News Page
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Last updated on: 10/05/2011 08:11 |
If you'd like anything added to this page please phone or email Jeremy.
| Saturday 15/07/10 |
Pennard First responders have been busy the past few
weeks. They provided emergency medical cover on the BHF Gower Bike Ride,
stationed at Pennard Church. As usual they will be in attendance in Pennard
Carnival to help raise the profile of the group. Two, or possibly three, new members are waiting in the wings. They will receive their initial training over the next few months The scheme recently purchased a TomTom SatNav which will be used to guide responders to incidents at hard-to-find locations. New kit bags have been purchased enabling both responders on call to carry medical oxygen, masks, bandanges, etc. A new logo has been unveiled for First Responder groups in Wales. Pennard First Responders are helping the local Community Trust to purchase a public access defibrillator which will be located at the golf club. |
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| Thursday 20/05/10 |
After a long break here is the news! There have been many comings and goings within the team over the past few months. Seven of the old team have "retired" and another has gone off to college. Luckily we have 7 new members who trained over the winter and have now taken their place on the rota, so I guess we've treaded water as regards personnel. Currently first responders in Pennard and Bishopston are ready to respond to life-threatening medical emergencies in the area for up to 59 hours each week. A member of the Mumbles First Responder team has moved to Bishopston and will be joining the team shortly and another potential recruit from Pennard will receive training with Llanelli FRs over the next month or so and will eventually join the team. So, we are alive and well and going from strength to strength. Much of this is due to the tireless work of our co-ordinator, Betty Jenkins, who has been very keen to see new younger blood in the team, guaranteeing its future. Since its inception Pennard First Responders have responded to 143 incidents, deploying medical oxygen on numerous occasions, but only using the AED once, unfortunately without success. We are very grateful to all past members of the team who have freely given of their time to help their fellow citizens over the past eight and a half years. If anyone else living in the area is interested in joining the team - all training given free of charge by the Welsh Ambulance Service - the please contact Betty. |
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| Wednesday 25/02/09 |
Future Pennard First Responder training sessions will start with emptying
out the bag and examining the contents for missing items, use by dates, etc,
followed by practicing the new system or protocol for dealing with an
unconscious, non-breathing casualty. A visit to the coastguard station has been arranged for Sunday 15 March. All FRs to meet up, in uniform, in the car park adjacent to the station at 10.00 am. It has been reported that the BBC1 program My Story may be interested in doing an item about Pennard First Responders. The next refresher course for Pennard First Responders will take place, in the community hall, on Saturday 15 August. Local Produce Markets will be held in Pennard hall on the second Sunday of each month and Helen and Laurie will go on call between 8.00 am and 1.00 pm on those days. Pennard First Responders will once again provide support for the annual bike ride on Sunday 5 July, venue to be arranged. Pennard First Responders will have a stall at the Bishopston May Day celebrations on Murton Green on Monday 4 May (1.30 pm to 3.30 pm) and Pennard Carnival on Saturday 18 July. A
Train the Trainers Heart Start training session will take place,
alongside a bunch of people from Llanelli, in Reynoldston Fire Station
Saturday 7 March from 10am to 3pm. Interested FRs to liaise
with Betty.
