Welcome to the Dunkeld and Birnam First Responders' website.
This is a brand new organisation, established in 2023. We are a group of volunteers who have come together as part of a larger initiative by the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) to be able to provide potentially life-saving care in an emergency. Our volunteers are trained by SAS as First Responders and will continue to have regular training to keep their skills up to date. We have recently been awarded charitable status.
Our aim is to be able to provide "First Response" cover in the Dunkeld And Birnam area during the daytime at weekends. Our volunteers may be available at other times in addition to this and we aim to increase this coverage as we recruit more volunteers.
The idea behind a "first reponder" is to have fully-trained volunteers who live or work within the community they cover, and whom could potentially attend an emergency incident in a short response time than a emergency crew who have been despatched from a nearby town, or during times where the regular ambulance service is under severe pressure. For example, a CFR based in the community could potentially perform critical CPR quicker than an ambulance crew travelling several miles. Please see our other pages for details of What CAN a CFR do? and What CAN'T a CFR do?
Our First Responders are equipped with emergency life-saving equipment including a defibrillator and oxygen, along with more "regular" first-aid equipment.
