Community First Responders from Fastaid took to Touchwood, Solihull on Tuesday to raise awareness of the charity. As well as talking to local people the team also ran CPR demonstrations and instruction to members of the public and Touchwood staff. Fastaid were joined by the British Heart Foundation and Community Resuscitation Development Officer Andy Whittington with who they work very closely to provide Heartstart emergency life support courses to local community groups. A variety of prizes supplied by local businesses were also raffled off to raise vital funds for the charity.

Whilst in Solihull CFRs were booked on duty and responded on foot to a number of calls in the town centre. This was an ideal opportunity to put their new ARP set, issued the previous day, through its paces.

Fastaid chairman Tim Atherton said “It is always great to talk to people about who we are and what we are doing in their local community and this was an ideal opportunity. Hopefully events like this are the only time most of the public will see us but if they are unfortunate to need an ambulance then one of our Community First Responders (CFR) could be there first. We are extremely grateful to Touchwood for their ongoing support of the charity. I would also like to thank other businesses who supported us on the day including Handmade Burger Co, Cineworld, Pizza Hut, Pizza Express, Starbucks, Millie’s Cookies, The Entertainer, Virgin Active, The Disney Store, Druckers and John Lewis. However, with it costing almost £2000 to equip and get a CFR on the road we are always looking for more help”

New year’s eve is normally a busy night for ambulance services but this year it was even more so with of over 1200 999 cases received by West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) and the specialist Temporary Minor Injuries Unit (TMIU) on Birmingham’s Broad Street handled some of these cases. Alongside paramedics, doctors and other health care professionals the unit was supported by volunteer Community First Responders (CFRs) Debbie Towers (Birmingham South Co-ordinator) and Julian Hunter (Birmingham South CFR who gave up their time for free to provide additional resource for Birmingham revellers.

Debbie Towers explained “last night Fastaid CFR responders were supporting the WMAS rapid response vehicles working on Broad Street and later on we worked in the minor injury unit in a very busy few hours” The unit eventually saw 48 casualties treated that otherwise would have been sent to busy A&E units around the city, using already stretched ambulance and A&E resources.

Julian Hunter noted that “These events provide valuable experience for CFR volunteers and we are grateful for all the support we received from full-time WMAS staff and members of the public who were amazed that we gave up our new year’s eve to volunteer to provide support”.

On Saturday 12th December a group from Fastaid were thefirst to be trained in conflict resolution. This one day coursehas been specifically designed for Community FirstResponders and was lead by Andy Whittington, Community Resuscitation Development Officer. Topics covered weresuch things as awareness of possible threats and dangers tothe lone worker, how to handle aggressive behaviour and, inextremis, how to work with other team members to controlvolatile situations.

Mark Atherton, who was one of theparticipants on the course, said that he found the coursevery useful and it made him more aware of the dangers thelone worker CFR could face if not adequately trained andprepared. He urged other CFRs to ensure that they take up this mandatory training as soon aspossible to help keep them safe.

Fastaid Chairman, Tim Atherton, said: “We are very grateful to the council for this donation. It is the result of lots of hard work by our team in South Birmingham, led by Marc Waters. We hope to train another 50 CFRs in the first half of 2010 so this money will be an essential springboard to being
able to do this”

Members of the local FastAid CFR’s group had a photo shoot with Paramedics from the WMAS to stage pictures for the new regional recruitment leaflet soon to be produced from the Community response department.

They were wearing the latest uniform design, that can now be seen worn on CFR’s from all over the region, helping members of the public recognise this growing force of community volunteer staff helping the WMAS save even more lives.

These pictures will be added to a new libary of photo’s for future recruitment leaflets and posters, to encourage members of the local community to learn how they can volunteer their time and be trained by the WMAS to a First Person on Scene qualification and respond to 999 calls and thereby put something back into the local community in which they live

These are being sold at a minimum cost of £1.50 to further raise much needed funds to provide equipment for the latest CFR’s to be trained by the WMAS. They are proving very popular at the charities Heartstart training sessions, as well as advertising the charities web site and distinctive logo.

The chief of the WMAS was amongst the first to recieve the key ring, so that he will always be prepared to assist in a 999 call, no matter where he happens to be.

The key rings are available to purchase form any of the CFR’s at there public engagements as well as at the WMAS headquarters reception at the waterfront in Brierley Hill