A visit to ambulance control in Carmarthen has been arranged for Tuesday 14 April, meeting Steve Roberts in the car park there at 7pm. Interested FRs to liaise with Betty. |
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| Wednesday 18/02/09 |
The training session on Saturday went very well with all agreeing that it
was a worthwhile exercise, especially the new format for dealing with a
casualty requiring CPR (which will be discussed at the next business
meeting this coming Friday). All members have received their
Violence & Aggression books which must be completed and brought along to the
business meeting on 19 May for Steve Roberts to collect. Many thanks to Dem
and Betty for supplying the food which was appreciated by all. Photos of the
session will appear on the website once they have been received from
Steve. Our job will also be made easier if we eventually get the GPS phones
that Steve mentioned in the session. A new recruit, Adrian, also attended
the training. He will receive full training with the Burry Port team within
the next few weeks and will then be available to join our rota. Betty and Linda continue to lead the stats in calls - see the Calls Received pages (members only). We are now approaching the 100 calls received mark! Helen and Laurie will go on cover from 08:00 am to 01:00 pm while attending the Local Produce Market every second Sunday of each month (starting 8 March). Don Keefe, Auditor to the Glamorgan Ladies County Golf association, has donated £120 to Pennard First Responders and Sue Hopkins' family requested mourners at her father's recent funeral to donate all contributions in lieu of flowers to Pennard First Responders. Betty has arranged a visit to the coastguard station in Mumbles. This will be on Sunday 15 March - time to be decided. The next refresher course (to be given by Steve Roberts) will be on Saturday 15 August from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. BHF needs your help! Watch Your Own Heart Attack, the 2 minute advert screened at 9:17pm on August 10th 2008 to raise awareness of heart attack symptoms has been shortlisted by Film4 as one of the Top 12 advertisements of 2008. The winner will be determined by the ad which receives the largest number of online votes before Thursday 29th January at the Channel 4 website: http://www.channel4.com/film/advertorial/ads/. |
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| Wednesday 7/01/09 |
We have been receiving a lot of calls lately. The
Calls Received pages (members only) give details. Reminder: Informal training session this coming Friday (9 December) at 7.00 pm in the community hall. |
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| Tuesday 30/12/08 |
Julie has received her CRB clearance at last! She will
join Dem for a shift on the rota in the new year, possibly for a few hours
on a Monday morning, but this has yet to be confirmed. We've received another 3 calls since David and Dem's call below. See the calls page for details. Don't forget the annual dinner at the golf club tonight (7.00 pm for 7.30 pm). |
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| Wednesday 17/12/08 | David & Dem received a call today. See the calls received page for details. | |
| Wednesday 26/11/08 | Jeremy and Pauline had a call last night. See the calls received page for details. | |
| Tuesday 25/11/08 |
The revised and updated website is up and running
offering a different look and feel. It's hoped that the new format will make
navigation of the site easier. There will no doubt be a few little glitches
to overcome initially. At the business meeting held on 6 November Betty was elected to succeed Dem as co-ordinator from January 2009. We're grateful to Dem for his efforts throughout 2008. Minutes of the meeting can be found here. It was also agreed that we hold regular training and business meetings throughout 2009 and the community hall has been booked for these. Click here for details. The annual dinner will take place in Pennard Golf Club on Tuesday 30 December, 7.00 pm for 7.30 pm. Places have been booked for everybody except Pauline and Julie. Refresher training has been arranged for all members as detailed below: Tuesday 20 January 2009 - Room 703, University
Library Betty and Steve Roberts are investigating whether a Vodafone mobile would will work better in our area. If tests prove that it does then our Orange phone will be replaced. |
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| Saturday 19/07/08 | Another hot but windy day for the carnival. Nothing to sell on the stand this year, just keeping our profile high in the village and possibly trawl for new volunteers - no luck there I'm afraid. There was only one minor medical incident this year (plaster required - which we don't have in the kit!) which was lucky as the organiser had once again failed to organise first aid cover from St John or British Red Cross. | |
| Friday 27/06/08 | Reminders: Cycle ride cover on Sunday 6th July. Cover needed for 8am to 10am shift. Pennard Carnival on 19th July | |
| Thursday 05/06/08 |
A suggestion has been made that we have monthly meetings
of no more than an hour, so that we can quickly cover any essentials and do
some of our own refresher training. Helen has assured us that we can book
the small hall at the Community Centre for a year in advance. Dem is looking
for opinions about this and suggestions as to which evenings we should hold
the meetings, e.g. first Wednesday of the month or second Friday of every
month, etc. Jeremy has sorted out with the University responders an arrangement where they can go on call with an ambulance crew any time from 7am to midnight. The same offer is available to Pennard responders - if any are interested. The ambulance station in question is in Neath, in what used to be Llandarcy refinery. We have been assured that the insurance issues are now resolved, so if any are interested contact Dem who will need to make the necessary arrangements with Steve Roberts and Richard Gronow, the station manager of Neath Ambulance station. Please let Dem know of any uniform shortfall as he is trying to recycle the ones he has from previous members and bring everyone up to date with current needs. |
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| Sunday 01/06/08 | New recruits Eliot and Julie completed their training toady and we look forward to adding them to the rota once their occupational health and CRB checks have been completed. Most previously qualified FRs received additional blood management training and patient handling techniques from Bryn and both groups received comprehensive moving and handling training from Mike Jones. | |
