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Volunteer of the year

Winner: Dunmail Hodkinson

Dunmail Hodkinson is giving members of his community the best chance of survival in the event of a cardiac arrest by volunteering over 30 hours each week to be a first responder to patients, to train scores of local people how to save lives and to be a guardian for 10 public access defibrillators.

A software engineer, Dunmail’s day job is to support the NHS by developing systems to help share information between different organisations, to provide consistent care for patients.

Dunmail juggles full time work, family life and numerous hobbies, which include performing as a musician, alongside volunteering as a Community First Responder for NEAS.

He has been supporting patients by volunteering for over 8 years and has made himself available for 30 hours each week to provide medical help to people in his community. He responds to calls from his home and has even negotiated with his employers to also respond during working hours when demands are at their highest on our service.

Having undertaken the relevant training, Dunmail is a British Heart Foundation Heartstart instructor who can deliver emergency first aid training in schools and communities on behalf of NEAS and he is also a CPR/AED instructor, who is able help communities to become more familiar with how to perform effective CPR and how to use a defibrillator.  Dunmail has trained over 500 people at over 60 different sessions over eight year.

He also offers his time to be a guardian for 10 public access defibrillators in his area, checking each one on a weekly basis to ensure that they are ready in case of an emergency.

Dunmail’s determination and personal ambition is helping to grow the wealth of knowledge and skills in different communities that will give people the best chance to survive a cardiac arrest. He demonstrates a level of commitment to emergency care that is second to none and a true credit to our Trust, his community and himself.  He is undeniably, our volunteer of the year.