Welcome to our new website

Rapid Aid Community First Responders welcome you to our new website. Please feel free to browse the site and ask any questions you may have. Rapid Aid are aiming to provide continued round the clock 24/7 cover for the residents and businesses of Middleton and the surrounding area. Like all responder groups across the country we are not funded and all our time is given voluntarily. The money that we need to purchase equipment, uniforms, vehicle's and operational costs have to be raised through fundraising events, public or private donations. Community First Responders (CFR) are dedicated and trained volunteers who respond to medical emergencies on behalf of the Ambulance Trusts to provide life saving treatment whilst the ambulance is on the way. As CFR's respond from the local area, they can generally reach the scene first. In the first few minutes of a person suffering a heart attack, stroke or life threatening injury, the CFR can make the difference between life and death. There are times when the Ambulance cannot get to an incident within the first few minutes, especially in more rural areas. We know in certain circumstances that if simple but critical interventions are made within those first few minutes lives can be saved and disability reduced. In the UK 135,000 people die each year from a heart attack; two thirds of these happen outside of the hospital environment. The sooner a defibrillator is used the better chance the patient has of surviving. After a patient has collapsed following a heart attack and is having ventricular fibrillation, every minute a defibrillator is not used the chances of survival falls by 7 - 10%.