The Community First Responder (CFR) scheme is a life-saving partnership between the Yorkshire Ambulance Service and local communities. As authorised volunteers for the ambulance service, CFRs help to reduce the number of pre-hospital deaths. The team in Sesay was established by residents in 2011, and at its height, had an active team of nine volunteers from the community.
CFRs are trained to provide life-saving treatment to patients in the vital first few minutes of an emergency until our ambulance crew arrives. If effective treatment is provided promptly, lives can be saved and disability can be reduced. This is especially true for heart attacks and medical conditions which have caused someone to lose consciousness.
When a 999 call is received in our Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), an ambulance response is dispatched. At the same time, a CFR on-call in the area can be alerted and asked to attend the incident to ensure that help reaches the patient as quickly as possible.
As the volunteers are based within the community, they may only be a minute or two away from a medical emergency, and very often their role is to simply provide vital reassurance to patients and their families until the ambulance crew arrives. However, in extreme cases, such as a cardiac arrest, they can perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and use an automated external defibrillator (AED) to try and restart someone’s heart, which can potentially save their life.
Anyone who wants to help their community can become a CFR. No previous medical experience or training is necessary, but you will need a caring attitude and be able to cope with potentially distressing situations. All training and equipment is supplied by the Ambulance Service.
