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Sean Horgan (third from right) of Tralee Community Responders receiving the debrillator from Frank Shaw (right) of Bank of Ireland Castle Street with Hugh Gleeson (left) and Bank of Ireland staff.
TRALEE Community Responders has hailed their public meeting last Thursday as a success and revealed that two defibrillators have already been donated to the group in recent weeks.
The equipment was donated by Bank of Ireland and from the Tralee branch of the Irish Red Cross.
The Responders need four defibrillators to cover the Tralee area so they are delighted that they are halfway to that total so soon.
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The meeting at the Brandon Hotel discussed how the scheme would see local, kitted and trained volunteers respond to 999 calls in the Tralee area for chest pain, stroke, choking and cardiac arrest in tandem with the ambulance service.
Approximately 25 people attended on the night and many others have made contact to say they would very much like to join the scheme. John Fitzgerald (CFR Ireland) and Des Kelly (CFR Coordinator – National Ambulance Service) also attended the meeting and explained how the scheme will run, answering a callout, finances and also opened up the floor to questions from interested persons.
Members of the Ardfert & District Community First Responders and the Killarney Cardiac Response Unit also attended to show their support for the scheme and also answer questions from their experience which was greatly received.
Martin Dunne, Director of the National Ambulance Service also took to Facebook to show his support to the Tralee Community Responder scheme, which was a welcome boost to members.
The scheme will now build a team to carry out work behind the scenes including training and fundraising. Due to the close proximity to Christmas, it is expected that this will happen in January 2016.
To keep up to date with the work of the group, see www.traleeresponders.com – like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.