| Thursday 29/05/08 | Handling and refresher training this coming Sunday (1 June). Please note that no food will be provided during the session (except perhaps for biscuits with our mid-morning tea/coffee – thanks Betty & Dem). The schedule is handling training in the morning (starting at 9am) and refresher training in the afternoon. We should finish about 3:30 or 4pm. | |
| Wednesday 23/04/08 |
The AED now has its own hard shell case, with a
compartment for spare pads. As advised by Steve Roberts the AED can now be
carried separately and the middle compartment in the bag now contains the
paediatric and adult BVMs and the paperwork. To lighten the weight even
further the BP monitor has been moved to the green cylinder bag. Allan and Fran used the new PCR (patient clinical records) reporting form for the first time last night and were frustrated by the lack of detail you are able to put on the form. As it's designed to be scanned I suppose that's intentional. When completing the new form please remember (if you have time!) to liaise with ambulance control regarding the times required, AMPDS code, etc. And the form to give to the ambulance crew is the pink one... |
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| Tuesday 22/04/08 |
Poor Jan has been hanging on to see whether her knees would improve enough for her to continue with First Responders but she reports that it's just not happening. There are also other issues that are not allowing her to fulfil her commitments to the scheme. She has therefore reluctantly decided not to rejoin the rota for the foreseeable future, but will rejoin in the future should her knees improve. We are all very grateful for Jan's enthusiasm and commitment in the past and wish her well in the future. |
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| Wednesday 02/04/08 |
We have our new bag! Look at the
photos
to see where everything is kept in it. After using anything from the bag
please ensure that you return it to the same location within the bag so that
anyone on a subsequent call knows where to lay their hands on any item
without wasting time searching all the compartments. Note that the photos
are of one of the university bags, but the labelling shows where everything
is in our bag. The A to Z is in the small pocket at the back of the bag. We still have the green cylindrical bag in which you’ll find a spare oxygen cylinder, the torch and 2 charging plugs; one for the phone but I’m not sure what the other one is for. This bag can be left in the boot of your car while you’re on call. I will give the old bags plus any spare OPAs, masks and dressings to Dem so he’s the man to see if you need to replace anything. |
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| Thursday 20/03/08 |
Reluctantly, Emma has decided to stand down from
the scheme. She now has a full time job and with a large family to look
after can no longer find the time to regularly provide cover on the rota.
I'm sure everyone is sorry to see Emma go as she has been a valuable member
of the team. We wish her well in the future. Our new kit bag has been dispatched from St John Ambulance in Cardiff and should arrive early next week. The trainer AED is still stuck in the States. As far as I know there are no Cardiac Science Powerheart G3 AED trainers in the UK at the moment. Hopefully this delay won't be for too long. There is good news though; the Brad CPR manikin has arrived! Training has been arranged for new volunteers in the community hall on the following weekends: Saturday 24th May, Sunday 25th May and Saturday 31st May, Sunday 1st June. Refresher training can be undertaken by trained first responders on the Sunday of the second weekend. Dem will ask the local shops to include flyers in the newspapers they deliver appealing for new volunteers and advertising the training. |
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| Wednesday 30/01/08 |
When Fran returns from holiday she'll arrange a meeting
at the school - some time in early February. One of the agenda items will be
sorting out a revised rota now that Linda Culverwell is on board and
long-term absences have finished or are coming to an end. A warm welcome to who Linda joined the rota last week and will partner Wendy on the Wednesday night shift. From next Monday Gary will partner Bill on the Monday afternoon shift. This means that unfortunately we now provide no cover from 06:00 on Thursday morning to 13:00 the following Monday. Dem has the names of 5 potential volunteers who could help to fill the gaps if and when they are trained - he's talking to Steve Roberts about this - and when Jane and Emma return to the rota it will also help populate the week. As you know we have new forms to get used to; the new Incident Report Form and the new Equipment Check Sheet. The incident report form is not actually in use yet and has been issued to us for comments only at this stage. I'm copying the form for Dem to distribute. Please direct your comments back through Dem. The new equipment check sheets are kept in the red bag and should be completed at the start of each shift by the partner holding the kit. In practice, if there hasn't been a call then nothing should have changed... When Alan returns from holiday we'll buy a new bag, like the ones used in the university, in which all the kit can be kept. This will simplify hand-overs and responding to calls. If you've any other news you'd like included on this page please contact Jeremy. |
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| Wednesday 05/12/07 | All those who have booked please remember the annual dinner next Tuesday (11th December). The meal is 7pm for 7:30pm but Allan will demo our new pulse oximeter before we sit down to eat. Also, Dem will distribute our personal anti-septic gel bottles. | |
| Wednesday 05/12/07 |
New phone – This is not a tetra phone, it’s a
TETRAFIX phone which works with GPS. A trial using the new phone starts in
the Newport/Gwent/Knighton area this week so the roll out will not now take
place until well after Christmas. I’ve asked Steve Roberts which network it
uses but he doesn’t know. Steve Roberts’ job – Andrew Vaughan has resigned as first responder officer and Steve is being interviewed for the job (that he has being doing anyway for the past two and a half years!). If he gets it we should see more stability in the future planning for first responders in our area. New incident report forms – Prototype expecting soon. New Cardiac Science G3 AED – Allan is about to order this.
