Growing local community first responders group seeks more members

Having only become live in February this year, the South Roscommon Community First Responders group is thriving in its first few months on the road.

Having already assisted with 32 emergency call-outs (at time of writing), the group is also appealing for new members from the region to join its current ranks of eight members.

Kiltoom's Damien Ennis is the group co-ordinator and told the Westmeath Independent that the first responders work alongside the National Ambulance Service (NAS) which alerts the group’s members - via a text from the National Emergency Operations Centre - with the details of the emergency call and its location.

If the member is able to attend, they will send a code back to the centre. It is not mandatory for them to attend and sometimes the location plays a role in making them unable to. Damien said that ideally, group members need to be able to arrive at the location within 20 minutes, especially given the serious nature of some of the calls which can include suspected heart attacks, cardiac arrest and chest pain.

At present, the group has two members based in Kiltoom, three in Curraghboy, and one apiece in Barrybeg, Lecarrow and Monksland, giving it scope to cover a 10km radius that includes Lecarrow, Rahara, Curraghboy, Kiltoom, Monksland, Castlesampson, Drum, Athlone, and parts of Coosan.

The group is the first of its kind to be set-up in Roscommon, while there is up to 300 such-like volunteer groups around the country.

To qualify to part of the team, new volunteers need to complete five online courses, Damien said, including CPR and cardiac first responder courses. Interested parties also require Garda vetting.

The volunteers, Damien added, can also be called into action at any given time during the day or night, and he said they always endeavour to arrive at as many locations as possible.

“It takes six to eight weeks to complete the necessary courses and so on, and people should know they would be joining a very good and close team of people committed to the roles,” Damien said.

“We are definitely hoping to get more first responders involved. If we can add a few more to the team, we can easily expand the radius we cover. The whole idea behind the first responders group is to get to the location before the ambulance can arrive. Those extra few minutes after we arrive can make such an important difference to a person's chances of surviving,” he added.

For anyone interested in becoming part of the South Roscommon Community First Responders, people can contact Damien at 086 373 1472, by email at southroscommoncfr@gmail.com or by reaching out to its Facebook page.