I would like to take this opportunity to introduce a new scheme which has been set up in Milford on sea.

We have set up a community responders scheme in conjunction with South central ambulance service to provide cover for the area to respond to immediately life threatening medical emergency's. The emergency's we will and have already done so in responding to are listed below.

• Stroke
• Choking
• Diabetic emergencies
• Serious injuries ( fall from heights etc. )
• Breathing difficulties
• Patients suffering a seizure
• Chest pains
• Unconscious patients
• Heart Attack.  

  
  

  Below is a quick outline of what community responders are.

  Community First Responders are volunteers who give their time freely to help care for people and save lives in their community.

  Responders are everyday members of the general public who are trained to deal with a wide range of potentially life threatening conditions until the arrival of an ambulance.

  Very often the role they play is one of reassurance, for example in instances where someone has chest pains but in more extreme cases they can perform CPR (cardio-pulmonary resuscitation) or use a defibrillator to restart someone's heart.

  First Responders provide support to the regular Ambulance Service by attending serious and life threatening 999 calls in and around the community to provide the earliest possible intervention for patients in the first few minutes until the arrival of an Ambulance.

  The ambulance service dispatcher is able to send Community First Responders to a range of incidents; they are dispatched at the same time as the ambulance crews but because they are often in more rural areas can often arrive before the ambulance. In cases of cardiac arrest it has been identified that the chance of a positive outcome reduces by approximately 10% for every minute that effective CPR and defibrillation are delayed.

  The scheme can be incredibly rewarding as responders could well end up saving someone's life.  Many villages where schemes exist show great community spirit knowing that there are people there who could be lifesavers.

  
  

  
  

  We run on charitable donations and are not funded by the NHS or other government bodies.

  
  

  That in mind we are always on the look out for charitable donations to help the scheme running. I have detailed just a few items below which we need to buy and what they cost.

  
  

  £ 18                 pays for a replacement set of defibrillator pads

  £156                pays for a defibrillator battery

  £180                pays for the annual rental charges on a CFR emergency pager

  £1000              pays for a new automated external defibrillator

  £2000              pays for a new, full first responder medical kit

  
  

  At the moment we have a loan kit from another community responder scheme so we are fundraising firstly to be able to purchase our own dedicated kit.

  
  

  If you feel you can help the scheme succeed and carry on the amazing work community responders do then please consider donating to us or dropping me an email  ( Ross woolgar - scheme coordinator ) at email milfordonseacfr@sca-charity.org.uk for other ways you can help.

Thank you for your help to keep our scheme running.