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Author: Sarah Callaghan

  • Volunteering grows friendships

    Volunteering grows friendships

    In February 2023 Rachel joined South Central Ambulance Charity as a Community First Responder in High Wycombe.

    After completing her training she needed to find a buddy to help her in those first few shifts. Simon stepped forward and met Rachel in one of our Direct Response Vehicles (DRV) to show her the ropes.

    Fast forward 6 months and Rachel and Simon can still be found to responding together as a team but also spend time socialising away from their time with South Central Ambulance Charity.

    Simon said they have become firm friends “I think it takes a certain type of person to become a CFR, and with that common ground, it’s hard not to get along with your CFR scheme members”

  • Celebrating CFR Friendships

    Celebrating CFR Friendships

    When Caite became a CFR in 2021 her main goal was to share the compassion and patience she had developed with her grandfather who suffered with Dementia.

    Our CFRs are placed within a scheme within their community and as part of their induction and training they will go out on buddy shifts and its these connections where we first see friendships grow.

    For Caite she was placed with Vicki – “I know from experience how nerve racking it was after qualifying and wanted to support Caite (and later Jenna) to build their confidence in responding to calls in the first few weeks”. 

    That support, and the ongoing support and friendship, from Vicki really helped Caite build her own confidence as she became more settled into her new volunteering role.

    Jenna became a CFR in late 2022 as she had always considered becoming a paramedic and desperately wanted to make a difference in her community.

    She was partnered with both Caite and Vicki to do those initial buddy shifts.

    Jenna said, “Both of them have been a fantastic support in every situation and any questions any of us have, there’s always an answer between the 3 of us!” 

    Now the three of them can be found doing shifts together, training together or just catching up in their own spare time.

    When Caite joined she had one goal – to help people,  the friendships she has gained are the added extra  “I am so lucky to say I have made amazing friends from my volunteering work. Not just Vicki and Jenna but I am friends with my cohort team and all the other training buddies I have met along the way.”

  • Buckinghamshire Community First Responders are Making a Difference!

    Buckinghamshire Community First Responders are Making a Difference!

    Congratulations to our 120 Buckinghamshire Community First Responders (CFR) and our local Co-Responders who have been shortlisted for the Community Group Award at this years BBC Three Counties Make a Difference Awards.

    The Community Group Award recognises a group of people who have helped to genuinely change the lives of others within the community – and this certainly encompasses our CFRs.

    In the last 12 months our Buckinghamshire Responders have volunteered 38,828 hours in responding time alone. The CFR programme is fully funded by South Central Ambulance Charity, and therefore as part of their volunteering commitment they also support the charity with fundraising by attending local events, and also giving community talks to increase the understanding and knowledge of their own role and the charity.  

    SCAS and the Charity want to educate people in CPR and increase defibrillator understanding and use, and as a result the CFRs will also be out in their communities teaching these skills so that members of the public can react to an emergency if required.

    We are very grateful for all the Buckinghamshire Responders do and we know that they are well known within their local communities and the incredible volunteering role they do. Good Luck to them in September when they attend the awards ceremony.

  • Medical and nursing students volunteer to enhance learning and skills

    Medical and nursing students volunteer to enhance learning and skills

    People have many different reasons to volunteer with us – from wanting to give something back to the NHS or because they have been inspired when meeting some of our volunteers at events. However for many volunteers it allows them to add additional skills and experience to their CV’s in preparation for job searching – and this is especially true for our CFRs who are studying for a range of medical degrees at local universities.

    In West Hampshire there is an active team of around 20 medical and nursing students from University of Southampton who are trained as CFRs. Being able to respond around their studies allows them to experience pre-hospital emergency medicine first hand, and their CFR skills are transferable to their medical studies.

    Medical and nursing students are taught the value of taking a “social history” from every patient, and volunteering with SCAS gives them a better understanding of patients diverse support networks, living conditions and an understanding of the work of Ambulance Trusts and the care patients receive before attending hospitals.

