EEAST thanks military volunteers during Armed Forces Week

The service employs veterans, supports reservists, and also works closely with military co-responders. These are EEAST-trained armed forces personnel who volunteer to respond to 999 calls locally.

EEAST is supported by five active tri-service co-responder teams across the region: RAF Henlow, RAF Wyton, RAF Marham, RAF Honington and St George's Barracks.
Two more are expected to launch soon

So far this calendar year, co-responders have:

• Attended 1,261 incidents
• Volunteered 3,565 hours (average shift: 7 hours 45 minutes)
• Arrived first at 88% of incidents

They operate in EEAST vehicles and wear EEAST uniforms while on call.

Co-responders often help patients who have fallen, assessing them with clinicians in the control room to decide if hospital care is needed. They also attend life-threatening emergencies, providing vital support while ambulance crews are on the way.

In rural areas, they reach patients before ambulances in 74% of the most urgent (C1) calls.
In May, they helped reduce EEAST’s average C1 response time by six seconds.

Working with EEAST also gives military paramedics valuable frontline clinical experience. The service is partnering with the Ministry of Defence’s Central Defence Medical Group to host honorary contract paramedics. This allows military paramedics to be released from military duties to work with EEAST, gaining additional clinical exposure and experience.

Neill Moloney said: "Our military colleagues and EEAST staff share a strong commitment to serving the public, often in very challenging situations. We thank them for their dedication to their communities."