Training AED & CPR manikin - Jerry has written to
the university senior management team requesting extra funds to purchase these items
for the university scheme. He has requested that Pennard First Responders
have access to the items on training nights. Alternatively, Pennard will
contribute 50% of the cost (£250 for the training AED and £150 for the
manikin divided by two) and the items will become 'a shared facility'. A
decision is expected in a week or two. Personal Antiseptic gel bottles - We will all be issued with one of these, and one will be put in the cylindrical green bag. |
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| Wednesday 15/11/07 | The ambulance service is arranging a training course for new volunteers in Llansteffan during January. The sessions will all take place at weekends or in the evenings. It's hoped that some of our volunteers 'waiting in the wings' will be able to take advantage of these courses. | |
| Tuesday 13/11/07 | Minutes of the general meeting on 12 November can be found here. | |
| Monday 29/10/07 | Our newest recruit, Linda Culverwell, has completed her training (at Swansea University) and now awaits clearance from the CRB before taking her place on the rota. | |
| Wednesday 24/10/07 | The next general meeting will be in Pennard school on Monday 12th November (7-9pm). You can see the online agenda here and the minutes of the last meeting (on 9 July) here. | |
| Saturday 06/10/07 |
The past couple of months have been difficult. The
training session for our new volunteers on 15/16 September was cancelled at
the last minute and we've still not been able to arrange new dates. It's
hoped that at least one volunteer can attend the university-based new
volunteer training session on 24, 25, 26 and 29 October. Many of our shifts
have inevitably been cancelled because of holidays taken at this time of
year. This has been compounded by three members having hip replacement
surgery. Slowly we are becoming a bionic group! The refresher half-day session arranged for Saturday 6 October was also cancelled when the trainer failed to arrive - looks like a mix up in the arrangements! Pennard responders who can make it are welcome to attend the refresher training session at the university (room 703 in the Library & Information Centre) on Monday 22 October from 9am to 5pm. Dem, David, Betty and Jan have already been booked in.
Some good news! Betty has received a cheque for £1,500
from the Pennard Community Charity. This will fund our replacement
defibrillator. She also had a good meeting with Steve Roberts recently who
says that things are really moving. Apparently we are getting a new phone
before Christmas. This will use new technology which, we are told, will
improve reception. The new F.O.S manuals will arrive any day plus a green
triangle to put in the back window of our cars to show we are carrying
medical gasses. Steve also asked us to make sure that we adhere to road
traffic laws at all times when responding to incidents on behalf of the
Welsh Ambulance Service.
Betty has asked Murton Chapel to let her know when they are going to have a table-top sale. It will probably be later in October. Please hang on to any bric-a-brac you may have! |
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| Saturday 18/08/07 | Most of the Pennard first responder team received 4 hours (out of an annual requirement of 8 hours) refresher training in the community hall. Bryn and Steve from the ambulance service were the trainers. Topics covered included basic life support, airway management and defibrillation scenarios. Whilst the training took place the group were on call with control and received a call just after 11am (see above). | |
| Monday 06/08/07 | Just a reminder to all responders in the group that the first session of annual refresher training will take place on Saturday 18th August, from 9am to 1pm in the small room in the community hall. | |
| Monday 16/07/07 |
Not quite a call this! But worth noting nevertheless.
At about 17.10 Ambulance Control phoned Bill to say they had a call for
him. A 65 year old lady has slipped down outside the Heritage Centre and
had a possible fractured wrist. Before Bill could reply the controller
said "Oh sorry Bill, we have been told to expand your remit but this is
not a call for you!" It does seem that in future control will be sending
us to more types of calls...
