Lincolnshire Emergency Medical Response

We’ve been raising money for local groups and good causes for 10 years, through our Community Champions scheme. A donation is made every time a member shops with their dividend card, there’s collection tins in our outlets, colleagues run fundraising events; there’s plenty of contributors to the fantastic totals we collect.

In 2020, Lincolnshire Emergency Medical Response (LEMR) benefitted from the scheme, receiving £4896.48.

Matt Bailey, LEMR Operations Manager, explains the important role they play in the local community: “We assist East Midlands Ambulance Service, responding to 999 calls in the county of Lincolnshire. This includes an array of emergency situations, from road traffic accidents to cardiac arrest.

“We have two cars based at RAF Cranwell, and when a shift starts, we log on with ambulance control. They then use us in the exact same way they would use a fast response car of their own. This means that if they receive a 999 call and we’re the nearest asset available, then we will be sent out to help.

“We never know what job we’re going to next; it could be a child, it could be an adult, it’s always someone’s family member or loved one. Our whole team dedicates so much time to not only responding, but also fundraising and training to ensure that we have all the equipment and skills to give the best possible care to every single patient.”

The group is run entirely by volunteers, from the trustees to the managing committee, to the responders.

Matt says: “We’re sometimes referred to as ‘the RAF responders,’ as most of the team are currently serving within the RAF, however there are a few people who are no longer part of the military but continue to volunteer. I’ve been involved ever since 2012, when I first moved to Cranwell, and was involved in a similar scheme in Oxford, too.

“As military, and as responders, we do what we do because we want to make a difference, rather than for praise or glory. Having said that, it is great to be selected amongst the many local groups making fantastic contributions to the locally, to celebrate Lincolnshire Co-op’s Community Champions 10-year anniversary.”

Receiving the extra funding enabled the group to buy some important equipment for volunteers.

Matt says: “We received Community Champions funding in March 2020, and we used the extra funding for cold weather jackets. With the British climate and the nature of our work, our responders spend significant amounts of time outside, caring for patients.

“For a small charity like us, funding is incredibly important, and without it we wouldn’t be able to continue the work that we do. Receiving a donation from the Community Champions scheme was even more special because it came directly from the local community, who are the people that we could potentially be responding to. I think that makes it a bit more personal for them, and for us too.

“Lincolnshire Co-op has enabled us to achieve something that we saw as a long-term project in a much quicker time scale than we initially anticipated. If you’re a local group looking for a bit of extra support, I definitely recommend getting in touch and applying to be a Community Champion, it’s massively benefited us as a charity, and I can only imagine it would do the same for many others.”

Watch the video below to hear from the charity themselves.