Gillian Duncan from East Neuk First Responders was guest speaker at the 16th June meeting of the Rotary Club of Anstruther. The club is a long-standing supporter of ‘First Responders’ and has contributed regularly to the purchase of emergency defibrillator equipment. It was good to hear of the progress that has been made and the real stories of lives saved.

We also had a hands-on ‘refresher course’ in emergency resuscitation and on the use of the public access defibrillators, which are now installed around the East Neuk. 

East Neuk First Responders is a local independent charity founded in 2009 and which works in partnership with the Scottish Ambulance Service to provide emergency on-call cover. We heard that if someone suffers a cardiac arrest there are only three or four minutes to respond, before the brain starts to suffer damage from lack of oxygen. In the rural communities of the East Neuk, it can take twenty minutes or longer until an ambulance can get there.

Volunteers, who live locally are also co-ordinated and managed locally, but trained and despatched by the ambulance service to attend 999 emergency calls – to fill the gap until an ambulance arrives with life-saving equipment.

In another vital approach First Responders has worked with local community councils to install Public Access Defibrillators in East Neuk villages and sometimes by schools or at golf courses. The wide coverage that has now been achieved will give anyone suffering a sudden cardiac arrest, the best possible chance of surviving.

After questions Gillian was thanked on behalf of the Club by Alastair Graham for a talk that was delivered with great style and enthusiasm.  More about First Responders is at (www.enfr.org.uk)