Ballybunion & District Community Responders was formed in Nov 2014.
We provide basic life support to the people in Ballybunion and District. Our responders are trained in the use of a defibrillator and attend an actual or potential life threatening emergency in the Ballybunion area (at the direction of the National Ambulance Service). This is limited to heart-attacks, stroke, and choking, where every minute counts. Responders are not tasked to car crashes, fires, trauma, etc.
When we went live we had the use of the public AED located at Coast Cafe on Main St (donated to the town by the Nagle family). Since then, we have raised funds by holding a bag-pack in Super Valu, and have purchased 2 Zoll AEDs. We would like to thank the generosity of the Ballybunion people for making this happen.
What to do if you find a collapsed casualty:
1) Check is the scene safe for you to approach
2) Check for response (shake & shout, if the casualty has no head/neck injuries)
3) Call for help (999 or 112)
4) Check their airway by doing a head tilt & chin lift (this can often stop tongue from blocking airway)
5) If they are not breathing, then start CPR (press on the chest at rate of 100 per minute)
6) Dont stop until ambulance arrives, or the patient gets up and says "Get off!"
Courses & Training
All our responders are trained to a minimum level of CFR (Cardiac First Responder), but we have a lot of members with higher skills than this. We have 4 qualified instructors that keep us on our toes, and training new members is usually done by Stayin Alive . Check out their Facebook page and 'Like' them in order to get regualr updates & tip.
We train regularly to keep our skills fresh, and we hold training courses for new members, and anyone who wants to learn. Our most popular course is CFR, which is a 5 hour course (often split over 2 evenings to suit working folk) and will teach CPR (thats the pressing on the chest bit), Choking, Stroke, Cardiac problem recognition, and Aspirin administration.
For news, info, and upcoming courses, etc why not keep an eye on our Facebook page Ballybunion & District Community Responder
How Community Responders Work
Community Responders are unpaid local volunteers, who are a declaired resource to the National Ambulance Service (NAS). When a 999 call is recieved by NAS, they dispatch an ambulance to the incident, and also determine if there is a Community Responder unit nearby. If there is, and the incident is suitable (ie cardiac issue, stroke or choking), then the NAS text the responder unit. Each responder unit has a phone dedicated to the NAS. The responder with the phone then replies to NAS to tell them if they are available, and at same time, the responder texts all the members and gives them the location and any/all info avail at the time. Responders travel to the incident in their own cars, with whatever equipment needed (eg AED machine) and give aid to the patient until the ambulance arrives. Responders usually get to the patient within a few minutes, as they are all local. The ambulance can take longer to arrive (even though it was dispatched first) as it has a longer distance to travel.
