VOLUNTEERS who give their time to help save lives within their community have gained a large mannequin to help hone their first aid skills.

VOLUNTEERS who give their time to help save lives within their community have gained a large mannequin to help hone their first aid skills.

The Debenham First Responders, residents who are trained by the East of England NHS Ambulance Trust and who carry a heart defibrillator and full first aid kit, can usually respond to an emergency within four to eight minutes because they are based locally.

Now, thanks to Websters newsagents in the community near Eye who have been selling second hand books and jigsaws donated by locals, £905 has been raised for the specialist training equipment.

Ruth Boulton, a partner in the family run shop for 32 years, said: “This will help the volunteers refine their resuscitation skills and learn more about how best to move and position a patient.”

The volunteers are dispatched at the same time as an ambulance crew and can make a vital difference in the first few minutes of an incident.