University of Nottingham students, working with the East Midlands Ambulance Service,
Responding to 999 calls in Nottingham
What is a First Responder?
Our volunteers, students and alumni from the University of Nottingham, are trained by the East Midlands Ambulance Service to respond to 999 calls on their behalf.
About our Scheme
The scheme's responders are trained to deal with the wide range of calls the ambulance service receive and can be sent to almost any call deemed to be a life-threatening emergency.
Statistics
Since we started in 2014 we have attended to thousands of patients in the East Midlands, working with EMAS crews to provide life-saving treatment and interventions.
ABOUT US
We are a group of approximately 50 trained volunteers (all students of the University of Nottingham) who act as an additional resource to the East Midlands Ambulance Service. Using two cars and specialist equipment, we provide emergency care to patients suffering from a variety of serious and life-threatening illnesses and injuries. We can be tasked to 999 calls anywhere within the East Midlands but the vast majority of our responses are within a few miles of the Medical School at the QMC, Nottingham. We aim to give our volunteers a chance to have a real impact on the lives of people within our community.
We have attended over 8000 incidents since our inception in 2014 and at over half of these our responders have arrived before the ambulance enabling them to provide the patient with the vital emergency care they needed, quicker than it would otherwise have come. The 999 calls we attend are extremely varied but have included:
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Cardiac Arrests (when the patient has no pulse and has stopped breathing)
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Medical Emergencies (seizures, diabetic emergencies)
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Chest Pain/Cardiac Complaints
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Unconscious Patients
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Breathing Difficulties
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Traumatic Injuries and Falls
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Other incidents such as Strokes, Sepsis, Overdoses, Hangings and House Fires.
CAN YOU HELP US?
Meanwhile we are all volunteers and full-time students studying intense healthcare degrees, we want to continue volunteering our limited free time where it is needed the most, with patients responding to 999 calls. Unfortunately, our scheme is not free to run, and we cannot operate without fundraising to cover the our operational expenses, which pulls us away from the front line of attending to the most vulnerable in our community.
The Scheme is completely financially independent from the Ambulance Service; to run the scheme on a day to day basis, we rely on funding provided by corporate and individual donors. Without the kind donations we have received thus far we would not currently be operational.
We would like to invite you to donate, either one off or regularly, or to sponsor our scheme. Thank you for your support in advance!