About Us
Sheringham's Own Community First Responders
Sheringham First Response is organised and run by local volunteers and has been working to serve Sheringham and the surrounding villages, within a 10 minute drive time, since July 2007. The East Anglian Ambulance Service Charitable Fund pays for our training but we have to find community funding for our life-saving equipment (an automatic external defibrillator to restart failed hearts, a lightweight oxygen delivery system for a wide range of casualties and a comprehensive first aid bag).
Our aims are to continue to recruit volunteers to join our group in order that we can offer full-time 24 hour coverage, 365 days of the year and to raise sufficient funds to cover the minimal day-to-day running costs of our service.
Charitable supporters of Sheringham First Response include:-
- 2nd Sheringham Guides
- Caberfeidh UK Ltd
- Sainsbury's plc (Sheringham)
- Sheringham Ladies Who Lunch
- Sheringham Savoyards
- Steve Hayward Paining
- The John Jarrold Trust
- The North Norfolk District Council Active Communities Fund
- The Sheringham Carnival Association
- The Sheringham Masonic Lodge Benevolent Fund
- Vidant Pharma Ltd
What is a Community First Responder?
A Community Responder (or First Responder) scheme is made up of a group of volunteers who operate within the community in which they live or work and have been trained to attend emergency calls received by the NHS Ambulance Service, providing basic life support and first aid until a paramedic or ambulance crew arrives.
What do we do?
When a 999 call is made an ambulance or response vehicle is dispatched to attend; if appropriate a Community First Responder (CFR) will also be dispatched. The CFR will probably arrive first, as they are likely to be closer to the incident than the ambulance.
The CFR will be able to:
- Clear and maintain the airway of an unconscious patient
- Administer oxygen to patients who are short of breath or who have chest pain
- Provide resuscitation and defibrillation when required
- Control Bleeding
- Put the patient at ease
- Take basic observations like pulse and respiratory rate
We have a base at The Age UK Day Centre, Cremer Street, Sheringham where we hold training sessions monthly. In our first 12 months of responding we mobilised and attended over 250 emergency calls providing immediate aid and basic life saving skills to calls including chest pains, strokes, diabetic coma, cardiac arrests and breathing problems.
