‘A night to appreciate, support and learn’

Volunteers from across the region attended an information evening hosted by Corlough Community First Responders in the Slieve Russell Hotel last Wednesday.

The West Cavan group wanted to bring first responders and trained professionals together to learn from each other and ask questions, which they may not have the opportunity to do otherwise.

Speakers on the night included professionals from the Health Service Executive, the National Ambulance Service and An Garda Síochána while responders from Cavan, Monaghan, Dublin, Louth and Leitrim also attended.

Topics focused on emergency dispatch, community safety, and the typical calls that first responders are alerted to attend, including cardiac arrest, stroke, chest pain and choking.

“CFRs are volunteers who give their time to their communities that they are living in and what they do cannot be underestimated. A night like that was a night to appreciate, support and learn from each other so that the next time a call comes in we can go out with another bit of knowledge that will help us,” Corlough CFR Scheme Coordinator Agnes McManus Dulake explained.

“Those events could be critical for that person and should they deteriorate we are there to bridge the gap while the ambulance is coming to that person,” she explained.

The former nurse is keen to make the public aware that CFRs do not delay the ambulance attending a call.

“We do not delay the ambulance coming, the ambulance is being dispatched at the same time that we are being dispatched. We're there just to manage the situation at whatever call it may be while we're waiting for the expert skills of the paramedics.”

The Corlough group has responded to over 60 calls since they went live around 18 months ago, with 100% attendance meaning a first responder has attended every call.

The group has received “huge buy in” from the local community, and they have twenty members who actively respond to calls, while they have several others who help out with running the group in the background.

Agnes emphasised how CFRs receive “constant training” and said people do not have to be medical professionals to join their local group.

The group are “very thankful” to everybody who came on the night and those who helped make the event happen, particularly HSE colleagues “who gave their time voluntarily to come on an evening off to talk to us”.