A community first aid lifeline
When Julia Thompson collapsed at her
remote cottage home, her partner made two emergency phone calls:
one to the ambulance service and one to local guest house owner
Julia Reid.
Julia Reid is a Community First Responder and within two minutes
of the call she was with the patient. She carried out vital checks
and emergency treatment, and provided reassurance until paramedics
could reach the village.
Thompson knew nothing about what had happened until she regained
full consciousness two days later in hospital. But she was so
grateful to Julia and the local Community First Responder unit that
she donated £100 towards new equipment.
'I just don't know what might have happened if she hadn't been
there. 'You don't know how much you need this kind of service until
you’re in trouble. It's so important, especially in rural areas,'
she said.
In the Hope Valley area, St John Ambulance works in partnership
with the East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) to operate the CFR
scheme – training teams of volunteers like Julia Reid, who can be
on an emergency scene quickly.
Julia knows only too well how important the service is: she became
a Responder after receiving help when her father collapsed:
'It was so reassuring to have someone there within a couple of
minutes,' she said.
Julia is now a regular member of the Hope Valley CFR unit – and
renowned throughout her home village as 'the Edale
Responder.' Over the last couple of years she has been called
out more than a dozen times, to help everyone from neighbours and
villagers to visiting campers and farmers in the fields.
To find out more about becoming a Community First Responder,
telephone St John Ambulance Derbyshire’s county headquarters on
0845 130 4999.