The Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) remains committed to providing the communities of Queensland with levels of ambulance service response, appropriate to their needs.
The Samford First Responder Group are volunteers from the local Samford community who are prepared to provide emergency first aid to that community. This is achieved through the establishment and the maintenance of the Samford First Responder system, acting in consultation with and under the operational supervision of the QAS.
The Samford First Responders Group are proud to be the third group to be established in Queensland by the QAS.
A QAS accredited First Responder is the first link between the community and the Queensland Emergency Medical system (QEMS). To gain and maintain QAS accreditation a First Responder Group must be capable of providing an immediate response capability and the prescribed patient care competencies.
The QAS First Responder program is created under the legislative authority of the Commissioner QAS within provisions of the Ambulance Service Act 1991 Section 41 Codes of practice. QAS First Responders are classified as honorary ambulance officers under section 14(1) of the Ambulance Service Act 1991.
The QAS defines a QAS First Responder as: “An authorised officer of the QAS who is competent in basic life support, oxygen therapy, and the use of a semi-automatic external defibrillator, and works within a medically supervised and accountable system”.
The QAS provides technical advice, communication network, responder training and competency maintenance for the Samford First Responder Group.
A Community Based First Responder system in no way substitutes for a QAS ambulance service response which will be dispatched simultaneously with the dispatch of the local First Responder.
(Samford First Responders are not formally associated with Samford Rural Fire Brigade.)