OPEN LETTER To All the Residents of and Visitors to Camposol
It is with a heavy heart that I write this open letter to you, the community of Camposol, to inform you of the current dilemma in which FAST (your First Aid Support Team providing first responder services) finds itself.
As you may be aware FAST has weathered the storm of Covid-19 and several investigations into our insurance and operational status – and has emerged stronger and more operationally robust than ever. Camposol is the envy of many communities up and down the Costas, many of whom would love to have a first responder service. However unless we now fix the serious issue of responder numbers, FAST Camposol may cease to exist.
Perhaps it would help if I breakdown the problem: In order to provide 24/7 cover in an average month of 30 days, we require available responders for 120 shifts (2 responders for each shift of 12 hours). Under the terms of our Constitution our responders commit to three shifts per month plus regular training sessions to maintain their skills level. On a crude calculation this means that we require 40 responders to provide full cover each month – but of course this does not take into account that our responders themselves have holidays/visiting family and friends/illnesss or injury or indeed may not live here full time.
Whilst our responders are a very committed group and are trying their very best to cover as many shifts as possible, we are a very small band of brothers (and sisters!) numbering only about half the required amount.
As President I am acutely aware that if you call our number for assistance, you do not want to hear that we have no responders available to attend – and indeed I can appreciate this from a personal point of view as, if something happened to me, I would want my family to be able to ring FAST to assist them! However unless we manage to recruit a significant number of new responders I believe we will not be able to run a viable service – and Camposol will be in danger of losing FAST completely.
With this in mind we are asking you to consider whether you or someone you know would be interested in becoming a qualified responder
We provide:
- Free training delivered by fully accredited tutors/instructors with all certificates approved by Murcia Health Authority, EMS and European Resuscitation Council
- Car and all necessary equipment whilst on duty
- Weekly training sessions
- Membership of a fun society with social events and trips
What we need from you:
- No previous medical/first aid background necessary
- Living in Camposol either full time or for extended periods
- Current driving licence (manual transmission), valid in Spain
- Commitment to train regularly to ensure that we provide a quality service to the people of Camposol plus a minimum of three shifts per month (shifts are chosen by you and are 6, 12 or 24 hours in length covering day and night)
- Enthusiasm!
Whilst everyone is welcome to come and join any of our regular sessions at the Cultural Centre on Tuesdays between 10-12 to find out more about us we are planning to run some of our regular training sessions in community locations (Sector A outside Alen’s and B outside The Diner) over the coming weeks. Please come along and see what we do and speak with our responders who will answer any questions you may have. We do have a lot of fun doing what we do even though the process has to be professional and our aims are serious – and the satisfaction of knowing that we were able to help is immense.
Perhaps you have contacts within our non-english speaking communities within Camposol and can help spread the word there? We are keen to enlist the help of ALL communities within Camposol as it is a fact that health (and in particular first aid in an emergency) is an international language – when someone cannot breathe or is bleeding profusely it matters not one jot what language they speak.
We will also be holding a Health Fayre at Camposol Golf Clubhouse on Saturday 20th January (10am-2pm) with a primary aim of recruiting more responders alongside information about various health related issues – please keep a look out for our social media advertisements for this.
I cannot stress more strongly that unless we recruit new responders FAST will cease to exist as an effective first responder service – and Camposol will be much poorer and less safe for it!
Please, we need you to come and help us to help you!
Suzanne Reid
President, FAST Camposol
Email: president_FAST@outlook.com
