Decide to become a Community
Champion
Once you've Registered to get Started through
ChangeX and you've had a quick call you'll be
connected with John, the founder of ICRR. This
will help you in deciding that becoming an ICRR
Community Champion is right for you. Following a
Skype or phone introduction to introduce the idea
more fully to you and for him to learn more about
why you want to be involved, John or someone
from his team will arrange to visit you in your
community.
The purpose of this visit is to ensure that you're
fully up to speed on the mission and ethos of ICRR
and particularly how it works at the community
level. You'll get a full induction pack and a full
overview of the supports available as you set out
on your ICRR journey
On a mission to save lives in communities across
Ireland the top 3 challenges faced by ICRR are:
-
Building trust in local communities
-
Fundraising locally to support volunteer
doctors
-
Communication and local awareness
In partnership with the local G.P., ICRR and your
team of local volunteers, your community unit will
focus on these three areas.
Complete training
Tips
You'll also be assigned a mentor
who'll give you ongoing support
and advice so don't worry about
knowing everything after your first
training session.
After meeting with ICRR and getting a full
understanding of how you can support ICRR
services in your area, it'll be time to complete
training. ICRR have designed a tailored training
programme for community champions and this will
be delivered in small groups on a geographic basis.
The training will ensure you have everything you
need to begin operating as a local champion in
your community including:
-
How ICRR works with existing emergency
services
-
Local engagement
-
Building your team
-
Generating awareness in the community
-
Working effectively with the national network
Build relationship with local
medical team
Your relationship with the local medical team will
be crucial to the success of ICRR in your area.
After your first visit with ICRR, you'll be introduced
to the G.P. and they'll also be involved in the
training process so by now you'll know them very
well! There are a number of different levels of
medical volunteer and together with the local G.P.
you'll help to build this team over time depeding
on the level of demand in your area.
Visit
You can arrange a visit to one
of the ICRR centres in Cork or
Wicklow to see exactly how they
operate.
Bronze Service
Lay people trained up to different levels of Basic
Life Support and some off duty ambulance staff
as well as nurses, all of these are volunteers and
respond to 999 emergencies for the national
ambulance service for their community.
Silver Service
Doctors who volunteer at different levels who
responded at Advanced Life Support level for the
national ambulance service under the 999 system.
Build your team
As well as your team of medical volunteers, having
some help with fundraising, communications,
financial management will be a great help.
Don't worry if this sounds daunting at first. It'll
take some time to get this level but once you've
created some awareness in your area and the
medical volunteers are responding to emergencies,
awareness and support will grow and people will
want to be a part of it.
All the skills you might need in your team as
it grows will be covered in your training and
induction but here's the full list:
-
PR & marketing
-
Logistics
-
IT & social media
-
Fundraising & finance
Ongoing training and support in these areas
will also be available for you and your team of
volunteers.
Develop local engagment &
fundraising plan
Now that you have your team in place, it's time to
come up with a local engagement and fundraising
plan. This plan will cover how you spread the word
about the work of ICRR in your local community
and come up with fundraising plans to ensure that
the local medical team has the equipment and
resources it needs to operate effectively.
Who are the stakeholders in your community that
you need to engage with to ensure that ICRR is a
success in your community?
Typically these would include:
-
Your local GAA club
-
Your local IFA board
-
Your local hospital
-
Local businesses
You'll by fully supported by ICRR and your mentor
in developing this plan.