A NUMBER of new Welsh Ambulance Service Community First Responders are beginning their voluntary posts following a successful recruitment campaign on the Llyn Peninsula.

The CFR schemes have been set up around Wales since 1998. CFRs can make the vital difference to the lives of those in a medical emergency.

When a 999 call is made, First Responders are alerted by the WAS’s three clinical control centres and are sent to certain types of calls so they can provide essential care until ambulance clinical staff reach the scene.

The volunteers are trained by the WAS to administer basic first aid skills, administer oxygen therapy, cardiopulmonary resuscitation and the use of a defibrillator.

Six of the nine new recruits will be covering Aberdaron, Abersoch, Beddgelert, Hafan y Môr Holiday Park and Pwllheli areas.

One of the new Aberdaron CFR team members is grandmother Gwenda Parry.

Originally from Llanbedrog, she runs a dairy farm with her husband in Aberdaron.

She said: “I learnt a lot in the surgery over many years, and when I finished there I found that I miss speaking to people and helping them.

“Because of the rurality of the Pen Llyn area, there is a great need to help and support the population there. I’m still young in my ways and by becoming a CFR I feel I can contribute something back to my community."

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