Monday 11th April 2016 – 4pm – Chris Kowalik.
Fancy talking to someone about volunteering as a lifesaver or learning how to do CPR?
Evesham Area Community First Responders (CFR) will be at the town’s Riverside Shopping Centre’s Octagon all day, every day from April 19th to 24th (inc).
The week-long event, which will also feature the town’s Street Pastors aims to raise awareness of the volunteers who give up some of their spare time to help their local community. Organisers also hope it’ll spur people on to consider signing up as a future Community First Responder or a volunteer helper to assist with charitable events, flag days, training and administration. They are also hoping the event will help raise funds for much needed lifesaving equipment.
Richard Shepherd, co-ordinator for Evesham area Community First Responders, said: “I’m looking for someone who is able to commit at least some time each week. They must understand that although being a CFR is fantastic and I love it, that they are going to see some very poorly people. It is going to be quite hard emotionally and physically at times and you will need to be able to cope with that. However the sense of achievement and the benefits that you get from it both personally and as a team, you can’t beat it, it’s brilliant. I shall be doing it until I can’t do it anymore.”
To become a Community First Responder, you would first be trained by West Midlands Ambulance Service in a variety of assessments and techniques and complete observational shifts with ambulance crews before going live. After successfully completing the course, volunteers can then ‘book-on’ with the ambulance service’s control room, ready to respond to nearby medical emergencies while a blue-light ambulance is en-route.
Shoppers visiting the centre during the week can also learn how to perform CPR (one of the techniques taught to Community First Responders) and handle a defibrillator and understand how it works. Richard added: “It’s really not that scary and we will hopefully be able to answer any questions you might have about First Aid.”
And if you are interested in becoming a Community First Responder in the future, look out for the advertisement on http://www.jobs.nhs.uk
Ends
Notes to Editors:
‘Evesham Area Community First Responders’ is part of Hereford & Worcester Community First Responders (a registered charity, number 1124035) and covers Evesham and its surrounding communities.
For more information about ‘Evesham Area Community First Responders’ visit http://www.eveshamcfrs.org or find them on facebook.
For more information about the work of Community First Responders, visit http://www.wmas.nhs.uk under “About us”.