Welshpool’s new life savers

 

Lorraine Lloyd and Chloe Lloyd have just qualified as First Responders, and will be on standby 24/7 to reach you in a crisis should an ambulance need longer than eight minutes to arrive. And as the recent incident involving Montgomery footballer Luke Tanner showed when he broke his leg, it can take more than an hour.

 

They will join Welshpool’s only current first responder Ianto Guy, who has responded to 11 cardiac arrests since the scheme went live last year, as well as a whole host of other seriously ill patients.

 

The girls are raring to go but their equipment costs more than £2,000 each so they have launched some fundraising activities to get on with saving some lives.

 

“It’s a really good cause helping to save lives of people in the Welshpool area,” said Lorraine. “Basically if an ambulance will take longer than eight minutes to arrive on scene, they send the closest one of us to respond and with something like a heart attack, for example, every minute counts.”

 

They have organised a triathlon at the Flash this weekend to kickstart their fundraising and are inviting people to come down and give it a go. It will consist of a 200m swim, 15km bike ride and 3km run. Entry is £30, or free if you raise £40 or more. You can also enter as a team of three.

 

“As you can imagine time is not on our side, so we would really appreciate any help the town and area can give us,” said Lorraine. “Please call me on 07882486388 for more information on the triathlon or if you would like to donate.”

 

Currently the Welshpool scheme covers roughly a rectangular area from the border to Cyfronydd and from Bwlch-y-cibau to Montgomery/Marton.

 

Welshpool Doctors provide a lifesaving service by responding to car crashes and serious incidents and have been credited with saving dozens of lives. Hopefully with the new First Responders on call, more people will live through potentially life threatening drama.