Ambulance paramedics, firefighters, prison officer and volunteers gathered in Edenderry today to help raise funds for a local family in the ‘Emily Harte McNamee’ emergency services family day today.
The event was held at the Carrick GAA Centre in Edenderry and involved the National Ambulance Service, Offaly County Fire & rescue Service, Irish Prison Service, Civil Defence, Order of Malta and Irish Red Cross.
Edenderry Ambulance Paramedic Greg Hoey is one of the organisers of today’s emergency services day. Speaking to EmergencyTimes.ie today, Greg told Declan Keogh about the background to the event. “Emily and Paul are the parents of Aidan who has suffered numerous seizures since the age of 3 and we’ve all got to know them over the years from responding to calls to the house etc. Recently, Aidan’s man Emily suffered Cardiac Arrest which means that not only Aidan but Emily too now needs life-long specialist care.”
‘This has hit the Edenderry community hard and like any good and strong community, it has brought them all together to help the Harte-McNamee family’. A number of fundraising events have already been held and more are planned while a ‘Go Fund Me’ page has also raised over €80,000 so far for the family.
National Ambulance Service personnel from Edenderry, Tullamore, Athlone and Dublin. Photo: Declan Keogh / EmergencyTimes.ie
Greg said that the ambulance service have gotten very close to the family over the last few years and the local paramedics decided to get together and have a ‘show and tell’ day for the emergency services.
“We wanted to let everybody have a look at the equipment, see what we do, and see what the vehicles are like instead of just seeing it going through the town on blue lights. We all know each other very well among the various services and we all know how each other works, and this was an opportunity to show the people and public what its all about.”
Offaly Emergency Services and CFR Demonstrators. Photo: Declan Keogh / EmergencyTimes.ie
CPR was an important aspect of the day, and was one of the main attractions too. “We encouraged everybody to go inside and do some CPR and if they hadn’t done it before, learn it, and to get a feel for whats its like and just be told and to realise and learn that CPR is a most important thing to be used if someone does suffer a cardiac arrest while waiting for further help to arrive.”
The CPR demonstrations proved very successful. Paramedic Hoey said “After seeing the effect of CPR and the value from it, a number of people have committed to going about to set-up a CFR group in Edenderry and surrounding areas, so that’s some good and positive news from today.”
HSE Decontamination Unit in use by National Ambulance Service and Order of Malta volunteers. Photo: Declan Keogh / EmergencyTimes.ie
The ambulance service set up a decontamination unit and displayed many of their resources from the North Leinster based Incident Support Vehicle.
The Edenderry crew from Offaly Fire & Rescue Service provided Chip pan fire demonstrations and gave advice on how best to deal with a chip pan fire and showed the gathered audience the effects of putting water on a heated chip pan.
Edenderry Firefighter Gordon Cummins using the chip pan demonstration, watched on by Driver/Mechanic Dave Larkin. Photo: Declan Keogh / EmergencyTimes.ie
The fire service also carried out a road traffic collision extrication and lifted a car to rescue and remove a ‘casualty’ from under the car.
Edenderry Crew of Offaly Fire & Rescue Service. Photo: EmergencyTimes.ie
The Irish Prison Service was also a popular attraction for members of the public when prison officers showcased their own equipment, tools and resources and many young children got the chance to be handcuffed and use batons and the shields which are used by prison officers.
Irish Prison Service: Photo: Declan Keogh / EmergencyTimes.ie
Volunteers from Offaly and Meath Civil Defence, Tullamore Order of Malta and the Irish Red Cross also showcased their services and equipment to the public and provided advice and best practice in dealing with CPR.
Members of Civil Defence from counties Offaly and Meath. Photo: EmergencyTimes.ie
Order of Malta volunteers from Tullamore Branch. Photo: Declan Keogh / EmergencyTimes.ie
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