How we are funded

Like all Community First Responder teams in the UK, we are funded entirely by public donations and other community funding initiatives.  Keeping ourselves funded and financially viable is a constant battle with much of the activity being labour intensive.  This is, of course, on top of our primary role of providing emergency medical care.

It costs about £1,200 to equip each of our Community First Responders (CFRs) with a full set of equipment.  Of course, even once the equipment has been purchased, there are ongoing costs of maintaining the equipment and in purchasing additional equipment as more CFRs join the team.

West Midlands Ambulance Service does not provide funding for the all of the equipment but they do provide the training and support for our CFRs.  Please see the letter from West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) here which outlines the importance of CFRs to WMAS and the importance of community support in funding First Responder Schemes.
As we are self-funding, we are constantly looking for financial support from local businesses, organisations and individual donors to allow us to expand and replace our equipment - and simply to keep us operational.  Since the launch of the scheme in June 2009, we have had a very positive response from individuals, businesses and organisations.  On the Our Supporters page of our website, you will find a list of individuals, local businesses and organisations that have helped us in one way or another.  A number of these contributors are continuing to support us on an ongoing basis.

All financial support that we receive will only be used for the purchase of new equipment, maintaining/replenishing equipment that is already in use, or operating the service in one way or another.  All team members are volunteers giving their time (to train, to be on call, attend incidents, to deal with all the administration tasks associated with the running of the team) free of charge.  We receive no expenses such as fuel costs or any contribution to our personal mobile phone bills.  Our personal mobile phones are an essential part of the operation of the service -  this is the sole means by which the WMAS Emergency Operations Centre communicates with us including tasking us to emergency incidents.

How to support the team financially
There are a number of ways in which you can support us financially:

• Make a Donation
  We welcome donations from individuals, businesses and fundraising organisations.  All donations are recognised on our website.  A number of businesses have purchased equipment for the team and this has been a very effective source of assistance to us.
  
  To find out how to make a donation to Ettington CFR Scheme, please go to Make a Donation.
  
  
• Host a Collection Box
  Collection boxes are hosted by local businesses and are a good source of funding for us.  They are virtually maintenance-free for the business manager/owner as we manage the swapping out of the boxes and provide the manager/owner with a receipt for the sum collected.  All businesses that host a collection box are recognised on our website.  If you would like to host a Collection Box, please Contact Us.
  
  
• Provide Goods or Services for Fundraising Events
  We run a number of fundraising events which often include a raffle/prize-draw.  If you run a business and can provide a prize for one of our raffles – either goods or services (e.g. dinner, hotel accommodation) – please Contact Us.
  
  
• Organise a Fundraising Event
  If you are prepared to organise a fund-raising event, with Ettington CFR Scheme as the sole or part beneficiary, we would be very grateful.  In the past, villagers have generously arranged events such as a live-band night and a church coffee & cakes sale to raise money for our team.  If you would like to help us in this way, please Contact Us.
  
  
• Provide Goods or Services for team use
  If you run a business that provides goods or services that the team uses – or could use – we would be very grateful if you could offer free or discounted products and services.  Examples could be web-hosting, printing, clothing, torches, etc.  If you would like to help us in this way, please Contact Us.
  

Join the team as a non-CFR (non-medical) member
In addition to our Community First Responders (CFRs), we are fortunate to have three other team members who kindly provide vast amounts of time to support the team in other roles; Scheme Coordinator, Secretary, Treasurer.  These members do not get involved in medical duties and provide the team with essential support roles that are vital to the day-to-day operation of the team.

We always need additional help in the running of the team (such as coordinating all our equipment) and, in particular, in fundraising.  The CFRs often have to take on these additional roles in addition to the considerable time spent attending callouts and attending training/assessments.

If you would like to join us as a fundraiser, we’d really love to have you on the team.  It’s important to stress that you do not need to have any medical involvement at all.  It would certainly be very useful to have someone who could lead and coordinate our fundraising activities and seek ongoing funding/sponsorship opportunities.  It would reduce the load that this work currently places on our CFRs and Officers.


Join the team as a Community First Responder

Additional Community First Responders (CFRs) will help the team provide greater coverage in terms of the number of calls that we can respond to – we are called out 24 x 7 but are occasionally limited if we do not have a CFR on-duty at the time.
Volunteer responders need to be aged between 18 and 70 and have access to a car.  Operationally, they must be prepared to attend emergency calls from either their home or place of work as soon as they receive a callout (in a similar way to which retained firefighters or RNLI staff operate).  While a responder is on-duty they can continue with their normal activities while in the local area but must be ready to drop everything and attend a call should one arise.

It is up to the individual CFR to decide when, and for how long, they are on duty.  There are absolutely no expectations or obligations in terms of minimum hours per week and CFRs can log on and off with WMAS Emergency Operations Centre to suit their personal availability.

Prospective responders have an informal interview with the Ambulance Service and have to undergo a Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check.  Once these are successfully completed, training can begin.  Previous medical or first aid experience is an advantage but is not essential as extensive initial and ongoing training is provided by West Midlands Ambulance Service.  Initial training consists of three weekends followed by a written exam and practical skills assessment.  This leads to a BTEC qualification.   Refresher training then takes place to keep CFRs up to date with different techniques.  There are also opportunities to further develop skills by attending specialist training courses.

More details can be found on the West Midlands Ambulance Service website here.  Our How It Works page will give you more details about what’s involved as a CFR on an operational basis.  CFRs need to live and/or work in our area of operational coverage – please see Where We Cover.  If you are interested in finding out more, please Contact Us.