Ready to respond to medical emergency

Jan 26 2009 by Paul Loraine, The Journal

A FIRST-AID instructor has set up a response group to help the ambulance service when people need urgent treatment in a remote Northumberland village.

Angus McGarry, of Belford, north of Alnwick, is trying to recruit between 10 and 20 volunteers to form the Belford Community First Responders.

Because of its remote location, if an ambulance from the nearest station is in the process of taking someone to Wansbeck General Hospital, a second ambulance has to come from further afield. As this can take some time, Mr McGarry believes a second line of defence is needed and has called for like-minded people to join him in the group.

In an emergency, the emergency services would be called as normal but a duty ‘first responder’ would be on call in case the ambulance service was stretched. It will be one of more than 60 similar schemes across the region.

“Obviously Belford is quite rural,” said Mr McGarry. “We have an ambulance station just outside the village but if it responds to an incident and has to take somebody to hospital in Wansbeck you would have to wait for an ambulance from further afield. If the ambulance service got a call in that time then they couldn’t respond as quickly. The idea then is that they call upon the Belford Village Responders and we can treat the person or people in need until the ambulance service arrives.”

Mr McGarry, 38, of Byers Close, explained he attended a four-day training course last summer and he has been supplied with equipment from the North East Ambulance Service and British Red Cross – his employer.

Among the tools at Responders’ disposal will be an automatic external defibrillator, an oxygen-giving set and a comprehensive first aid kit.

Mark Cotton, head of communications for the North East Ambulance Service, said the schemes were “an important addition to the service”.

“They are not a replacement for the ambulance service but they are an excellent resource,” he said.

“In the event of someone having a heart attack, every minute before the defibrillator is used can knock 11 days off a person’s life.

“The responders can make a huge difference in that respect. They are a tremendous additional medical response unit.” Mr McGarry is holding a meeting for people who want to find out more about the group at the village’s Bellview Resource Centre on Thursday, February 19 at 7pm.

Members of the group have to be over 18 and in good health.

He has also set up a website – www.bcfr.org.uk