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| Saturday 14/07/07 | Carnival day. A busy day in more ways than one! From a fundraising point of view the day was extremely successful in that we raised over £85 from selling books and bric-a-brac. I think it's safe to say that we had the busiest stall on the field. The weather helped of course and there seemed to be a record number of people in attendance this year. This money will add to the pot of cash we've collected so far to replace our AED in a year to 18 months time. | |
| Tuesday 10/07/07 | Minutes of last nights EGM can be found here. All go now for the carnival on Saturday! All we need is decent weather... | |
| Wednesday 27/06/07 | An EGM has been arranged for 7pm on Monday 9th July at 7pm in the staff room of Pennard school. Agenda: Work out new rota arrangements and decide on a date for training session. | |
| Wednesday 22/05/07 | The visit to the coastguard station at Tutt Head, Mumbles yesterday evening was very interesting and enjoyable. I'm sure we all learnt a lot more about the role of the modern coastguards and were made to feel very welcome. There are a few shots of the visit on the photos pages of our website. | |
| Wednesday 02/05/07 |
There will be a general meeting on Monday May 21st
at 7pm in the junior staff room at Pennard school. Topics to disscus include
setting up a rota for Pennard Carnival, providing cover for the Gower bike
ride and travel arrangements for the following evening (see below). Click
here to
see the agenda. Betty has arranged a visit to the coastguard station at Tutt Head on Tuesday May 22nd at 8pm. I'm sure this will prove as interesting as the previous visits to ambulance control in Carmarthen and the air ambulance station at Fairwood. Please attend if you are able. |
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| Saturday 24/03/07 | Many of the group visited the air ambulance station at Fairwood airport. See here for photos. | |
| Sunday 11/03/07 | Many of the group visited Ambulance control at Carmarthen. See here for report and photos. | |
| Tuesday 06/03/07 | Last nights meeting was well attended and very useful. Please see here for minutes. | |
| Thursday 01/03/07 | Further to Allan and Fran's call-out on 07/02/07. There is now a universally accepted quick diagnosis of a stroke - FAST. See the Stroke page in the Medical Problems section of the website. | |
| Thursday 01/03/07 | Reminder of upcoming events: | |
| Monday 5th March at 7pm: Group meeting in the school. See agenda here. | ||
| Sunday 11th March: Two visits to ambulance control in Carmarthen, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. Members to liaise with Betty regarding travelling arrangements. | ||
| Saturday 24th March at 10am: Visit to the air ambulance facility at Fairwood Airport. | ||
| Thursday 15/02/07 | We now have a very neat carry bag into which we've put the second oxygen cylinder. Along with the cylinder there are 28% and 100% masks, a selection of airways and the blood pressure monitor. It's suggested that when we arrive on scene now we need only take the new oxygen bag and AED from our cars to the casualty, leaving the big bag in the car for use later if necessary, e.g. if the original oxygen cylinder runs out. | |
| Wednesday 14/02/07 | The next group meeting will take place on Monday 5th March 2007 at 7pm in the staff room in the school. | |
| Friday 02/02/07 | Please remember the refresher training session at Pennard school at 6:30pm on Monday 5th February. | |
| Tuesday 26/12/06 | Time to catch up with the news! Betty has taken over as co-ordinator from Dem. We are all very grateful to Dem for all the hard work he has put in over the past 2 years and wish Betty the best of luck. | |
| Betty has arranged a refresher training session either at Pennard school staff room or in the hall (to be confirmed) at 18:30 on Monday 22 January 2007. All should make an effort to attend, otherwise there's a danger of "falling out of compliance". Anyone not able to attend should contact Betty who will try to get you "tacked onto" a refresher course for another group. | ||
| Now is the time to think about recruiting new members. Do you have friends, neighbours or acquaintances who may be interested in becoming a first responder? If so please talk to them about it. All being well, there will be a training session for new responders in February so we need to get cracking. We will also be organising the delivery of approximately 180 flyers to local households in the free local newspaper within the next few weeks. | ||
| Lastly, a happy and healthy new year to all our members - and all our readers! | ||
| Tuesday 28/11/06 |
A great night was had by all when the group had its
annual dinner at Pennard golf club last Friday night. Many thanks to all who
attended. The food was delicious, the drink went down too well and the
company was brilliant. A few statistics for the past year: We have received 24 calls in the 10½ months since the dinner on 6th January. [NB This is corrected to include Howard's first call!] In the year previous to that we received 28 calls - in 12 months. The average is therefore about the same as last year at about 2-2½ calls per month. We have received over 88 calls since the scheme started in April 2003. Where were the 24 calls 1 to Parkmill,1 to Kittle,1 to Manselfield, 2 to Nicolaston, 2 to Penmaen, 2 to Southgate, 4 to Murton, 5 to Bishopston, 6 to Pennard. We currently cover 74 out of 168 hours in each week, i.e. 44%. During the dinner last year it was reported that we were covering 55 hours each week, i.e. 32%, so there’s been a healthy increase of 12% in the coverage. |
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| Saturday 12/08/06 | Pennard First Responders had a stall at Bishopston Fete today. There was a good turn out of volunteers to answer questions from the public and generally increase the profile of the scheme in the area, and possibly attract new volunteers. A few second-hand books and Allan's hand-turned dibbles were sold to increase the funds slightly. Fran gave about a half dozen people free blood pressure checks and Betty kept everybody well topped up with tea and cakes! There are a few photos on the website here. | |
| Tuesday 01/08/06 |
Two free Basic Life Support courses are to be held at the university on
Wednesday and Thursday, 16th and 17th August from 10am to 2:30pm,
including a break for lunch. People attending these courses will be
permitted to assist a first responder on a call, i.e. they will be able to
go on the rota - as long as their partner is a trained first responder.
