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Community First Responders

Role of the Community First Responder

A First Responder is a volunteer who has been recruited and trained to act on behalf of the North East Ambulance Service, responding to emergency calls when dispatched by ambulance control.  They will deal with a specific list of emergencies and provide the patient with support and appropriate treatment until an ambulance arrives.

They exist in towns and villages where it may be a challenge for the emergency ambulance to arrive within the crucial first few minutes.

There are three types of First Responders:

1. Community First Responders (CFR) will respond to emergency calls within a three miles radius of their home. After being alerted by NEAS, they will attend incidents such as heart attacks, respiratory arrest, chest pains, and many more. 
2. Co-Responders are responders from an existing public service (e.g. police, fire, military etc.)  Their training is the same as a Community First Responder.  They are available for emergency calls while carrying out their regular work duties.
3. Established Base Responders (static sites) are employees in a public place, trained to use life saving equipment within the property (usually a defibrillator).   Examples of where you might find EBRs include airports, railway stations and shopping centres.

Each type of responder has the same aim: to provide immediate care to a patient where every second counts.  The evidence is clear; a patient who suffers a cardiac arrest stands a much better chance of survival if a fully trained person with a defibrillator can attend the patient in the first minutes of collapse.

The following sequence of events has become known as the "Chain of Survival"