South Woodham Ferrers Community First Responders

09/09/2025

Emergency Services Day.

Two extraordinary twin brothers from Essex who work on the frontline in our emergency services are being celebrated as the country marks Emergency Services Day.

Steve and Dave Gardiner are proudly serving their community in Essex’s ambulance service and police force – but began their public service together as volunteers 24 years ago.

Dave is currently an Inspector with the force, based at Boreham. He joined 15 years ago working in Southend’s Neighbourhood Policing Team. He now works in the Operational Planning division and is also a hostage and crisis negotiator.

Steve, a paramedic based in Rayleigh, began his career with the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST) 14 years ago as an Emergency Care Assistant. He progressed through the ranks to become an ambulance technician, and then a qualified paramedic almost five years ago.

Prior to the twins joining the emergency services full-time, they were both volunteer first responders for EEAST. They have also volunteered for St John Ambulance for the past 24 years. Community First Responders (CFRs) are volunteers who are trained by the ambulance service to help respond to certain medical emergencies in the area where they live or work, such as cardiac arrests or falls.

Read more about the brothers by clicking the link in the comments.

14/07/2025

In the mid 1990’s Seattle and King County USA, began implementing a Community First Responder CPR-AED Program to improve early defibrillation efforts. This program, aimed to enhance the effectiveness of linking CPR with the use of Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) in the community. They were to be used by members of the public. At the time, out of hospital survival rates for people suffering a cardiac arrest was poor. The American initiative was so successful that the UK Government authorised two trials of the scheme. One of which was run by Essex Ambulance Service.
The first scheme in Essex started in Brightlingsea in 1997. South Woodham Ferrers was the 13th scheme to go live in May 2000 under the leadership of Peter Blackman. As many people around South Woodham will know. Peter has always worked hard to improve healthcare outcomes for the local community. His input into CFR’s was not confined to the local group. Peter played a massive role in promoting CFR’s to other Ambulance services. As a result, all UK ambulance service trusts now have dedicated teams of CFR’s volunteering in city’s, towns and villages throughout the country.
The South Woodham Ferrers team has just celebrated its 25th year of active service. Graham Elvidge the only remaining active founder member and joint coordinator was awarded a commendation by the High Sheriff of Essex. The Group was also awarded a certificate of recognition for 25 years of dedicated service from the East of England Ambulance Service.
Over the 25 years that South Woodham Ferrers Community First Responders have served the town, numerous lives have been saved.
Would you be interested in becoming a community First Responder?
We are looking to recruit more volunteers to help us with our vital work, saving lives locally here in South Woodham Ferrers.
The team work as individuals who carry an Ambulance Service transponder when on call. If the Ambulance service receive a life-threatening call in our area they activate a trained First Responder who will go to the scene of the emergency and initiate immediate aid until the ambulance arrives. CFRs are not required to attend accidents as this is outside their level of expertise. CFRs are trained for medical emergencies like cardiac arrests, heart attacks, strokes, diabetes etc…
If interested please contact Jill Winn on 07896074626 or email CFR.jill@gmail.com
A number of past and present South Woodham Community First Responders gathered to celebrate 25 years of 1st responding locally.

27/06/2025

As we approach 25 years of Community First Responding in South Woodham Ferrers.
Here is the link to find out more

Our community first responders (CFRs) are volunteers who are trained by us to attend certain types of emergency calls in the area where they live or work.

01/12/2022

WOW. Thank you Co-op customers. Never expected this much
If you want to know more about becoming a CFR. Please message me

05/11/2021

If you have a Co-op loyalty card please take a moment to choose us as your charity

The Co-op Local Community Fund is supporting South Woodham Ferrers Community First Responders. Become a member or sign in to choose a local cause to support.

03/04/2021

As one of the the original members of SWF Community First Responders it is so satisfying to see that this initiative it is still going.
At work I have been part of the team saving many peoples lives while working for the Cardiac/Respiratory Departments at Broomfield Hospital. But all the saves at work, that I’m very proud of, pale into insignificance in comparison to the one as a First Responder. That one was special.
As CFR’s we assisted many people when they needed help the most. It’s really good to see that from being one of the very first CFR’s in the country taking part in a pilot trial in Essex and Staffordshire that all ambulance services now have Community First Responder. As a result, volunteers throughout the country are on standby right now, ready to drop what they’re doing at a seconds notice, to come to the rescue of a complete stranger in their time of need.

In the beginning I was privileged to be on the Training and Equipment Committees of the then Essex Ambulance Service as well as Deputy CFR Coordinator locally in South Woodham Ferrers. It’s good to know that most of the decisions we made 21 years ago have been expanded upon and rolled out nationally over the years. South Woodham CFR’s were for many years one of only two CFR groups in the East of England that routinely turned out to paediatric calls from birth onwards. We had extended training for this. It was totally worth the extra training as we responded to quite a few small people.
I must pay tribute to Peter Blackman who was the driving force towards Community First Responders becoming a national scheme.

Well done to the current team of CFR’s in South Woodham Ferrers. You do an outstanding service to our community.

03/04/2021

26/03/2021

I’m just going to leave this here for anyone who would like to see. It gives a moving insight into the reality of working in a hospital Emergency Department.
Dr Hope is a Junior Doctor form the hospital I work in. He has done a series of Vlogs on his YouTube channel that relate to Covid 19 ‘Dr Hopes Sick Notes’. Dr Hope and all the team at Broomfield Hospital have done an outstanding job helping save many lives throughout the Pandemic.
My sincere condolences to anyone who has lost loved ones to this dreadful disease.

Intense episode of the BBC drama Casualty set in an NHS emergency department in the first few weeks of the Covid-19 pandemic. I'll react to and break down so...

19/12/2020

I’ve posted several of Dr Ed Hopes Vlogs on the Covid 19 pandemic over the months because he is a man in the know. He is also a very respected Doctor at Broomfield Hospital. Because of this, his blogs can be seen as a reflection of what is going on locally with regards to Covid 19.
This is his latest Vlog, in which he talks about the situation right now and gives advice for Christmas.
Stay safe everyone. When making your decisions over the next few days please think them through thoroughly by looking at the pros and cons of what you are planning. By no means am I saying abandon Christmas altogether. I’m saying plan it properly to keep it safe for all.
Kind Regards
Ian.

I wanted to share my thoughts on the UK government's change in tone with regards to their "Smaller, shorter, safer" Covid-19 restrictions over the Christmas ...