ABOUT US


CFR crest the team


We are a small team who volunteer with the Welsh Ambulance Service Trust (WAST) as Community First Responders, (CFR’s) covering the South Wales seaside town of Porthcawl and it's surrounding area.

As CFR’s we are allocated to specific 999 emergency calls by Ambulance Control, including life threatening situations such as suspected stroke cases, choking, significant bleeding, heart attacks, cardiac arrests and breathing difficulties, providing initial emergency care to people until a Paramedic or Ambulance can arrive on the scene. When someone faces a serious medical emergency, such as a cardiac arrest, every second counts and early intervention can make a significant difference to their condition and chances of survival.

As an example, The British Heart Foundation website states that there are over 30,000 ‘out-of-hospital’ cardiac arrests in the UK every year (over 8,000 in Wales) and that every minute delay in CPR and defibrillation can reduce the chances of survival by up to 10%. 
 
Whilst we are trained by the Welsh Ambulance Service to carry out emergency first aid, administer oxygen therapy, carry out the recognition of cardiac conditions, perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and use a defibrillator we are also a ‘self-funding group’.  WAST supply our uniforms and the majority of the equipment we carry, however we responsible for securing funding for items such as the defibrillators we carry whilst 'on-call' for WAST, some Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and all the items needed to grow, support and maintain the
Public Access Defibrillator network we are responsible for.

As WAST trained volunteers we are covered by their Insurance whilst attending incidents allocated by Ambulance Control
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If you require any further information on the above please do not hesitate to contact us via email, or alternatively, further details can be obtained from the Welsh Ambulance Service Trust web site

As well as responding to medical emergencies in support of, and on behalf, WAST we also carry out a number of
community based activities, including the procurement, installation, maintenance and go-going support of a network of Public Access Defibrillators within Porthcawl. In support of the PAD network we offer and run free CPR and Defibrillator awareness and practice sessions, plus we attend several local community events and fundraising activities. For information on our current community based activities please follow us on one of our Social Media links:-

FaceBook (Porthcawl Community First Responders)

Twitter (@porthcawlCFR)

Instagram (porthcawlcfrs).

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