    James Brew, CFR Coordinator for Hampshire Medical Students, said “As a scheme we are looking forward to recruiting and mentoring a new intake of 10 medical and nursing students who are current Year 1 / 2 at University of Southampton very soon. We enjoy engaging with potential new student CFRs and explaining the merits that this volunteering opportunity has for all involved.”

    If you are a University Student and would like to find out if we have a scheme at your University please send an email to info@sca-charity.org.uk

  • Community First Responders supporting “Safe Drive Stay Alive”

    Community First Responders supporting “Safe Drive Stay Alive”

    In November 2022, several Community First Responders (CFR) from Buckinghamshire supported “Safe Drive Stay Alive” in High Wycombe and Milton Keynes.

    “Safe Drive Stay Alive” is a hard hitting educational piece that is delivered to 2000 teenagers per show. Its aim is to raise their awareness of the dangers and possible long term outcomes of reckless driving and/or driving whilst under the influence. Powerful videos, live testimony from emergency services personnel, survivors, bereaved parents, barristers and prison inmates all serve to demonstrate how one, seemingly, simple choice made when getting behind the wheel of a car can have devastating, life-changing consequences.

    Due to the hard hitting impact of the show some members of the audience do need to leave the auditorium and that is when our CFR team are ready to step in. Some of the audience needed time out and an opportunity to chat through what they had witnessed and others required treatment for fainting, nausea and dizziness.

    Simon Everitt, CFR in High Wycombe, had the privilege of being one of our team at these shows and said “As a new CFR, it was a privilege to work with my colleagues to help ensure that everyone is properly looked after and then returned to their school cohort once fully recovered. I hope that this well put together work will influence future behaviours and will lead to lives being saved in the future”

  • Volunteers recognised for their contribution to South Central Ambulance Charity

    Volunteers recognised for their contribution to South Central Ambulance Charity

    Staff and volunteers from South Central Ambulance Charity and South Central Ambulance Trust NHS Foundation Trust (SCAS) were nominated for the Helpforce Champions Awards 2022 and we were  pleased to attend the Awards Ceremony with two of our finalists. Finalists came together from across the UK to showcase the impact volunteers have had on the NHS over the last 12 months.

    Jack Ansell, Operations Manager, Community Engagement Team was nominated in the Volunteer to Career – Volunteer of the Year category. Jack started his career by volunteering as one of the first Community First Responders, and as a volunteer with St. John Ambulance and after completing the Student Paramedic degree he has continued to respond both in a voluntary capacity and also professionally.

    Jack not only now works in the Community Engagement Team to engage and train new Community First Responders he was one of the  founders of the British Association for Immediate Care Schemes (BASICS) team at SCAS which was officially started in 2020.   The SCAS BASICs team is made up of Nurses & Paramedics with enhanced clinical skills who volunteer outside of their working role.

    His story grabbed the judges attention and he was named the winner at the Awards Ceremony.

    Jack said of his award “My nomination and win is a complete shock. I have always enjoyed responding to emergencies and being able to help people in my local community. My time as a volunteer early in my career helped me cement my passion and understanding of the service and this is something I continue to strive to achieve today with our current Community First Responders.”

    In addition to Jack’s win Nic Dunbar, Head of Operations, Community Engagement and Training Team,  was Highly Commended in the Health Leader Champion for Volunteering category.

    Nic has been an advocate for volunteers throughout SCAS, not only leading the Community First Responders to take on further operational duties – such as responding to non-injury falls – but was also involved with the development of the Volunteering Strategy and introduction the Welfare Vehicles and Volunteers as a response to Covid.

    Vanessa Casey, CEO of South Central Ambulance Charity “We continue to see the impact all of our volunteers have across SCAS. Our growing number of CFRs, Welfare and Car Drivers demonstrate that people continue to be eager to volunteer with us and help support their local communities and recognise the work our staff do. Congratulations to Jack and Nic, but also well done to all those other volunteers and staff members who were nominated.  Thank you to all our volunteers to continue to provide such an important resource for the ambulance service.”

