First responders call for volunteers
Would you know what to do if someone was having a heart attack? How do you recognise the signs/symptoms of a stroke? Do you know where your nearest defibrillator (AED) is?
Hopefully you will have answered yes to some or all of these questions but not everyone knows what to do in an emergency situation.
A group of volunteers from the Castletown Geoghegan area have come together to form the Castletown Geoghegan Responder Scheme. The Castletown Geoghegan Scheme will be one year old in September and members have already attended a number of emergency calls.
The volunteers are ‘community first responders’ and are trained in a range of emergency skills such as CPR, how to use an Automated External Defibrillator (AED), stroke recognition, use of aspirin and how to help someone who is choking. Community first responders help by responding to medical emergencies while the ambulance is on its way.
When a member of the public rings for an ambulance in the Castletown Geoghegan area, local responders are contacted by Ambulance Control via text and if they are available to respond to the patient, they will.
Responders can then provide early intervention in situations such as a heart attack or cardiac arrest, before the National Ambulance Service crew arrives. As responders live within the community, they can provide fast access to basic life support such as early CPR and early defibrillation.
Responders will be contacted by ambulance control if the patient is suffering from any of the following:
• cardiac chest pain
• cardiac arrest
• stroke
• choking
Local responders often arrive on the scene before an ambulance and in cases where time is critical, such as a heart attack, this can save lives.
In rural areas such as Castletown, with the geographical distance to the nearest ambulance station at more than 12km, it can often take time for an ambulance to arrive.
In cases of cardiac arrest, the best chance of survival is defibrillation within the first 10 minutes. For every minute without treatment, a person’s chances of survival drop by 10 per cent. This is why responder schemes such as the one running in Castletown Geoghegan are so important.
The group have been lucky to have received support from the Order of Malta Unit in Mullingar, who provided instructors and equipment to help train the responder group. Some members are also in the Order of Malta.
The Castletown Geoghegan Responder Scheme are looking for more volunteers to join them. The more members they have, the more likely it will be that a trained responder will be nearby when needed. No experience is necessary as full training will be provided. To join you must be over 18 and have access to your own car.
They are also looking to increase the number of people in the community who can perform CPR and will be running free training sessions for anyone wishing to learn.
If you are interesting in learning CPR, would like to join the responder group or would like more information, contact Julia on 087 9162021 or Betty on 087 9186973.
‘Save a life, learn CPR!’