What Are Community Responders?
Community Responders are volunteer members of the community who are trained to respond to emergency calls through the 999 system in conjunction with the Ambulance Service. Responders provide immediate care to patients in rural areas where distance may delay the prompt arrival of an ambulance.
They are trained to deliver Basic Life Support and defibrilation to patients in Cardiac Arrest and appropriate calls including oxygen administration to patients suffering from a range of conditions.
Why do we need Community Responders?
Because Community Responders are based within the community in which they live or work, they can attend the scene of an emergency in a very short time, often arriving within the first three or four minutes.
In the case of Brackley Community First Responders in 98% of cases we are the first emergency resource to get to the scene, often arriving within 4 to 5 minutes of the emergency 999 call being made.
The Community Responders can then begin vital life saving first aid before the Ambulance arrives, further increasing the patient’s chance of survival. In an ideal world, there would be an Ambulance available on every street corner in each town or in every village. This is not the case, and is why Community Responders can make such a difference in their communities, especially in rural areas. Brackley Community First Responders cover an area within a 3 Mile radius of each dispatch point.