Critical - Emergency Medical Response

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Critical - Emergency Medical Response

Ireland’s Leading Volunteer Emergency Medical Response Charity CRITICAL is the largest Volunteer Emergency Medical Response charity in Ireland.

CRITICAL volunteers provide pre-hospital emergency care to critically ill and injured patients in rural and urban areas across the country. Initially founded in 2009 as Irish Community Rapid Response, CRITICAL now has a growing network of volunteer responders operating in 20 counties in cities, towns, and villages. With over 160 medical volunteers, including emergency medical technicians (EMTs), paramedics, consultants and other qualified medical professionals, CRITICAL works in partnership with the National Ambulance Service (NAS) to respond to life-threatening emergencies. CRITICAL envisions an Ireland where communities and those living in it have equal opportunity to receive a rapid medical response in the event of a medical emergency, injury, accident, or trauma, no matter the location. We have teams of experienced Volunteer Emergency Medical Doctors, Medical Responders, and Community Responders in communities all over Ireland, with our medical response network steadily growing. We supply emergency medical response vehicles in key areas to experienced advanced or critical care doctors. These vehicles are kitted out with specialist medical equipment including defibrillators, chest compression systems and suction units as well as advanced medical and trauma kits. This allows our volunteer doctors to perform complex and often lifesaving medical procedures, wherever and whenever they’re called upon. We have ambitious plans to further expand this network. Our ground teams responded to more than 1,800 incidents over the last three years alone, working in partnership with the emergency services to give people the very best chance of survival when they find themselves seriously ill or injured. We fundraise to kit out our volunteers so they can continue their life saving work. It costs an average of €25,000 to establish an Advanced level Volunteer Doctor in the community and €120,000 to put a new Critical Care response vehicle on the road. Each lifesaving emergency backpack that we give to a responder in a community like yours costs and average of €1,500 to supply. With your help we will be able to expand this service to more locations across Ireland. Irish Community Rapid Response CLG T/A CRITICAL | Registered Charity No (RCN): 20070762

25/01/2026

In case you missed it - Head of Operations, Edward Walsh and Keith Cruise, volunteer with new Critical CFR - Douglas group joined PJ Coogan on Cork's 96fm earlier this week.

🎧 Listen back now on
https://shows.acast.com/501246da-8667-4673-a4e1-d00bbc60bf36/6970c8c69448a95f224e32eb

Listen to New Douglas Community First Responders Helping With Almost An Emergency A Day from Cork's 96fm Opinion Line. PJ hears about the great work being done by volunteers from Edward Walsh, Head of Operations at CRITICAL & Keith Cruise volunteer with CRITICAL Douglas CFR. To learn more about....

24/01/2026

It’s been a busy and impactful week for the newly formed Critical CFR - Douglas group, who responded to seven emergency calls in just a 24 hour period (Wednesday to Thursday) 👏

Demand on the National Ambulance Service (NAS) remains extremely high, with incidents including cardiac arrest, choking, chest pain, stroke and other serious heart-related emergencies.

A huge thank you to all CRITICAL Community First Responders across the country who continue to give their time and skills to keep their communities safe!

21/01/2026

CRITICAL's Head of Operations, Edward Walsh will be live on Cork’s 96FM this morning from 10:40 along with Keith Criuse, one of our volunteers with new group CRITICAL CFR Douglas.

🎧 Listen on www.96fm.ie

20/01/2026

A new Community First Responder (CFR) group has been established in Douglas, Cork and has responded to 25 incidents during their first four weeks in operation.

The fully-trained volunteers come from a wide range of backgrounds including healthcare, the emergency services, business, and retirees.

They went live on the 19th of December 2025 and are alerted by the National Ambulance Service to cardiac arrests, heart attacks, strokes and choking incidents in Douglas and surrounding areas including Farmer’s Cross, Frankfield, Rochestown, Moneygurney and Ballinlough.

🔗 Read the full story on our website https://criticalcharity.ie/critical-charity-launches-new-community-first-responder-group-in-cork/

A new Community First Responder (CFR) group has been established in Douglas in Cork and has responded to 25 incidents during their first four weeks in operation. A team of eight people are now volunteering with CRITICAL charity responding to cardiac arrests and other life-threatening emergencies. Th...

19/01/2026

In 2025 CRITICAL volunteers answered and responded to 2,022 emergency calls across Ireland.

Each number representing a real incident, a real patient and a trained responder stepping forward when every minute counted. Here is a breakdown of CRITICAL’s December 2025 call out activity across Ireland, highlighting one month of responses.

🚑 Medical Category

Medical emergencies accounted for the largest proportion of call-outs, including Chest Pain/Discomfort (66), Cardiac or Respiratory Arrest/Death (44) and Stroke/Transient Ischaemic Attack (19), alongside heart problems, unconsciousness, breathing difficulties and other urgent medical presentations.

🚨 Trauma Category

Trauma related call outs included Traffic Collision/Transport Incidents (22), Falls (5) and Cardiac or Respiratory Arrest/Death (5), as well as a range of serious traumatic injuries requiring rapid, skilled intervention.

📍 Call Outs by County

CRITICAL responders were mobilised across Ireland, with the highest number of call outs in Dublin (64) and Cork (48), followed by Clare, Tipperary, Wicklow and counties nationwide.

