Critical partnership with ambulance service
A Cork-based emergency response charity has initiated a partnership that enables off-duty first responders to offer aid during local emergencies. Critical has teamed up with the National Ambulance Service (NAS) which will see NAS off-duty responders being able to volunteer with the charity whilst responding to emergencies in their local communities.
As part of the partnership, Critical will provide vital equipment to off-duty paramedics and advanced paramedics who are tasked to incidents such as road traffic collisions, cardiac arrests, farming accidents and other medical or traumatic accidents. The charity will equip each volunteer which will cost €1,500. Each responder will be provided with an emergency backpack containing a defibrillator, a resuscitation kit and a medical diagnostic kit.
Critical say that they are focused on establishing a network of volunteer emergency medical responders in every county in Ireland over the next two years. Speaking about the partnership, Micheál Sheridan, CEO of Critical said: “This partnership with the National Ambulance Service will initially see 150 off-duty NAS personnel also volunteering with Critical, starting treatment while an ambulance is on its way and increasing a person’s chances of survival or improving their outcomes.”
He emphasised that every second counts in medical emergencies, and said that in the case of cardiac arrest, a person's chances of survival decrease by 10% for every minute that elapses.
“Initially, we are committing €220,000 in rolling out volunteer emergency medical responders to communities across Ireland. Every cent that we spend on advancing a community-based response to medical emergencies has to be fundraised or donated. We rely 100% on fundraising to achieve our mission ‘to save lives,’ he said.
Speaking about the importance of the initiative, Ger O’Dea, Community Engagement Manager with the National Ambulance said: “Building resilience in communities around Ireland is of great importance to the National Ambulance Service. Through the dedication of our patient-centred staff who volunteer whilst off duty and now with this very welcomed partnership with Critical, I am confident that more lives will be saved.”
“The ambulance service will always dispatch the nearest and most appropriate resource to an emergency call but given the geographical nature of Ireland with factors such as our road networks, traffic and journey times we cannot get to every patient as timely as we would like. Enabling our communities to provide a first response to life-threatening emergencies is extremely important,” he added.
Currently, the charity needs to fundraise to kit out its volunteers. If you would like to make a donation or to know more visit criticalcharity.ie.