WARWICKSHIRE Hearts has been sharing its life-saving work with Rotarians.
Tim Morris, trustee of Warwickshire Hearts and practice manager at Waterside Medical Centre in Leamington, and Dr Vicky Larner, Warwickshire Hearts chair and assistant head at Stratford High School, visited Warwick Rotarians to update them on their activities.
Warwickshire Hearts are local Community First Responders (CFR) covering Warwick, Stratford and south Warwickshire. They have been a charity since 2017 and also teach vital life-saving skills to people across the area.
Vicky explained that first responders are volunteers trained and mobilised by West Midlands Ambulance Service, called in to attend 999 calls to keep patients alive and as comfortable as possible until an ambulance arrives.
There are 500 groups of CFR’s across the West Midlands which attended over 10,000 999 calls in the last 12 months.
Warwickshire Hearts operate two fast response cars which can provide an urgent response to rural areas.
The CFR’s carry a basic medical kit, oxygen and a defibrillator and are called in if they are nearer to a patient to provide support until an ambulance can reach them. This could be patients with breathing difficulties or chest pain, cardiac arrest, or the elderly falling at home, but they may attend a wide range of other incidents including road traffic collisions.
Tim said that from their inception they have worked with Evelyns Gift a local charity to train as many people as possible in CPR lifesaving skills and the use of a defibrillator.
They attend schools, community organisations and local businesses and provide event first aid, which helps fund some of their other activities.
Visit www.warwickshirehearts.org to find out more or donate.
