Magherafelt First Responders receive funding boost from Energia Group

A donation from Energia Group has enabled Mid Ulster First Community Responders in Magherafelt to purchase essential new lifesaving equipment for their volunteers.

Provided through the energy company’s charitable Helping Hands initiative, the support has funded blood pressure cuffs and digital thermometers for fifteen new members.

Working in partnership with the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) and Dalriada Urgent Care (DUC), the charity’s aim is to reach a potentially life-threatening emergency in the vital first few minutes and provide basic first aid before an ambulance arrives.

This early intervention can sometimes prove the difference between life and death due to the rural geography of Mid Ulster, where emergency response times can be delayed.

There is currently three Community First Responder (CFR) schemes operating within the Mid Ulster area – and Mid Ulster Community First Responders hope exposure of its work can either help to increase this number, or lead to the expansion of existing schemes.

Welcoming the £300 Helping Hands donation from Energia Group, Linda Fields – Scheme Co-ordinator at Mid Ulster Community First Responders – said: “The Helping Hands grant from Energia Group will help us purchase blood pressure cuffs and digital thermometers – medical equipment that will allow our new volunteers to monitor vital observations. 

“We attend between thirty and thirty-five local emergencies each month and without the support of local companies, organisations, and those in the local community, Mid Ulster Community First Responders simply could not provide the service that we do.”

The charity was nominated by Energia Group employee and Mid Ulster Community First Responders secretary Margaret Murray. “This funding will help us buy equipment for our new volunteers,” she said. “I really appreciate working for a company like Energia Group who actively promote, and support, their employees in helping their local communities.”

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Margaret added: “Mid Ulster Community First Responders is a community funded charity made up of 18 dedicated volunteers who are trained by the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service and alerted by them to life-threatening emergencies within our local community.”

Energia Group is proud to support important organisations within Northern Ireland’s communities, with the employee-led Helping Hands initiative one of the ways it strives to assist organisations that matter most.