00:00The Emergency Services Show at Hastings is an opportunity for all of the emergency services
00:08to engage with the public, build awareness of what we do, how we do it, the kit and equipment
00:14that's available, the people that are involved in the everyday responses and also the opportunity
00:21for some of the lesser known responders that are available in our community.
00:28I've been lucky enough to be the organiser this year, bringing all the emergency services
00:35together.
00:36We've got the obvious of the police, fire, ambulance, the Coast Guard, the RNLI but we've
00:44also got Dockbike, the National Independent Lifeboat Association, we've got our local lifeboat
00:53volunteers as well as the 4x4 response server coming down as well.
01:00So yeah, a big variety of organisations that people may or may not have any awareness of.
01:06Like I say, most people will know the 999 emergencies, the big ones with the Coast Guard, the Ambulance,
01:13the Fire, the Police, the RNLI.
01:17They may not know about St John's and the other and a lot of them are voluntary organisations
01:22so they rely heavily on donations from members of the public to raise an awareness of what
01:27they do and how they're funded.
01:29Obviously the big challenge for the voluntary organisations is donations aren't as high as
01:36they have been in previous years.
01:38So any events like this are vitally important.
01:42From a personal point of view we have our community first responders who are volunteers,
01:48they give up their own time and they're a charity in their own right and they respond within their
01:52own local community to life-threatening emergencies to get that defib and start that chain of survival
01:58at the earliest possible time.
02:00And without donations they wouldn't be able to continue.
02:03So yeah, for all the voluntary organisations it's really important to get that word out
02:08there to the public so that they can gain those donations.
02:11The community first responders has been an initiative in CCAM since about 2004-2006.
02:18We have guys like David, girls who go out and respond in the community's volunteers who do
02:26it in their own time, who are basically given responder training, kit, AED and an NMA device,
02:37a phone device, where they book on in their own time and respond to Category 1 life-threatening
02:42calls up to Category 3 calls.
02:46They do that to support their community and I can't think much highly of them, they are brilliant
02:52people.
02:53I've been a member now for two years and it's been very rewarding and it's great to mix
02:58with the local community and see the impact that we can actually have.
03:03We don't always manage to get to the jobs before the ambulance crews, but what we can do is
03:09actually make the patients comfortable at the very least or give vital care and treatment.
03:17That is really important.
03:35We'll see you next time.
Comments