    Other nominations made to Helpforce Champions Awards 2022 included

    Ben Taylor (PTS) –  Volunteer Manager of the Year

    Nick Tappin (Welfare Volunteer)  – Volunteer of the Year: England

    Jamie Todd (BASICS) – Volunteer of the Year : England

    Kevin Wilson (Volunteer Car Driver) – Volunteer of the Year: England

  • CFR Couple receive FERF Certificate

    When our CFR’s log on to start their shift with us they never know what or how many calls they are going to receive. They proudly wear their uniform, helping members of the public, providing emergency care and keeping family members calm until the arrival of an ambulance resource on scene. For many of our CFR’s that training and sense of duty doesn’t switch off when the uniform comes off and they log off from their shifts.

    Jacqui and Graham Reeve, based in Lyndhurst Hampshire have both volunteered as CFRs for the past 17 years attending many calls every week. Since April 2021, they have provided nearly 6000 hours of CFR cover between them. While off duty, they were leaving a local gym they came across a member of the public who was unwell with a serious medical emergency. Without a second thought both Jacqui and Graham used their training and knowledge as CFR’s and called for an ambulance and in the meantime provided care and support to the patient.

    Their actions contributed to a positive outcome for the member of the public and the crew were grateful for their support, nominating them for a FERF award

    Pictured is Jacqui and Graham in receipt of their FERF certificates which they received last week and our congratulations to them both. We thank them for their continued time and commitment as valued CFR’s.

  • One final thank you!

    As Volunteers Week comes to an end we are using today as an opportunity to look forward to the next 12 months of volunteering.

    As you will have seen this week without the 1million+ hours that all our volunteers have contributed to SCAS we wouldn’t see paramedics being supported either on the front line or with much needed refreshments, patients would not have such the personal touch on journeys to their hospital appointments and of course our fundraisers make all of this and much more possible.

    Looking forward we want to continue to provide more volunteering opportunities which will support both the Charity and SCAS further. Fundraising continues to be our priority as we aim to update all of our CFR defibrillators which will give the best care before the paramedics arrive on scene. In addition, we will begin to introduce more volunteers to more office based roles which will play an important role in helping us use our front line volunteers in the most efficient way.

    We continue to be thankful to all of our current volunteers as all their roles are important to us. If after seeing all the incredible volunteering that they do and you feel inspired to volunteer with us then please look at our website for our most current opportunities – and in advance thank you for considering joining us. Mike Murphy, Executive Lead

  • Thank you to our volunteer fundraisers

    We are grateful for our Volunteers who fundraise for us. From organising bucket collections, representing us at local events or partaking in challenge events our volunteers are at the heart of our Charity.  Rain or shine they are out and about within their local communities, raising awareness and supporting us with raising vital funds.

    Without volunteers who fundraise our Charity would not be able to provide non-NHS funded projects, equipment, and services such as our CFR programme and Welfare Points. 

    The last two years have been incredibly difficult for all charities, but our volunteers have continued to support us where they can. Many of our volunteers take on multiple roles within the charity yet they still carry out a lot of fundraising as an addition to their role and to those that do, we are incredibly grateful.

    Tammy Angus-Senior Fundraising Officer said, “Fundraising during a global pandemic is no mean feat. Traditional fundraising methods came to a dramatic halt but the enthusiasm and passion from our volunteers never dulled. They continued to fundraise when and where they could. To every single one of our volunteers, I would like to say a big thank you for supporting the charity during very unpredictable times. You truly are the hidden gems in your communities.”

  • Thank You Day

    Today is “Thank You Day” as part of Volunteers Week. It is important to us that we recognise everything that our volunteers contribute.

    All of our volunteers significantly are supporting SCA Charity and SCAS aims and goals. From fundraising to responding to an emergency our volunteers are truly special people.

    Thank you for the miles you have driven, for the calls you have responded too, for the money you have helped raise, for the cups of tea you have made and for all the smiles and positivity you provide at difficult times.

    We look forward to continuing to work with you all.