BY DIONNE MEEHAN
SINCE the start of 2023, Newtowncunningham Community First Responders have responded to 44 call-outs, with 13 of those occurring last month.
With the first responders group set up to address the issue of waiting times for emergency service response, Newtowncunningham CFR Chairman, Roddy Smith told the Donegal News that on average, the first responders are at the scene 15 minutes before an ambulance gets there.
“Usually the patient get a chest pain, phones an ambulance and we get dispatched.
“If conscious, if breathing and if talking, we do a patient assessment to gather up the information of how this chest pain came about. We then administer aspirin if it is indicated.
“By the time the ambulance is there the patient has had their aspirin, some of the patient history has been gathered and that is then passed to the ambulance service, who then takes it from there.”
However, if it was a case the patient’s chest pain developed into cardiac arrest, Roddy said the earlier compressions are administered to that patient, the higher chance there is of survival.
“For every minute a patient is in cardiac arrest, they have a ten per cent less chance of survival.
“If there aren’t compressions going on for ten minutes the chances of that patient surviving is pretty much zero,” he said.
Heartsaver courses are being offered to every member of the public within a 10 kilometre radius of Newtowncunningham.
These courses teach the public how to do compressions and how to recognise when someone is in cardiac arrest.
Most importantly, this course teaches you how to save lives.
For more information and to register visit https://forms.gle/ykaon955PN75wkce8
An information night is set to take place tonight at 7.30 pm, at Donaghy Safety Training, Newtowncunningham Business Park.
On the night, groups from different communities will learn about forming a community first responder group and how it can benefit the community.
Newtowncunningham First Responders were established just last year.
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