The Australian Resuscitation Council defines a First Responder as "a person competent in basic life support, oxygen therapy and the use of a semi-automatic external defibrillator, when this person is working within a medically supervised and accountable system".
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 (individual or group) must be capable of providing an immediate response capability and the prescribed patient-care competencies.
The Community First Responders response is simultaneous with a normal QAS response, and activated by the QAS Communications Centre. The First Responder will be linked to the QAS Communications network via QAS portable radio, mobile phone and a personal paging system.
Our objective is to provide fast intervention in life threatening emergencies. The Chain of Survival has four critical links to provide maximum chance of survival. All are time critical and seconds really do count, together with the right skills and equipment.
On receipt of a call for service, if available the First Responder will promptly travel to the scene in a normal (non-emergency) driving manner obeying all general road traffic regulations and on arrival, undertake the following tasks:
Community Based First Responders do not operate as an agent of the Queensland Ambulance Service.