What are we fundraising for using the LeisGO platform?
We are fundraising to purchase cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training mannequins and a training Automated External Defibrillator (AED). This equipment will be used to help deliver CPR awareness sessions to members of the public at events on both university sites, in addition to other community groups around Leicester. In fact, we hope to deliver CPR training to anyone who is willing to learn!
What is a community first responder?
A community first responder is a volunteer who gives up their spare time to respond to 999 calls for the ambulance service, in addition to a traditional ambulance being dispatched. As community first responders are ordinary people within the local community, they are often much closer to incidents when the initial 999 calls are made, therefore reducing the time taken for life-saving treatment to begin.
Who are the volunteers in the #LUCFR Scheme?
All volunteers in the #LUCFR scheme are current students at the University of Leicester and De Montfort University. The students are reading a range subjects including Medicine, Physiotherapy and Pharmacy, around which they choose to volunteer their time to help their local community. These students have chosen to use their spare time to learn invaluable lifesaving skills, in order to help members of their community in their greatest time of need.
Why are we fundraising for training equipment?
We are fundraising for cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training mannequins for 2 reasons:
- In order to ensure that our volunteers are prepared to respond to emergencies, such as cardiac arrests in the community, they must regularly practice their skills such as defibrillation and basic life support. Regular access to these mannequins will ensure that LUCFR are able to provide high-quality effective care at all times to our patients.
- As well as providing an emergency response to 999 calls on behalf of East Midlands Ambulance Service, we feel a key role of the scheme is to also raise public awareness of how to perform CPR and use an Automated External Defibrillator (AED). The mannequins we are fundraising for allow the users to have real time feedback around their quality of their chest compressions (such as depth and rate of compression). This will allow our volunteers to help the public gain confidence in performing high-quality chest compressions, in addition to the use of an AED. Investing in training for all members of the community can help to minimise the time before CPR is started, which can help to improve the chances of survival for patients suffering an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. With the increasing numbers of public access defibrillators at locations such as shopping centres, railway stations and sporting stadia, it is imperative that members of the public feel empowered and able to provide help, when advised to do so by 999 call handlers.
We are passionate about helping our local community and hope that you will support us in OUR quest to increase public awareness around CPR and THE use of AEDs!