Although this is not ideal, as we would really like extra trained first
responders, it would help us in the Pennard scheme by adding to our pool
of names for the rota. The only problem would be matching these
new recruits to trained responders. Ultimately, when the new responder
training resumes, full training will be given. If you know anyone who is
currently waiting to join our scheme or indeed anyone else who would be
interested, would you please let them know about this and ask them to
contact Jeremy (01792 295105 [daytime] or
email) so that he can include them in the arrangements.
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| Saturday 15/07/06 | Allan reports: | |
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The weather for the Carnival this year was superb and
initially we thought that attendance might be poor because of local people
choosing to go to the beach. In fact attendance was excellent. Our pitch
was on the opposite side of the field to our usual location and was next
to the Wales Air Ambulance stand. Laurie was there bright and early to
erect the sign and Helen, Margaret, Frances, Garry, David and Allan helped
to dress the stall. Helen bravely elected to blow up balloons by mouth
while Garry and Allan sensibly decided to use a small electrical tyre
compressor instead. We monitored Helen carefully but thank goodness she
survived the experience without recourse to the oxygen bottle.
As usual we promoted the 'ICE' and 'Message in a
Bottle' schemes and also handed out slips with the website address. We
also explained the new CPR protocol to several people who were familiar
with the old technique but were unaware of the recent changes. Annie was
on display and the use of the defibrillator was demonstrated to a few
interested passers by. A new idea this year was to offer free blood
pressure checks using Allan's BP monitor and this proved surprisingly
popular. We explained the First Responder Scheme to a number of people
who had moved to the area recently and we had one person from Sandy Lane
who was keen to join us.
We called Ambulance Control and booked onto duty for
the period from 11am to 5pm....and we had a casualty! One of the members
of the South Gower Rugby Club dislocated his shoulder while taking part in
the Sumo Wrestling. Getting him out of the costume proved interesting but
we were then at somewhat of a loss on how best to proceed! Fortunately
the patient seemed to be better informed than we were and by stretching
his arm above his head managed to get his shoulder back into joint. He
asked if we could strap his shoulder and David using his initiative
borrowed a roll of gaffer tape from a neighbouring stall and made a highly
presentable job of it. Perhaps we should indent for rolls of gaffer tape
for the bag.
A number of the other members spent some time with us
including Betty, Bill, Emma and Howard (apologies to anyone I've
forgotten).
