Welcome to two more new members of our front line team!
Holly has completed training and now doing a number of shifts with other CFRS before being able to respond independently to emergencies.
Amy is about to start her CFR training with WMAS and will then be able to join her parents Emma and Jim as a responder for the village.

If anyone is interested in joining us a CFR, then applications have to be made through NHS recruiting. However, for more information about us and the procedure, you are welcome to contact us – emma@padcfr.org

You do not necessarily have to live in Penkridge to join us – our district includes Dunston and Acton Trussell for example – but need to be close enough to easily collect our car and equipment.

Community Responders are entirely dependent on the generous help from our local community in order to provide our emergency support. We are therefore constantly looking for ways to raise funds and applying for grants.
What is always amazing is when we unexpectedly receive offers of support and donations from individuals and organisations. Not only does this help us financially but gives us a real ‘boost’ in knowing that what our volunteers do is really appreciated and recognised.

A special thanks therefore to the Rotary Club of Cannock which has several members in Penkridge for their generous donation! Thank you to all their members for being life savers as CFR’s can’t save lives without the support of others!

A massive thank you and congratulations to the staff at The Whitehouse Pharmacy on Market Street Penkridge !

They were inspired to raise funds for a good cause after an medical incident with one of their customers, which resulted in life saving actions being taken and the Defibrillator from the nearby Star public house being deployed to assist in the treatment.

Following the case, the staff used the occasion of the Victorian Fair as a means of raising funds by selling Hot Chocolate drinks to the general public. The money raised was then added too by the pharmacy owners, Harvey and Carol Northwood.

Many thanks go to Pharmacist Carol Haycock along with Pharmacy Assistants Amy Grimley and Julie Rowen, who are pictured here with Wendy Kilford and Neil Hawkins when they presented the cheque to our group.

It is fabulous testament of their dedication to the local community that the pharmacy staff of Julie, Amy and Carol took the actions on the day and subsequently wanted to raise funds.

We are very grateful they chose P&D CFR’s to donate the raised funds too.

Thank you to you all !

Although there remains some restrictions on first aid and CPR/AED awareness (mainly related to rescue breaths) we hope to gradually be able to restart some sessions soon.

Thanks to the Rotary Club at Stafford Castle we will also be able to demonstrate how to help someone who is choking by using abdominal thrusts (what used to be called the Heimlich manoeuvre). The Rotary Club have funded two special training vests – one adult and one child – which enables actual practice to be carried out safely.

Thank you Stafford Rotarians for helping us save lives!

With the projected weather patterns showing more snow and low temperatures over the next few weeks we shall be swopping over to our set of winter tyres on our responder car. Not only does this make it safer for our volunteers but also means we can continue responding locally when conditions delay 999 ambulance attendance.

This month sees us welcome several new responders to our volunteer team. They have completed their initial training with WMAS and once undertaken a number of shifts with an experienced CFR, will be going ‘live’ within the next couple of months and increasing our availability – especially important as the weather becomes more difficult and creates delays in 999 ambulance response times.

So a special welcome to Rob, Neil, Jim (who joins his wife Emma ) and Wendy (who joins her son Mark who is our CFR coordinator)

At the same time, we also say thank you to Mike and Steve for their service almost from the start of the CFR team 12 years ago. Although they will remain as Charity Trustees and part of the support team, they will no longer be continuing as actual responders.

We also say thank you to Denise – again continuing as a Trustee – but who will now be concentrating on her volunteer role as CO of our local RAF Cadets with a major role in cadet first aid training across Staffordshire

We are now approved as part of the Charity Excellence Framework and can add their logo to our website!

What does this mean?  It provides:

·         demonstrable evidence to stakeholders and funders of our commitment to excellence

·         reassurance for trustees that our charity is well run

·         recognition for our volunteers for what they are achieving

Thank you to all our responders, trustees and support team for their dedication especially when it has been so difficult over the last year!

The old 24/7 Heart Defibrillator (AED) at the Monckton has now been replaced with a new one. This was the second one to be installed in the village and actually saved a life within a week of being installed! Although we hope it is never needed, it is the type that can easily be reset to make it usable on younger children, especially important with the expansion of facilities at the sports centre.

Although P&DCFRs continue to need to raise funds for our normal operational running, this new AED is thanks to some dedicated funding from the estate of a former resident, Betty Hartshorne.

South Staffordshire Sailing Club have had an AED inside the clubhouse for several years – and this has already saved a life of a member who fell ill while out sailing on the reservoir.

Thank you to the Sailing Club committee and members for now making this publicly accessible 24/7.
They agreed to provide the electricity costs for heating the cabinet which was provided by the First Responders and funded from the Betty Hartshorne legacy.

This now means the life-saving equipment is available to members, visitors, fishermen and walkers in the area at all times even when the club premises are closed.

www.southstaffssailingclub.co.uk

Click here to see map showing location of Community Defibrillation devices