One of our dedicated volunteers has worked around 31,000 hours as a Community First Responder (CFR) for EMAS in just 13 years.
Paul Brackley, 52, of Oundle near Peterborough, helped to set up the CFR scheme for the town and has been on duty for as many hours as possible ever since.
He said: “The CFR scheme seemed interesting and it was a good skill to learn to help the local community.
“A lot of my family live in Oundle so even just to be able to help them if they fell ill, it seemed like a good idea.
“To begin with it was a challenge to set the CFR scheme up because no one knew what it was, so I was doing 24 hour coverage.
“But now we have 12 people in the group, and I do about 50 hours a week.”
Paul explained that he loves working as a CFR as he has been able to save the lives of several people in Oundle who have suffered a cardiac arrest, and he has no intention of cutting down on his hours any time soon.
He added: “For me it’s the satisfaction of being able to help the patient until the paramedics arrive.
“I hope to do another 31,000 hours – I’m not going to pack it in just yet.”
Could you be a Community First Responder (CFR)? Check out our webpage