news
January 2012
We've had a great start to the year: Our two new recruits, Belinda and Kevin became fully active on the 1st of January and both have had their first solo calls this month! As every CFR (community first responder) will testify, the first solo call is a nerve wracking experience which is good to get "under your belt", so well done to them both.
We've also had our busiest month ever since we began record keeping at the beginning of 2009, attending a total of nine calls betwen us in January 2012. Previously our record-breaking months, with eight calls each, were March 2010, May 2009 and March 2009.
Having Kevin and Belinda on-board has greatly eased the burden on other active team members which is somewhat of a relieve; thanks guys! It has also improved the team's availablity: We provided 91% cover this month (674 hours covered out of a possible 744); truly remarkable for a voluntary team. Well done to all; we deserve a pat on the back!
| Code | Calls |
|---|---|
| Chest Pain | 3 |
| Stroke | 2 |
| Falls | 1 |
| Heart Problems | 1 |
| Unconcious / Fainting | 1 |
| Unknown | 1 |
| Responder | Calls |
|---|---|
| Belinda | 1 |
| John | 3 |
| Karen | 1 |
| Kevin | 4 |
On a lighter note we also start the year with a new call sign: NZ501 or, as it's spoken, "November Zulu Five Oh One". A bit of a mouthful compared to our previous call sign of "Lima Five Oh One" which rolled off the tongue much easier; we have to use it every time we talk with the Ambulance service dispatchers. To be honest we've had our new call sign since the indroduction of the new "iCAD" computer aided dispatch system (no, it doesn't run on an Apple Mac!) in the Norwich Ambulance service control centre (HEOC) last November, it's just taking a bit of getting used too!
Year summary 2011
2011 was another quite difficult year for Debenham Community First Responders (CFRs). During the course of the year our numbers dwindled somewhat to the point that the latter few months of the years was covered by just Karen and John. We also had to deal with the consequences of a new call out system deployed at the Norwich HEOC (Health Emergency Operations Centre), in early November by the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust. The Norwich HEOC controls the dispatch of Ambulance Service resources accross Norfolk and Suffolk and initial problems with the new "iCAD" system meant that in November and December fewer CFRs were deployed across the two counties. Consequently the total number of calls attended (41) was down on 2010 (48) and 2009 (57).
As unpaid volunteers serving our local community, I think we still did very well!
On a more positive front we managed to recruit two new volunteers! We welcome Kevin and Belinda to our ranks both of whom completed their training and qualified in November. We also have a number of other people who have expressed an interest in joining us so things are looking up for 2012.
Here is the call breakdown for 2011:
| Type of call | No. |
|---|---|
| Chest Pain | 11 |
| Breathing problems | 7 |
| Falls | 6 |
| Stroke | 5 |
| Unconcious / Fainting | 5 |
| Convulsion / Fitting | 4 |
| Abdominal Pain | 1 |
| Back pain (non-trauma) | 1 |
| Cardiac / Resp Arrest | 1 |
| Responder | Calls |
|---|---|
| John | 32 |
| Karen | 6 |
| Tori | 3 |
