About Us

Yorkshire Ambulance Service operates a Community First Responder (CFR) scheme where volunteers are trained to use life-saving skills in their local area.

In many medical emergencies the first few minutes are critical and if effective treatment can be provided at this time, lives can be saved and disability reduced. This is especially true for heart attacks and medical conditions that have caused someone to lose consciousness.

Our CFRs are trained in basic life support (BLS) skills including cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR), defibrillation and oxygen therapy and are equipped with an automated external defibrillator (AED) oxygen and a first aid kit.

When a 999 call is received in our Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), an ambulance response is dispatched. At the same time a CFR, on-call in the area, can be alerted and asked to assist at the incident to ensure assistance reaches the patient as quickly as possible.

As our volunteers are based within the community, they may only be a minute or two away from a medical emergency and very often their role is to simply provide vital reassurance to patients and their families until ambulance clinicians arrive. However, in extreme cases, such as a cardiac arrest, they can perform CPR or use their defibrillator to restart someone’s heart which can save someone’s life.