Volunteers Support the Festivities in City Centre

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”.