Thursday 16th December 2015 – 12.05pm – John Hawker.
A group of life saving volunteers have been given an early Christmas present thanks to the generosity of a Coventry based company.
The Coventry Building Society made a huge £20,000 donation to the Coventry Community Responder group that has enabled them to buy a second car to attend 999 calls in. CCR is a Community First Responder scheme whose volunteers are trained by West Midlands Ambulance Service to a nationally recognised standard. They can be called upon to attend medical emergencies in their area while a blue-light vehicle is en-route.
The keys to the fully equipped Skoda Yeti was handed over to the group Chairman, Mark Tolan, last week by the Mayor of Coventry, Michael Hammon, and Anna Cuskin, from Coventry Building Society.
Coventry Community Responder Chairman, Mark Tolan, said; “We would like to thank Coventry Building Society immensely for their kind donation. It will enable our volunteers to attend numerous 999 calls and could help save numerous lives. We estimate that the car will enable us to attend to about 1,000 more patients every year. The earlier a patient in cardiac arrest receives a shock, the much more likely they are to survive. All of our responders are volunteers who give up their spare time in addition to their own jobs. It is very satisfying being a CFR and knowing that you have made a difference to someone’s life.”
About the donation, Corporate Responsibility Manager from The Coventry, Anna Cuskin, said: “So many of our members live in Coventry so when we heard about the fantastic work the community first responders do, we were delighted to be able to support them. They really can make the difference between life and death.”
If you would like to volunteer as a community first responder for West Midlands Ambulance Service, you can find out more details at: www.wmas.nhs.uk/Pages/Community-First-Responders.aspx All vacancies are advertised via the NHS Jobs website www.jobs.nhs.uk
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