by Laerke Christensen

Councillors in Westgate on Sea attended defibrillator training offered by Community First Responders which will now also be offered to local residents.

The training was run by Community First Responders (CFRs) – trained volunteers who work with South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAmb) to make sure accidents and emergencies across the county are tended to as quickly as possible.

Gill Gray is the Town clerk at Westgate on Sea Town Council and arranged for the training to take place.

“We’ve actually had two people that participated in the training last week who actually actively said they were going to make the inquiries, and we’re actually going to collaborate in the PR for both us the Town Council and the Community first Responders.”

There are 400 CFRs across Kent, Surrey and Sussex and North Hampshire. The CFRs all undergo a 5-day training course and must do annual updated training, and attend incidents ranging from cardiac arrest over fainting to allergic reactions.

CFRs are called out in an area ranging no more than 3 miles from their home – meaning they can often get to the scene of the accident faster than emergency services. Mr Joyce said:

“We had an incident only three months ago where I think the quickest response we got in Thanet so far was 2 first responders were on the scene within 80 seconds of the call going in.”

However, CFRs are not a replacement for emergency services, but they are happy to help. Mr Joyce continued:

“I think we’re a valuable addition to the trust, particularly in rural areas where it might be harder for the trust to have an ambulance always based there and so it will take time for them to respond.”

SECAmb is currently recruiting more CFRs. If you’re interested click here.