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| Tuesday 20/06/06 | The meeting last night was pretty well attended and everybody took a full part in it. The minutes are on the website here. | |
| Tuesday 20/06/06 | Training on Saturday was very enjoyable and informative. We learned about the new CPR protocol - a major change in the way we should treat patients. The relevant pages in the reference section of our website will be altered in due course, but in the meantime you can see the new guidelines on the Resuscitation Council's website at http://www.resus.org.uk/pages/bls.pdf. We also saw the LUCAS automated CPR machine in operation and we were warned that we may come across this during future calls as they are now being carried on all RRVs. After a break we acted out several scenarios designed to get us thinking about the circumstances we may confront and the corresponding actions we should take as first responders. Photos of the training sessions can be seen here. | |
| Wednesday 07/06/06 | Please note that the refresher training on Saturday 17 June will take place in the community hall in Pennard NOT at Cefn Coed. Dem also confirms that Gerrard will take the session. | |
| Friday 02/06/06 | There will be a refresher training session (i.e. NOT for new recruits) at Cefn Coed on Saturday 17 June at 10:00am. Would all members please make an effort to attend. Remember, we are supposed to attend refresher training every 6-12 months. If we fail to do that we fall "out of compliance" and cannot take part on the rota. | |
| Friday 02/06/06 | Don't forget the next group meeting on Monday 19 June at 7pm in Pennard School. Click here to see the agenda. | |
| Saturday 13/05/06 | Laurie picked up a range of sizes of new OPAs this week and passed them on to David to put in our green bag. | |
| Thursday 11/05/06 | We've been told that First Responder training is under review. This means that the training session for our new recruits will be delayed (yet again!). Let's hope that the new system is more dynamic than the present one. | |
| Wednesday 10/05/06 | We were running out of incident report forms so Dem has put a new pad in the red bag. We all know that the current form is a little confusing and you have to leave many of the sections blank when you fill it in. There's a rumour that a new form is being designed... | |
| Monday 01/05/06 | Our stall at the May Fayre in Bishopston attracted a fair amount of attention and raised our profile in Bishopston. It was a cold afternoon but thankfully a dry one. The CPR demonstrations proved to be popular with the kids and a fair amount of interest in the scheme was shown by a number of adults. Betty seemed to know everybody and was actively promoting the scheme and looking for potential volunteers. Bill brought along some books to sell and their sale added over £5 to our funds. All in all a successful afternoon. See the photos here. | |
| Friday 28/04/06 | Dem has discovered that the OPAs in our bag are out of date and should be removed. This he's done, so there are no OPAs in the bag now. He' been trying to get a new set from Andrew's stand-in (Andrew is on sick leave), but is having difficulty contacting him. He'll keep trying! | |
| Wednesday 01/03/06 | The training session planned for 10th/11th March has been postponed and will now take place in late April or even May. Dem will provide details as and when he gets them. | |
| Friday 24/02/06 | The Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust is currently running a recruitment drive for First Responder volunteers in South East Wales. This page on their website gives a few good examples of how First Responders can and do save lives. | |
| Friday 24/02/06 | The agenda for the meeting to take place on Monday 27 February at 7pm in Pennard school is available here. | |
| Tuesday 14/02/06 | The next full meeting of Pennard First Responders will be in the staff room at Pennard School on Monday 27 February at 7 pm. Would all members please attend if they are able. If you'd like to add an agenda item please email Dem. | |
| Monday 23/01/06 | Four of our five new members start on the rota this week. When the fifth joins next week our weekly cover will rise to 71 hours, one hour less than the record a year or so ago. This represents 42% coverage of the week when everybody is on duty. We still have 6 or 7 people awaiting training so that figure could rise significantly in the future. Watch this space! | |
| Monday 09/01/06 | A fine time was had by all at the new year dinner at Pennard golf club on Friday evening. Congratulations to Fran and Allan for receiving the inaugural FART award! Photos from the night can be seen on the photos page. | |
| Thursday 15/12/05 | Just a reminder about the New Year Dinner at Pennard Golf Club on Friday 6 January, 7pm for 7:30pm. | |
| Thursday 01/12/05 |
At our meeting on Monday 14 November it was suggested
that Allan should approach the Pennard Community Charity for a donation to
contribute to the cost of equipping our new volunteers. As the Charity
Trustees were due to meet that Wednesday, he put together a case quickly
and submitted it for consideration. I am delighted to report that the
Trustees approved a donation of £250 and Allan has now received their
cheque.
In addition to providing fleeces for our newcomers we
should perhaps be considering other items for all of us. Ambulance
pattern trousers would help protect against incontinent and vomiting
patients (ask Fran!) and with the coldest part of the winter approaching,
green sweatshirts with the Ambulance and First Responder logos might come
in handy.
Any other ideas anyone?
