29th December 2009
Press cutting from East Anglian Daily Times:

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14th December 2009
RURAL COMMUNITY RESPONDERS CELEBRATE LOCAL LIFE SAVERS

Community First Responders from around Suffolk gathered together on Monday 14th December to celebrate their achievements throughout the year. Responders from Leiston, Darsham, Westleton, Yoxford, Southwold, Reydon and Wangford (collectively known as the Rural Community Responders) came together with Saxmundham, Peasenhall, Wrentham and Uggeshall responder groups at Yoxford village hall for their annual awards evening.

The awards evening, along with the idea for the awards themselves, was developed and organised by Stuart Supple, Emergency Care Practitioner with the East of England Ambulance NHS Trust. The awards are given in recognition of the ongoing efforts and dedication of the responders, who are all volunteers and respond to 999 calls within their local communities. Responders are available within minutes and arrive on scene before the ambulance. They provide life-saving treatment, such as CPR (cardio pulmonary resuscitation) and the use of a defibrillator to restart a person's heart after suffering a cardiac arrest. Stuart provides monthly training sessions for Rural Community Responders at Darsham. Wrentham and Uggeshall Responders, together with Southwold, Reydon and Wangford Responders also receive monthly training from Stuart, which takes place at Wrentham village hall. Wrentham Parish Council has kindly paid for the hire of the hall on these evenings as a thank you to the hard work of the responders.

In addition to the responder awards, there was also a new award for 2009; the Rural Community Responders Life Saver Award. This award is given to members of the public who are not responders but whose actions directly contributed to saving the life of another. There were in fact two Life Saver Awards given this year - one awarded to Tim Gilbert and the other to staff from The Hair Gallery in Leiston.

In March 2009, Peter Steer collapsed in Westleton having suffered a cardiac arrest whilst out walking with his wife. Mrs Steer alerted their neighbour, Tim Gilbert, who began basic life support until the Westleton first responders arrived on scene. Mr Gilbert and the responders continued basic life support until the arrival of an emergency ambulance. Mr Steer was transported to James Paget Hospital via air ambulance and went on to make a full recovery.

 Also in 2009, Anna Sheppard collapsed whilst working in The Hair Gallery in Leiston. Other staff acted quickly and placed Miss Sheppard in the recovery position, monitored her breathing and maintained an open airway until the arrival of the Leiston responders and an ambulance which transported her to hospital. Miss Sheppard also went on to make a full recovery.

Both Peter Steer and Anna Sheppard attended the awards evening and presented the Life Saver Awards, which were supplied by Cipher Crystal from Theberton. Tim Gilbert was also present.

According to figures from the East of England Ambulance NHS Trust, Rural Community Responders attended 294 calls from 1st April to 26th November 2009 with an average response time of seven minutes. Of these, 13 calls were to cardiac arrests.

Leiston Responders with their award (L-R: Tony Bloor, Paul King & Monica Mouser)

                                  Yvonne Blake from Saxmundham Responders with her award

To find out more about becoming a community first responder, please call the East of England Ambulance NHS Trust on 01284 731802 or email responderadmin@eastamb.nhs.uk.

To find out more about Rural Community Responders, please email
info@rural-responders.co.uk.