Enabling vital resuscitation training for volunteers and maintaining rescue vehicles
A total of £6,400 awarded in 2020 allowed Berkshire Lowland Search and Rescue (BLSAR) to conduct much needed training for new volunteers as well as maintain rescue vehicles and send trained search teams out when needed.
BLSAR are a team of highly trained volunteers who search for high risk and vulnerable missing people on behalf of Thames Valley Police. Those they have helped to rescue include people living with dementia, despondent or suicidal individuals, and missing children. They also supply trained staff for community support such as the recent COVID-19 vaccination programme.
BLSAR’s volunteers carry out searches on foot, on water, and in the air with the use of drones. To carry out their work effectively, they require in-depth training in these areas, medical and CPR training, as well as the necessary equipment.
Because of the pandemic, BLSAR struggled with fundraising, but the lockdowns had also resulted in many people going missing for various reasons. An intake of new volunteers also urgently needed medical training.
The funding awarded from BCF allowed BLSAR to purchase mannequins to support training in resuscitation skills for the next 7 years (the estimated lifespan of these mannequins). Twenty-five new volunteers were immediately trained, and the group has been able to continue regular training sessions for the full group of 80 volunteers. This is vital as it ensures that volunteers are able to render aid and basic life support that could save lives during rescue operations.
The funding has also helped BLSAR maintain its support vehicles that are required to carry out rescue operations, such as water-bank search equipment, mountain bikes, and BLSAR’s water rescue unit with a boat trailer.
In 2020, BLSAR were called out and deployed nearly 100 times, including in some high-profile cases that attracted national media attention. On these occasions the search is always for somebody who has been deemed at serious risk, and the impact of this on family and friends can be immense. The work that BLSAR have been able to do with the funding is therefore indispensable in maximising the chances that these vulnerable people can be located and rescued.
Moreover, since the delivery of resuscitation training to the team of volunteers, the team has successfully resuscitated at least 3 individuals. The vital training and quick thinking and actions of the volunteers directly resulted in their lives being saved.
“As a completely self funded charity of volunteers who receive no central funding, we simply could not respond to events in our communities without the funding these grants provide. It is vitally important for us and our partners that our volunteers are confident in dealing with often difficult circumstances that confront them. Such confidence and professionalism is only gained through regular and frequent training. These Resus-Annies are an important part of training both in the classroom and on external exercises.”
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