Skip to playerSkip to main contentSkip to footer
  • 23/06/2025
Residents from the House in the Wells have been praised after raising an impressive sum of money for a Derry charity that works with Northern Ireland Ambulance Service paramedics to assist during emergencies. 
Speaking to the ‘Journal’ at the House in the Wells John Porter, Lead Trainer with Heart of Foyle said their visit was to acknowledge that the residents and staff had kindly made a donation of £651 to Heart of Foyle, with the money raised through a donation box on-site and a generous donation from someone associated with the House in the Wells. He also explained the work Heart of Foyle does across the city.

Category

🗞
News
Transcript
00:00So John, could I just ask you why we're here today at the House of the Wells?
00:07So, the House of the Wells is kindly made a donation towards Howard and Floyd.
00:13So we're up here to acknowledge the fact that these people are willing to fundraise for us and support us through the work that we do.
00:22Our job basically is we work along with the Northern Ireland ambulance service
00:27and we attend calls, anything from choking, diabetes to potential heart attacks
00:34to actually unconscious and not breathing casualties, which is people who need the likes of immediate help.
00:40What people don't realise is that one in ten people die of and out of hospital cardiac rest.
00:46So the quicker that we can get to somebody, the better it is.
00:50So working with Northern Ireland service, we get a text, a call with an address and a condition of the casualty.
00:56And we attend. We're all volunteers and basically we're based all throughout the city and we cover all the areas.
01:03The key thing for us is the fact that when we get a call, if we're able to go, then some of our members will go.
01:10You might get one member, you might get two members and if it's required to get rest, you might hopefully get three.
01:15And we could be there before the emergency services or at the same time.
01:19But because we've been trained with Northern Ireland ambulance service, they allow us to stay on scene.
01:25We can help them through resuscitation, we can work airways, we can do CPR, we'll administer the drugs and that.
01:33And we could be maybe 15 calls at the highest peak a day.
01:39Really?
01:40And we might not attend all calls because a lot of people here, people like Annette, who's a classroom assistant.
01:46Sean, who works for the care.
01:49And Connor, from all different aspects.
01:52All different walks of life.
01:53Walks of life.
01:54And some of them are working during the day, some of them not.
01:57Like we get calls 24-7.
01:59Right up like, last year I had a morning Christmas morning.
02:02Right.
02:03I was actually going to visit my mother and a call came up and it was right beside me.
02:06Right.
02:07And it's just because we carry the kit, we carry defibrillators, BVM masks to help with breathing and stuff like that there.
02:14And we're trained in all aspects for it.
02:16So we all carry a kit, but the kits cost about £15 or £1800.
02:20So there's a lot of fundraising involved.
02:22We get no help at all from NIAS.
02:24Right.
02:25They just haven't got the money to fund us.
02:27They do the training, which we really appreciate it.
02:29And the likes of my job is they might come on with a new technique.
02:33So they'll show me and then I go back and show our volunteers.
02:37And if anything changes through the resuscitation council, we're using for us to know as well.
02:43So for a lot of us, it's just something that we're doing for the community as volunteers.
02:48And how long is Heart of the Foy going?
02:50Heart of the Foy was originally started by a fella called Sean Dillon.
02:54Sean was in the car when his father took a heart attack.
02:59And he was at the side of the road and he phoned an ambulance and it was a nurse who happened to be passing.
03:05He was there to give him assistance.
03:07Now, whilst that helped, Sean realised the fact that if there was more people,
03:11he could just stop and have the equipment there.
03:13So initially, Sean was doing it on his own.
03:15Then he was able to...
03:17We had taxi drivers doing it.
03:19We all carry details because they're always constantly all around the city.
03:22But sometimes then the calls were lasting too long.
03:24Then when COVID hit, a lot of them stepped down.
03:26Because we're kind of volunteers, our training is ongoing.
03:30We could be training with NIAS every three weeks or every three months to every six months.
03:35And with COVID, then everything stopped.
03:37So a lot of people didn't take it back on.
03:39So then we put it out then to the members of the public.
03:42My background is outdoor education.
03:44I'm also a first aid instructor.
03:46So I teach first aid and I teach outdoor first aid.
03:49I've trained the likes of mountain rescue teams and stuff like that there.
03:52So when I wanted something to do, I asked Sean.
03:55And Sean says, look, come on board with us.
03:57The idea of the volunteers is the fact that at the minute we have about 18 active volunteers.
04:04But defib pads go out of date.
04:07We have to replace them.
04:09Kit bags, stuff like that there.
04:11And because we get no financial baggage from nowhere, donations from the likes of House and the Wells,
04:16it's really, really appreciated.
04:18And it's brilliant to see this today, isn't it?
04:19It's brilliant to see it.
04:20And we've decided that 2025 is going to be the year that we try and let people know who we are.
04:24Because we landed a call to House.
04:27And the first thing they say to control the phone,
04:29oh, the paramedics are here.
04:31And we have to say, no, we're not paramedics.
04:32No paramedics, aye.
04:33We're CFRs, we're community responders.
04:34We're here to help until the ambulance is great.
04:36Because we know the ambulance is on its way.
04:38But in the last year and a half now, the waiting times have been really, really long.
04:44Just because they're under so much pressure.
04:46And they appreciate us being there on scenes.
04:49Especially if it's a non-conscious, not breathing casually.
04:52They're really glad to see us because we're the extra set of hands.
04:55Especially if it's a rapid response unit.
04:57So them guys that they see in the cars, they might land.
05:01And we can be doing their CPR and they can be administering drugs and stuff like that there.
05:05So we work well as a team.
05:07Brilliant thing.
05:08That's great.
05:09And just getting the word out now that these are there.
05:11Just getting the word out there so people understand and realise the fact that, you know,
05:14we have to fundraise ourselves and stuff like that there.
05:17And it does, it does affect the organisation.
05:19So everything that helps, every bit that helps.
05:22And anybody who wanted to help raise funds, like how would they get in touch?
05:25Well, just go on the, we have a Facebook page, hard to find Facebook page and stuff like that there.
05:29Send a wee message.
05:30Send a wee message and then we'll contact them back if they have any ideas for fundraising.
05:34Or even if they want to.
05:36So what we've been doing this year too is, we've done it for the Death Society.
05:41Where we actually go on and demonstrate how defibrillators work and how CPR works.
05:46And how important it is to acknowledge when somebody's not breathing.
05:49We've done it for the UTA out at Crenshaw.
05:52We've done it for a couple of schools.
05:54Right.
05:55And it's just making people aware.
05:56Look out for your defibrillators around the city.
05:58Brilliant thing.
05:59And try and find out where they are.
06:00And know the fact that, if you make a call for an ambulance, for the likes of choking,
06:05diabetes or something like that, that we could be first there.

Recommended