They volunteer because they care

Friday 15^th March 2013 – 2.50am – Claire Thomas.

Doctors and nurses wanting to make a difference in their spare time are saving lives alongside West Midlands Ambulance Service.

The West Midlands Central Accident Resuscitation Emergency (CARE) team is a charitable organisation consisting of 85 doctors and nurses who volunteer their time and life-saving skills responding to 999 calls across the Region. They have been providing life-saving care in partnership with WMAS for 22 years and work alongside ambulance staff to provide specialist immediate care skills and advanced medical care to patients.

Every weekend a team of medics consisting of a doctor, nurse, paramedic officer and trainee medic are on hand to attend serious incidents.  The CARE Team looks after critically ill patients from those severely injured in car crashes, industrial incidents, shootings and stabbings to adult and child cardiac arrests and patients with serious medical problems such as heart attacks, fits, and breathing problems.

As well as providing help at the weekend, three doctors also respond to serious incidents throughout the week in their own cars and in their own time. A nurse is also due to start solo responding in the near future.

Martin Horton, an Advanced Clinical Practitioner at Heartlands Hospital, has been volunteering with the charity for seven years:  “We offer life-saving interventions such as surgical skills, anaesthesia, sedation and stronger pain relief which complement those of a paramedic and often means we learn from each other. By doing this job it challenges me and makes me think every single day, which is very rewarding as a nurse.

“Sometimes it might not be a job that’s extremely complex, but a job that makes a patient feel better is a good feeling.”

Dr Rob Moss, an Anaesthetic Registrar from the Stoke School of Anaesthetics, is the Fundraising Lead for the charity. He said: “I volunteer, not only because I am passionate about saving lives, but because it’s important to me to make a difference by improving patient outcomes and by supporting our ambulance service I feel I make a difference to local communities.

“It’s different from my day job in the sense of you never quite know what a job will bring. I like being able to bring my medical skills and knowledge to the front line working alongside paramedics as I believe we can make a difference to a patients’ survival and their long-term outcomes.

“This year, to continue the service we provide to patients across the Region, we’re looking for our own, dedicated, emergency vehicle for the charity. We are appealing for corporate, financial and charitable help to source a suitable car big enough to carry our team of four and all of our medical equipment. Any help would be greatly appreciated.”

If you think you can help, or if your company are interested in supporting the West Midlands CARE Team either though financial support, sponsorship or branding, please contact Dr Robert Moss, Fundraising Lead on 0121 471 2834 visit http://www.wmcareteam.co.uk/ or email office@wmcareteam.co.uk. You can follow the CARE team on Twitter via @wmcareteam.

Ends

Notes to Editor:

As well as saving lives on the front line, the CARE Team also provide a broad range of clinical education and training to the ambulance service and hospital staff. They’re also involved in medical research to further improve the care of patients by changing clinical practices in the pre hospital environment.