Community First Responders in Inverurie receive special award
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Inverurie's First Responders team has been recognised for its work during the Covid-19 pandemic response.
Team members were presented with a commemorative coin from the Scottish Ambulance Service for outstanding dedication and care.
Community first responders are volunteers who are trained by the ambulance service to attend certain types of emergency calls in the area where they live or work.
Their aim is to reach a potential life-threatening emergency in the first vital minutes before the ambulance crew arrives.
Their role is to help stabilise the patient and provide the appropriate care until the more highly skilled ambulance crew arrives on scene to take over the treatment.
They are usually based in rural communities where crews have longer to travel to the patient.
A spokesman for the Inverurie team said in an online statement: "Team members were presented with a commemorative coin by Lorna Donaldson of the Scottish Ambulance Service.
"This was a very unexpected award and we are very humbled to receive the commemorative coin.
"All of our team members are volunteers who willingly give their time to help others.
"We are not looking for recognition but it is fantastic to be recognised in this way especially in these difficult times.
"Thank you to all Scottish Ambulance Service staff for your tireless support."
After a retraining session in October and the provision of additional personal protective equipment the team recommenced supporting its local communities.
The volunteers continue to be busy with the operational responders being out most shifts and sometimes three or four times in a shift.
The spokesman added: "We have huge admiration for our Scottish Ambulance Service colleagues from control room staff through to crews on the road.
"They have a very hard job but always greet us and patients with warmth and respect. We are proud to be part of the team."
Members of the team have also received GREATix certificates from the Scottish Ambulance Service.
It is a system by which colleagues can recognise others for a job well done and for people who have gone above and beyond.
The volunteers were nominated by the ambulance crews who they were on the scene with.
