Leeds Castle community responder team with Simon Rosenberg from SECAmb
A community responder team has been launched at Leeds Castle in partnership with South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Trust (SECAmb).
The nine-strong team will provide emergency care for visitors and also for people living within a three mile radius of the famous Kent tourist attraction.
Community responders are members of the local community who are trained to attend certain medical emergencies – such as patients with chest pains or breathing difficulties, or who have suffered a cardiac arrest. Responders are always supported by an ambulance but, because they live or work locally, they may be the first to reach a patient and administer potentially life-saving treatment.
The Leeds Castle team was officially launched by SECAmb on 29 January 2009. Most of the team members live locally so it will be able to provide emergency cover during the day and night.
Victoria Wallace, Leeds Castle Chief Executive, said: “We are delighted that this initiative has enabled our staff to ensure visitors and the local community have the fastest possible response should they need emergency medical care. As one of the purposes of the charity is to support healthcare initiatives we see this as a huge benefit, and we are proud that our staff have taken up this great challenge.”
SECAmb runs the community responder scheme which currently has more than 400 trained responders across the ambulance Trust’s region of Kent, Surrey and Sussex.
Training includes how to use a defibrillator which can restart the heart of a patient in cardiac arrest. Clinical evidence shows that the chance of surviving a cardiac arrest drops with every minute that a patient does not receive treatment, but early treatment and the use of a defibrillator can increase a patient’s chance of survival by up to 75 percent.
“We are delighted to welcome the Leeds Castle team to our community responder network,” said Simon Rosenberg, SECAmb’s Responder Operations Manager for Weald and South Kent. “They will support the work of the ambulance service and help to improve outcomes for patients.”
For further information about the Leeds Castle community responders see www.cfr-leeds.org