11 VOLUNTEERS have been busy acquiring the lifesaving skills they need to enable them to respond to emergency situations within their community.
The volunteers are new community first responders who will be on call in their local communities to help those who need emergency medical assistance.
Community first responders are deployed by the Emergency Services Joint Control Room, at request of the ambulance service, to respond to selected medical emergencies.
They are normally used when an ambulance is already engaged with another patient or in situations when they are nearer to the incident than the ambulance.
In August St John Ambulance and the Isle of Man Ambulance Service ran a recruitment campaign to encourage more people to sign up for the initiative which operates in Peel, Ramsey, Laxey, the south of the Island and Kirk Michael.
Last month the new recruits spent two weekends training and learnt how to administer oxygen, use a defibrillator and give basic first aid.
Steve Crowe, the clinical supervisor for the Isle of Man Ambulance Service, said: "The level of commitment from the students was evident from the outset and credit to them all in achieving their aim of becoming first responders.
"We are hoping to run another course in the New Year for those who could not attend this event and especially volunteers from the west of the Island to expand the scheme and support the current five volunteers in that area."
In 2010 the community first responder scheme supported the ambulance service by attending 180 calls, providing initial response and potentially life saving treatments including defibrillation, oxygen administration, first aid and reassurance.
Anyone who would like more information about the scheme is asked to contact the community first responder co-ordinator at the St John Ambulance headquarters on 01624 674387
Picture caption: Back L to R - Geoff Watterson, Sandra Sloane, Jos Parish, Natasha Cushing, Eric Maddocks and Ian Moffatt. Front L to R - Amanda Munro, Dave Corrin, Owen Thomas, Tony Couper-woods and Heather Maddocks.
Also see: Island in need of more first aid volunteers
