By Bruce Robbins

SPECIALLY TRAINED volunteers based at the Hilton Hotel in Dundee and Auchterhouse village on the outskirts of the city will be supplementing the work of the Scottish Ambulance Service under a new scheme launched yesterday.

Using their own liveried 4x4 vehicles, they will try to reach people in need of medical help in the hope that the few minutes saved before paramedics can intervene might make the difference between life and death.

The “first responder” programme, a partnership between the ambulance service and charity First Response, will see the volunteers administering first-aid and using, where appropriate, heart-starting defibrillators.

They will be under the control of ambulance service control room staff who will ask them to attend only those cases where their training might be of value.

The ambulance service emphasised that the scheme is not designed to replace paramedics in any sense but, where it is already up and running in 40 other areas of Scotland, it has been shown to have been of considerable benefit. First responders would know their limitations and so would not be tempted to administer help that might worsen the patient’s condition.

Robert Colburn, national first responder co-ordinator for the ambulance service, said, “Speed of intervention can often be critical when responding to 999 calls. Volunteer first responders are an enhancement to existing ambulance responses and have shown in other parts of the country that they can help save lives.

“Volunteers in the two new schemes have been trained by the British Red Cross and accredited and managed by the Scottish Ambulance Service. Their response is co-ordinated by our emergency medical dispatch centres along with our existing ambulance resources.”

The Dundee scheme is the brainchild of RAF pilot Scott Bateman who founded First Response after his father, Andy, died of a heart attack at the age of 51 at his Auchterhouse home in 1996.

Scott said that, because of the comparative remoteness of Auchterhouse from the ambulance depot in Dundee, it was some “considerable time” before paramedics were able to attend to his father. Sadly, their intervention came to late to save him.

He was subsequently given a six-month sabbatical from his RAF duties to oversee the training by the ambulance service of armed forces personnel who became “first responders” able to answer calls from the ambulance service.

Although the civilian volunteers involved in the new scheme have not received the same high level of training as their military counterparts, Scott said he was confident they would be able to make a significant contribution.

He said, “Volunteer first responders can deliver simple first-aid skills that can help to save lives in the first few minutes of a medical emergency.

“A great analogy is the young Dutch boy who has his finger in the wall until the adults are able to come along and save the day. First responders do everything they can until the professionals arrive to take things to the next level.

“Although the average response time of the ambulance service in Dundee is excellent, even if someone can get there a minute earlier, it might make the difference between life and death.”

The Hilton Hotel has agreed to release its staff from their day jobs at the Livingwell Health Club to answer calls across the city. In Auchterhouse, volunteers, many of whom knew the late Mr Bateman, have set up their own first responder unit.

Gary and Sue Stewart were asked by Mr Bateman’s widow, Lorna, if they would be interested in getting involved and the programme grew from there.

Gary said, “We had a very good response to the meeting we organised and we now have 12 volunteers who have signed up as first responders.” They will be called upon on a rota basis to assist the ambulance service.