

Co-responders often assist patients who have fallen from the floor and make an assessment with a clinician in the ambulance control room to determine whether the patient can be safely left at home or needs further care. They can also be dispatched to the most serious medical emergencies, delivering vital life-saving support while waiting for ambulance crews to arrive.

In the past year co-responding teams have supported EEAST with 2,752 volunteering hours and have attended over 1,000 incidents.

Because they are often deployed in more rural areas, co-responders arrive on-scene ahead of an EEAST response 90% of the time, arriving 8 minutes ahead on a C1 (most urgent patients) calls.

Over the next 12 months EEAST plans to recruit an additional 40 military co-responders and establish a new team on the Cambridgeshire border in collaboration with the Army.

EEAST chief executive officer Neill Moloney said: "Both our military colleagues and EEAST staff have a common service ethos: the willingness to help members of the public and the determination to step forward and act, often in the most challenging of situations. “We would like to thank them for their service and dedication to their communities.”

Working with EEAST can also give military paramedics valuable front-line experience. EEAST is currently working in partnership with the MOD’s Central Defence Medical Group to host honorary contract paramedics.
This will allow military paramedics to be released from MOD work to work with EEAST on honorary contracts where they will gain additional clinical exposure and experience.