4 July 2005

 

The Woodbridge and district First Responder group recently celebrated the first anniversary.

 

The scheme, first responds on behalf of the East Anglian Ambulance Trust to life threatening calls that originate within Woodbridge and the surrounding area.

 

The scheme, funded by public donation and manned by volunteerstrained and assessed by the East Anglian Ambulance Trust, has grown to become the busiest scheme of its type in East Anglia . Volunteers take it in turn to be on-call, offering very nearly 24/7 cover.

 

In its first year of operation the scheme has been credited with several successful resuscitation attempts and received letters of thanks and commendation from paramedics.

 

Coincidently  the month the Woodbridge responders celebrated their first birthday was also their busiest to date, with the volunteers responding to 84 calls.

 

Jon Needle (First Response Scheme Coordinator for the East Anglian Ambulance Trust), said that "Our Community Paramedics and First Responders are working wonders for us and we really appreciate what they're doing."

 

This month also saw the launch of the scheme's web site

woodbridgeresponders.org.uk/. Interested parties can go to this site to get information, see how the scheme operates, how to get involved or help.