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| Tuesday 15/11/05 | Last night's meeting was well attended, only Garry was missing. The minutes are available here. | |
| Wednesday 26/10/05 | Dem has confirmed that the next group meeting will take place in the staff room at Pennard school on Monday 14 November at 7pm. Agenda will include updating the rota to include the new members and finances. Please email Dem if you have another item you'd like added to the agenda. | |
| Saturday 22/10/05 | After failing to gain entry to the training centre at Cefn Coed we were luckily able to use the village hall for the training session. Gerrard once again gave the training. Four out of our potential six new recruits were able to attend (as well as all except 4 of the current members) and they were given an introduction to a few aspects of basic life support, mainly CPR and choking. Their training will continue on 8 November and hopefully can be completed in one full day. Fran will see if she can book the staff room at the school for a meeting on Monday 14 November when we can update the rota to include the new members. | |
| Monday 10/10/05 |
As a result contact that Dem has made with
the Bishopston W.I. we have received a cheque for £150 for our funds. This is
the proceeds from a charity dress down day at an insurance office
(Lloyds Equity Red Star). They say that they may be able to contribute more
in the future. Don't forget the refresher training morning at Cefn Coed on Saturday 22 October. Hopefully all 6 of our new recruits will attend, so soon after we will need to meet to discuss the rota and what to buy with our funds. We could also discuss how to increase membership further. |
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| Thursday 08/09/05 |
Dem and Helen gave a presentation about the scheme to
Parkmill W.I. on Tuesday evening. They gave the history of the first
responder movement, demonstrated the AED and oxygen and CPR on "little
Annie". The members seemed to be most interested, appreciative of our
efforts and keen to help, donating £15 to our funds. The next training session, which will combine first-time training for our new volunteers and refresher training for the rest of us, will take place on Saturday 22 October. Either Andrew or Gerard will give the course. Please make a note in your diary! The new software for ambulance control has been ordered, at a cost of £19,000. This will ensure that we will automatically receive a call when necessary. We have been warned that there may be initial teething problems with the software... |
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| Friday 02/09/05 | News is a bit thin on the ground at the moment. It's the holiday season so we have the inevitable gaps in the rota and it's been 6 weeks since our last call. The good news is that we now have 6 definite recruits awaiting training. Dem has recently talked to Andrew about this and is urging that these 6 are trained ASAP. | |
| Saturday 27/08/05 |
Allan took advantage of Homebase's 10% day to
replace our defunct high powered torch/lantern at a cost of £8.99. This
is now part of the mobile kit again though he and Fran will keep the
charger and ensure that the battery is fully charged each Tuesday.
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| Tuesday 23/08/05 | Bill had a visit yesterday from the patient he and Laurie attended on Wednesday 20 July. The (now fully recovered) chap wanted to thank Bill and Laurie for their swift attendance and treatment and has donated £20 to our funds. Isn't it nice to be appreciated! | |
| Thursday 11/08/05 | Dem has been trying to arrange training for the five volunteers we have "waiting in the wings" and the news is good. Andrew Vaughan has been allocated some help in this regard and a training session for the new volunteers should be scheduled soon. This will also serve as a refresher course for current members. | |
| Thursday 11/08/05 | Our AED has been returned from its service and is back in the rota. | |
| Thursday 11/08/05 | Nina will be leaving us shortly to take up a promotion in Bradford University so she will no longer take part in the scheme. We wish her well in her new job and thank her for the support she gave to the scheme while she was a member. | |
| Thursday 28/07/05 |
Bill has taken our AED to Andrew for
servicing, and we have a temporary replacement. It is smaller and has only
two buttons, green and red. No problem with that though as it does
instruct all the way (man's voice).
Message in a Bottle: Dem has been in contact
with the local rep for the Rotary Club of Mumbles and has a supply of
these for anyone in the group. If you come upon anyone who is on
medication please offer them one of these; free of charge thanks to the
generosity of Mumbles Community Council, Rotary district 1150, and CO-OP
Community Service.
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| Tuesday 26/07/05 | Our AED is overdue for a service so in the next few days Bill will take it up to Andrew, who will provide us with a temporary replacement. Once 'our' AED has been serviced Bill will retrieve it and return the 'spare'. | |
| Monday 25/07/05 |
Laurie and Helen are renewing their partnership from Monday 25/07/05 from 20:00hrs to 06:00hrs, so Nina does not have a partner for the time being. The Sunday night shift is therefore cancelled until further notice (once our new recruits have received training). |
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| Wednesday 20/07/05 |
Note that there are
now 24 stamped addressed envelopes in the green bag with the Incident Form
Pad [to return completed forms to the Audit Office at Swansea Ambulance
Station].
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| Wednesday 20/07/05 |
Allan reports that his hand-turned 'Gardener's
Thingamajigs' sold well at the Carnival and we made a grand total of
£21.40. Rather than bank all the cash he proposes buying some envelopes
and stamps to put a set of stamped addressed envelopes with the incident
report forms in the bag.
Note also that he has put some 'Message in a bottle'
kits in the bag to hand out to any patients that we attend that do not
already have one.
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| Thursday 07/07/05 | Dem has requested that any member of the group who has any comment or suggestions about the co-ordinator's post in the group should let them be known (by email?). | |
| Sunday 03/07/05 | We once again provided emergency medical cover for the Gower Bike Ride. We set up our position inside the gate to the parish hall. Luckily nobody required attention, and if they had we would have competed with the St. John ambulance parked across the road! Thanks to all who helped out. | |