I'm now a Community First Responder!

I'm shortly supposed to be getting an Airwaves handset apparently (Next few months) quite pleased with that :D

I booked on again last night, didn't get anything, apparently my area had a few jobs but all **** heads :(

Back on nights tonight at work so i'll do my hour or so at the Gym and book on for the weekend :D
 
HAz said:
all u need to know is ABC m8 lol! nah bit more to that ole abc now tho hey
Click to expand...

all about the DRAB now - no "C"!

HAz said:
no one told u about a test ? we get one every day at 18.15
Click to expand...

We don't get daily tests - very rare in fact, and they don't warn you

West said:
I'm shortly supposed to be getting an Airwaves handset apparently (Next few months) quite pleased with that :D

I booked on again last night, didn't get anything, apparently my area had a few jobs but all **** heads :(

Back on nights tonight at work so i'll do my hour or so at the Gym and book on for the weekend :D
Click to expand...

Airwaves is a fantastic system - although on the shout yesterday, instructions on how to use it went out of my head, and I reverted to good old phone! Will go and have a play later - and when you get your Airwaves, i'll give you a call and say hello. Good practice and all.
 
tres said:
all about the DRAB now - no "C"!



We don't get daily tests - very rare in fact, and they don't warn you



Airwaves is a fantastic system - although on the shout yesterday, instructions on how to use it went out of my head, and I reverted to good old phone! Will go and have a play later - and when you get your Airwaves, i'll give you a call and say hello. Good practice and all.
Click to expand...

If you've got any questions with the Airwaves system I can help, Email in trust mate.

Had my first real call last night. Was a decent red call I could really get my teeth into, crew were running about 8 mins behind me when I reached the address... got a load of obs in and actually used some o2.. I'm still trying to get my hand over right for the crews.. but at 4am I was still half asleep!
 
I was always taught to to DRABC also because if a patient is unconcious and whilst your doing B you can be doing C by checking the Carotid and looking down the chest :)
 
West said:
If you've got any questions with the Airwaves system I can help, Email in trust mate.
Click to expand...

Ideal - i'm not on pager this week, but if you wouldn't mind sending me your ISSI number, I could give you a call as a practice!
 
tres said:
Ideal - i'm not on pager this week, but if you wouldn't mind sending me your ISSI number, I could give you a call as a practice!
Click to expand...

Unfortunatley I don't have one yet but because i'm control staff it's in my job to know the handsets in case the ICCS go down in the room.

Feel free to send me an email and i'll try and answer any questions you have :D
 
I think I know what my CFR manager meant about getting an occasional battering! had 3 shouts since 11pm tonight allbeit I got cancelled on 2 i've had a couple of long runs tonight!
 
Quick update:

Been very busy, over my first month or so i've had 15 seperate calls (Although 3 or 4 i've been stood down on) 15 is good going for any CFR as some are lucky to be even activated once a month.

Nothing too bad yet, had 2 pretty good involving calls, the rest have tended to either be assisting the crew as they arrived the same time as me or just falls.

The most involving one so far was a ? stroke last night, managed to get all sorts done including a fast test all before the FRV arrived.
 
I was responder for over a year but then came fuel prices hike (own car for call outs) + new baby I had to give it up : ( but still go to some training & meetings.
 
West said:
Quick update:

Been very busy, over my first month or so i've had 15 seperate calls (Although 3 or 4 i've been stood down on) 15 is good going for any CFR as some are lucky to be even activated once a month.

Nothing too bad yet, had 2 pretty good involving calls, the rest have tended to either be assisting the crew as they arrived the same time as me or just falls.

The most involving one so far was a ? stroke last night, managed to get all sorts done including a fast test all before the FRV arrived.
Click to expand...

I have to drop you a line sometime if you don't mind - still no idea how to use the Airwaves radio!!!
 
tres said:
all about the DRAB now - no "C"!

We (St John Ambulance/First Aid at Work) still do DRABC, but it's:
D - Danger
R - Response
(shout for help)

A - Check/Clear Airway
B - Check for breathing (if no breathing commence CPR now)
C - Circulation (check for any serious bleeds, only if they are breathing)
Click to expand...

I learned that on two courses (Army Cadets and FAAW (modified for boat work and "wilderness")) then the last course I did the bloke decided to teach A,B,C,D,E... I couldn't remember then and I can't remember now what they were supposed to stand for as they didn't necessarily match up with the words...:rolleyes:

EDIT: Just found the booklet that came with it...

A - Assess, Airways
B - Breathing
C - Circulation
D - Damage
E - Emotion, Ensure, Environment, Expose, Evaluate

With the "Assess" having two sub sections - Danger and Approach

So yeah, most matched up actually, but having more than one word for each letter is stupid, especially when there are even more attached to some of them..
No wonder I got so confused...:rolleyes:

Personally I found that course absolutely stupid though, it missed out a lot of the stuff I was taught before and did a lot very oddly. Unfortunately it had to be done for something specific.
 
Last edited:
To be honest as long as your able to assess the primary stuff you can't really go wrong..

The quicker that survey gets the done the better I was always told as it could be 20 seconds that patient might not be breathing. (Of course as long as you have no catastrophic bleed as this comes first.)

So:

Danger
Response

(Catastrophic Bleed)
Airway
Breathing
Circulation

So there are different kinds of 'Survey' for every situation just that most places go about them slightly different.
 
Exactly. I just reverted back to DR ABC when doing the assessments and was fine. The bloke just seemed to make it more complex than it needed to be IMO.
 
Also if you think about it, it takes about 5 seconds to check to see if there are any dangers around you, which is why when you do a practical exam you say 'i'm looking for danger and I cannot see any' unless your instructor tells you different.

Once you've done it a few times for real you go onto Autopilot i'm told...
 
What is it like being a first responder, it has me quite curious im assuming there was a fair bit of training involved?

With regards to demands, im assuming you still go about your job and only become active when in the local area, or is it 24/7 call out?
 
hux said:
What is it like being a first responder, it has me quite curious im assuming there was a fair bit of training involved?

With regards to demands, im assuming you still go about your job and only become active when in the local area, or is it 24/7 call out?
Click to expand...

Best adrenaline buzz ever!
Not a huge amount of training, a week or so to begin with, then we have training every 2-4 weeks where we learn something new or go over previous stuff.

For me, it's a bit of a unique situation, so i'm 24/7 on call and work are fine with it
 
hux said:
What is it like being a first responder, it has me quite curious im assuming there was a fair bit of training involved?

With regards to demands, im assuming you still go about your job and only become active when in the local area, or is it 24/7 call out?
Click to expand...

I'm also being in the unique position of already working for the Ambulance Service.

I'm only active when I want to be - It's a case of ringing into control and making myself available then they send me to calls in the area.

As for the buzz, tres has said it all. It's great :)

also: i've sent you an email tres :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom