Brewood District Community First Responders are a group of volunteers trained by West Midlands Ambulance service to response to emergency 999 calls within our local community. Volunteers live within the Brewood and immediate surrounding areas. All the volunteers come from a variety of backgrounds and careers and all vary in age.

 

Community First Responders provide immediate care to patients in rural areas where the distance from ambulance stations may affect the response time. Volunteers try to provide a 24 hour service around their current jobs and donate much precious time to the group. Each volunteer can offer as much time as they want towards the service, though members may not be able to commit to a fixed weekly time period.

 

The Community First Responder scheme is a charitable organisation and does not receive any money from any central West Midland funds. All running costs need to be covered by donations, local fund raising and sponsorship. The First Responders need to cover day to day running costs such as fuel, mobile phones and medical equipment. In addition to this are the costs of buying the car, tax and insurance.

 

Given that First Responders are based within the community in which they live or work they can attend the scene of an emergency in a very short time, often arriving in the first couples of minutes of the initial call. First Responders offer vital life saving first aid before the ambulance arrives, which further increases the patient's chance of survival. The first couple of minutes can be the most critical after an accident or serious illness.

 

Responders are always followed by an ambulance or community paramedic officer. It is important to stress that although they do not replace the professionals, they still provide essential additional support and assistance until they arrive in our area.

On the 24th March Louisa Copcutt and Shannen Butler are participating in a sponsored walk around the district covered by the Responders. This is to help increase awareness and to raise money to enable the Responders to carry on helping the community.
 

Louisa and Shannen would be pleased to meet you at the Open day where both donations and fancy dress ideas will be most welcome! If you can't make it on the day but would still like to support the girls you can contact Louisa on 07903 078492 by email at louisajaynecopcutt@hotmail.com or through twitter, @louisajayneee.

Previous donations have helped the responders obtain important items such as a responder bag with equipment and drugs, radios and pagers and an automated external defibrillator.