Group History
Back in the Autumn of 2005 we first approached the Community Defibrillation Officer of the East Anglian Ambulance Trust (Now East of England Ambulance Trust), to set up a First Responder scheme in Loddon.
Whilst The Ambulance Service provided the initial equipment for the kit and the essential defibrillator was supplied to our group by the British Heart Foundation as part of the National Defibrillator Program running at that time, it was then the responsibility of the group to provide funds to purchase kit bags and essential hi-viz safety wear and other extra equipment to aid patient care.
As with many groups the fund raising was daunting, however we were amazed at the level of support within our community for our cause. Holding local fundraising events such as car washes, jumble sales and coffee mornings etc and by approaching local business for sponsorship we were soon in a financial position to not only equip the group with essential hi-visibility safety clothing , but also to purchase a scheme vehicle. Whilst this would obviously increase our annual running costs we felt it would improve our recruitment aims and raise our profile,
We were already asking people to commit their time voluntarily, which as we all know is a precious commodity nowadays and we felt that to also ask them to use their own vehicle and fuel was a big ask.
The scheme vehicle has proved priceless as it means the vehicle is always fully kitted out ready to respond quickly and efficiently without having to continually transfer large amounts of kit and equipment from vehicle to vehicle at shift changes. Liveried discreetly with local business advertising the vehicle has also provided regular funding to aid annual running costs.
12 volunteer members completed the initial training in March 2006 and the group went live on the 10th April 2006. Not unusually within any group, since this time we have lost and gained members throughout. We cover an area of 180sq miles around Loddon and the surrounding 25 parishes.
We have a base at Loddon Fire station to enable us to hold ongoing training meetings monthly. In our first 12 months of responding we mobilised and attended over 250 emergency calls providing immediate aid and basic life saving skills to calls including chest pains, cardiac arrests, breathing problems etc.
