Community first responder

A Community First Responder (CFR), is a person available to be dispatched by an ambulance control centre to attend medical emergencies in their local area. They can be members of the public, who have received basic training in life saving interventions such as defibrillation, off duty ambulance staff, or professionals from a non-medical discipline who may be nearby or attending emergencies, such as firefighters or security officers. Community first responders are found in the emergency healthcare systems of the United Kingdom, the United States, Israel and Australia.

Community First Responders are there to provide assistance to those with a medical emergency, and most importantly to start and maintain the chain of survival in cardiac arrest patients until a fully equipped ambulance arrives. The schemes were originally envisaged for rural areas where emergency medical services response is likely to be delayed beyond the approximate 8–10 minutes during which a cardiac arrest is likely to become irreversible. The schemes have since expanded to more populous areas, where the benefit of early intervention can still prove life saving, and the volume of people available to ambulance control assists them with meeting response time targets such as ORCON.

Examples of first responders include "co-responders" (police or fire service), members of staff of a shopping mall or other public place, members of a first aid organisation, lifeguards, community first responders, and others who have been trained to act in this capacity. Employees of the statutory ambulance services may also act as first responders whilst off-duty.

In general, first responders are sent to immediately life-threatening situations such as cardiac arrest. Some ambulance services restrict the type of calls which responders can attend, either through blanket prohibition or by more detailed call screening by the emergency dispatch centre. This is because responders do not necessarily have the levels of training or equipment available to full-time staff, and may arrive on their own, increasing risks. Types of call which responders may not be asked to attend (or be stood down if already en route) include drugs related problems, domestic violence and abusive patients as well as dangerous scenes such as traffic collisions or building sites. In some areas, responders are also not dispatched to paediatric cases, although other areas have this as a main part of their role.

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