Community First Responders to hold life saving training on the Wrekin

Telford Community First Responders (CFRS) will be training members of the public in CPR and how to use a defibrillator on the Wrekin in Telford at the end of February.

The café, which has recently installed a community public access defibrillator (CPAD) thanks to help from the CFR scheme and a lottery grant in 2018, is a popular place for walkers and cyclists and an ideal location for a life-saving device.  

The CPAD, a device used to help restart the heart of someone in cardiac arrest, can be used by anyone in an emergency, with a code provided when you call 999.

Telford Community First Responders have been able to place 9 defibrillators around the Telford area after receiving lottery funding in 2018.  This training session on The Wrekin is the next logical step for the volunteer life-savers who want to ensure as many people as possible know what to do if someone suffers a cardiac arrest .

Nick Freeman, Telford Community First Responder and keen hillwalker, said: “We will be doing the main training in the recently refurbished pavilion, hosted by the people who run the café, and I also intend to walk up the summit and do some life-saving training with members of the public who are up there at the time too, weather permitting!. We will also be taking our new 4x4 response vehicle, which we use to respond to 999 calls to assist West Midlands Ambulance Service, up to the café so that people can see how we provide life-saving help in the local community.

“We’ve decided to run training here as it is quite a remote site which is frequently used by walkers, runners and cyclists on the Wrekin so the more people who know how to use a defibrillator can only be a good thing!”

The training will be taking place at The Halfway House Café between 11am and 3pm on the 22nd and 23rd February.