John Jeal is
a volunteer with the community first responder scheme in
Harrow.
Why did you want to be a volunteer?
I wanted to be involved in a community-based
activity and discovered the local community first responder
scheme.
I attended an open evening in Harrow where
there were presentations from the London Ambulance Service and the
St John Ambulance. The presentations showed me that members of the
local community, if correctly trained, can have a really positive
impact on critically sick people.
What do you do for a
living?
My day job is as a design engineer for a
company producing vision inspection systems. These are used in all
types of manufacturing to check the quality of a product.
The other community first responders come from
all walks of life and all have different qualities they can bring
to the scheme. I think the most important qualities of a community
first responder are confidence and good communication skills.
What hours are you on
duty?
I take a shift every week for four hours (7pm
– 11pm) in the area centered on Stanmore.
Some of our group will be on
call during the day and others in the evening. The good thing
about volunteering in this way is that it is very flexible, so if
because of other commitments, you cannot go on duty one week, you
don’t have to. In my role I also coordinate the rota for the
group.
We meet as a group regularly supported by a
paramedic from the local ambulance station. This is important so we
can practice the life-saving skills and equipment we use.
How often are you called each
shift?
We are now seeing a responder getting
activated approximately once for every four to six hours they
work.
However, there are some shifts when there are
no calls and others when we have seen three activations in a four
hour shift.
When on duty, by being located in the
community we are serving we are first on scene in about 30-40 per
cent of calls. This allows us to start the assessment and treatment
of a patient, and be able to pass information onto the ambulance
crew quickly when they arrive.
When we are not first on scene we can often
assist the ambulance crew or single responder in assessing and
treating the patient.
What sort of medical emergencies have
you attended?
I have attended patients suffering: chest
pains, hypoglycemia, breathing difficulties and some patients
that are unconscious.
We only attend patients over eight years old and we are not sent
to calls that may be dangerous to us, or trauma emergencies such as
road accidents.
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