We work with SECAMB and are a registered UK charity (no: 1131374) We are a group of trained volunteer Community FIrst Responders and team support volunteers working with SECAMB (South East Coast Ambulance Service). In a rural community such as ours (we cover Partridge Green, Cowfold, Shermanbury, West Grinstead, Littleworth and surrounding areas), our trained responders can reach a victim in a ma
tter of minutes and provide life-saving help until the paramedic and ambulance team arrives. Our responders (CFR's) are all local volunteers who give up their free time to be "on call". When you call 999 in a medical emergency, the ambulance service can call upon us to "co-respond" where appropriate. Responders are equipped with defibrillators and oxygen and first aid supplies and have been specifically trained by the ambulance service . Our speed of attendance can dramatically increase chances of survival in life-threatening emergencies such as heart attacks or breathing difficulties. Because we are local, we are usually able to respond in minutes, assess the patient, give emergency life-saving care and provide the ambulance crew with critical information when they arrive. Whatever the situation, we aim to provide immediate vital care, support and reassurance for those in our local community who need urgent medical help. Please remember that we are not permitted to respond directly to calls from the public. You must phone 999 and the operator will alert the nearest available CFR. On occasions, a CFR may already be attending an incident and no other available or our CFR's may be off-duty. As volunteers, we do our best to provide as much coverage as possible but it is not always feasible to provide a 24 hr-24/7 service. PART is Registered with the Charity Commission (1131374). We rely entirely on the fundraising efforts of the team and on the generosity of your donations. It costs us in the region of £1500 to equip a responder, plus on-going running costs. PART are also dedicated to life-saving in the community in other ways and have an active programme of providing and maintaining Public Access Defibrilators locally. These too are entirely funded by the generosity of our community. PAD's are available for anyone to use, you do not need special training. We are working towards siting as many of them as possible externally so that they can be accessed day or night. We regularly provide sessions in the use of our defibrillators for those that might like to gain confidence in what to do in an emergency. If you are interested in attending such a session, please get in touch. We have provided training sessions for various groups including Scouts and Guides, schools, The Women's Institute and local residents. We very much appreciate the support we have received to date and look forward to your continued support in the future. We are always looking for potential responders or volunteers to help us in any capacity. If you think you can help, please get in touch !