Thank you to each and every volunteer who gave their time, skill and commitment throughout 2025 to support their communities across Ireland.

11/01/2026

One of our newer CFR groups, Critical CFR - Douglas, had a valuable and engaging training session on Monday evening with paramedic Piaras McNealy and EMT Pádraig Crowley from the National Ambulance Service (NAS). The session provided responders with emergency ambulance familiarisation and valuable insight into pre-hospital care.

Responders also had the opportunity to become more familiar with equipment commonly used during cardiac arrests, including the LUCAS mechanical CPR device, airway adjuncts, and ZOLL defibrillator/monitors.

A huge thank you to Piaras and Pádraig for giving up their time to support our volunteers - it’s very much appreciated 🙌

06/01/2026

A new partnership has been signed between Dublin Airport Fire and Rescue Service (DAFRS), the National Ambulance Service (NAS) and Emergency Medical Charity CRITICAL.

"The partnership with Dublin Airport Fire and Rescue Service is about empowering skilled pre-hospital professionals to save lives in their own communities. These volunteers are giving their time and expertise beyond their day jobs and with the support of the National Ambulance Service, they’re helping ensure that people in urgent need of care receive it faster. It’s a powerful example of what collaboration across services can achieve. We rely on fundraising to expand and grow our network and we are very grateful to everyone who has supported us so far.” David Tighe, CEO of CRITICAL said.

Read the full story on https://criticalcharity.ie/critical-charity-partners-with-dublin-airport-fire-and-rescueto-expand-volunteer-emergency-response-across-leinster/

Dublin Airport Fire and Rescue Service National Ambulance Service (NAS) Dublin Airport

A new partnership has been signed between Dublin Airport Fire and Rescue Service (DAFRS), the National Ambulance Service (NAS) and Emergency Medical Charity CRITICAL.The collaboration sees members of DAFRS, who are trained to Advanced Paramedic, Paramedic, Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) and Emer...

25/12/2025

Happy Christmas to Everyone!

This Christmas Day, we want to say a heartfelt thank you to each and every one of you. Whether you donated, volunteered, shared our work, or simply supported us along the way, you helped us bring hope and vital care to those who needed it most.

Because of you, our tree is shining brightly this Christmas. ✨
Wishing you all a very happy, peaceful, and safe Christmas.

With gratitude,
The CRITICAL Team

24/12/2025

🎄 0 days to Christmas Eve 🎄

On this special Christmas Eve, we want to say a heartfelt thank you to Olivia.

Olivia, your support has made a meaningful difference to us, and we are deeply grateful. ✨

23/12/2025

🎄 1 Day to Christmas Eve 🎄

As we reach the final day of our countdown, we want to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who supported CRITICAL this year. Whether you fundraised, raised awareness, volunteered at events, attended events, donated, or simply gave us the opportunity to share our story, your support has made a real difference.

Because of you, life saving care reached people when they needed it most. We are deeply grateful for every act of kindness, big or small. 💛

You can support us this Christmas on www.criticalcharity.ie/donate/

22/12/2025

🎄 2 Days to Christmas Eve🎄

As we count down to Christmas Eve, we’re reflecting on moments that help shape the future of life saving work. Earlier this year, CRITICAL visited Leinster House following an invitation from Senator Joanne Collins, giving us the chance to speak directly with TDs and Senators about the impact of our Volunteer Responders in communities across Ireland.

We are sincerely grateful to Senator Collins and to all the TDs and Senators who took the time to listen, engage, and support our mission. With continued support, we can reach more people and save more lives. 💛

You can support us this Christmas on www.criticalcharity.ie/donate/

21/12/2025

🎄 3 Days to Christmas Eve🎄

Today, we want to say a heartfelt thank you to our volunteer Emergency Medical Responders. Day and night, you respond to emergencies ranging from chest pain calls to road traffic collisions and farm accidents, often bringing light to someone’s darkest moment.

Your skill, dedication, and willingness to step forward make a life saving difference in your communities. We are incredibly grateful for everything you do.

✨ This Christmas, you can support these life saving responders.
Please consider donating to CRITICAL and helping equip and support our volunteers when every second counts.

You can support us this Christmas on www.criticalcharity.ie/donate/

Address

Croom Primary Care Centre
Croom
V35XT25

Telephone

+353214190999

Website

https://www.criticalcharity.ie/

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Our Story

Irish Community Rapid Response - By Land and Air was established in 2008 to deliver professional pre hospital care directly to the site of medical emergencies throughout Ireland. Our volunteer doctors have made a significant difference while working in association with the National Ambulance Service (NAS) when responding to 999/112 emergency calls. Building on our experience and success we launced Ireland's first charity Air Ambulance/ Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) in July 2019. In our first year of service we responded to over 520 taskings through the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC). The NEOC deploys the Air Ambulance as an asset of the NAS, in response to 999/112 calls.

Based out of Rathcool in North Cork, the Irish Community Air Ambulance provides a vital service to people experiencing time critical life threatening emergencies, bringing an Advanced Paramedic to them within minutes of the inital call to 999/112.

The main call outs include Cardiac Arrest, Road Traffic Incidents, Stroke, Fall from Height, Farm and Equestrian related injuries.

As a charity, we rely on public donations to fund the costs of keeping the helicopter in the air.