BFA supply first aid to the Gadget Show

Belvoir First Aid, the Vale medical charity, were asked this week to cover the first aid for the new series of the Gadget Show from Channel Five. Filming for the new series that starts Monday 14th February has been ongoing and the event on Thursday last was to film a series of shots for the February 28th episode featuring off road vehicles.

“Filming with Polly and Jason was enormous fun” said Martin Fagan, of BFA.”They are really nice guys and work extremely hard. It also turns out Jason was once a resident of Waltham on the Wolds and knew all about BFA!”

The event proved an ideal opportunity to use the BFA off road ‘moon buggy’. “The boggy and muddy conditions were ideal for this vehicle and the buggy could go where even the 4x4 vehicles could not” said Martin. “Jason was so impressed with the buggy he has put photos of it on his web site!”  Hopefully there will be shorts of the ‘moon buggy’ in action in the final version to be broadcast.

May 2010 - New Ambulance

Belvoir First Aid, the Vale medical charity, have expanded their emergency provision at events with the purchase of a fully equipped emergency ambulance. The vehicle was formerly used on behalf of the Great Western Ambulance Service based in Bristol, and is equipped with stretchers, defibrillators, medical gasses and trauma kits.   “The addition of this vehicle to our other two vehicles adds significantly to our ability to support events in the Vale and Rutland areas” says Martin Fagan, Chairman of BFA. “It is an excellent vehicle and a joy to drive!”

The Renault Ambulance has been customised by B&H Midland, and will be used to support the larger events BFA cover, and to also give logistic support for the current 4x4 ambulance and the ‘moon buggy’ off road fast response vehicle. “The addition of this vehicle to our service will also open up other possibilities to support the communities in the Vale” says Martin. “We will be undertaking a consultation during the remainder of this year with the Vale as to how the public would like us to develop locally and what other services we may be able to offer to support the Villages”  

Earlier this year BFA added a ‘moon buggy’ of road fast response vehicle to its fleet. Supplied by Blitzworld of Stoke on Trent (www.blitzworld.co.uk) this is the first time such a vehicle has been used for event medical cover.   Belvoir First Aid have been providing services in the Vale and North Rutland areas for five years, and have grown to have an excellent reputation for professionalism testified by the quantity of repeat requests they get. Last year they covered over 70 events locally, and this year it is expected to exceed this. Please come and visit BFA at the Stathern Festival 2010 from 11th to 20th June (www.stathernfestival.co.uk) .  

BFA are still looking for sponsors to aid us in our work locally in the Vale and Rutland areas. If you would like to assist in any way, or can offer your time as a first aider, EMT, Nurse or Paramedic, please contact us. We provide daily allowances. If you would like to make a donation, or provide sponsorship, please contact us via the web site below.

April 2010 - Her grace the Duchess of Rutland becomes Patron

Belvoir First Aid the Vale medical charity are pleased to announce that Her Grace the
Duchess of Rutland has agreed to become a patron of the Charity. In this role, Her
Grace will help provide publicity for the Charity and in return the Charity will train
her family in first aid.

“We are delighted that Her Grace has agreed to help us,” said Martin Fagan,
Chairman of BFA. “We are entering our fifth year of supporting the Vale area and to
have the support of the Duchess means a great deal to us”.

January 2010 - Blitzworld sponsor BFA in major agreement!

Blitzworld (www.blitzworld.co.uk) have agreed to sponsor BFA in the provision of a Howie off road ATV for use at events. The Howie, manufactured by Joyner, is an offroad All Terrain Vehicle and has been specially customised for use as an event medical vehicle. This is the first time such a vehicle has been used for this type of work in the UK.

As part of this sponsorship, BFA will also cover track events for Blitzworld in 2010.

 Blitzworld are the biggest kit-Car buggy manufacturer in the UK  and design and build a range of buggies and 4x4 vehicles for On and Off road use. They also import some ready to drive buggies, but modify them to suit client requirements and test on  track days. All NEW vehicles have the Blitzworld 1 year parts & labour warranty, which includes taking the buggy off road.

For more information on Blitzworld click here.

August 2009 - Scanmed medical donate equipment to BFA

Belvoir First Aid (BFA) the Vale of Belvoir medical charity (1122209) is please to announce a major sponsorship from Scanmed Medical, the medical equipment provider based in Moreton in Marsh.

Scanmed have donated an Oscilomate 9002 vital signs monitoring unit, worth £2500 for use at events and in the BFA ambulance.  

“We are absolutely delighted with this donation’” stated Martin Fagan, BFA’s chairman. “This piece of medical equipment will allow us to monitor vital signs in the patients we treat, help effect appropriate treatment and to be able to effect better handovers to the local ambulance service. We are enormously grateful to Scanmed for their generosity and support for the work we undertake.”  

The Oscilomate 9002 is a robust and portable life signs monitoring and diagnostic tool that allows continuous measurement of pulse, blood gas, blood pressure and can be set for continuous and interval led monitoring automatically, warning of any variation or life threatening episode thus freeing up medical resource to attend the patient. It is used by major ambulance trusts in their front line vehicles.  

Brian Collins, the Managing Director of Scanmed, commented “We are delighted to assist Belvoir First Aid. They do a wonderful job supporting events with their medical cover enabling these events to be held. We wish them all the best with the new equipment we have provided.”  

The equipment will have its first use at the forthcoming 500 years celebration at Belvoir Castle this coming bank holiday week-end.

 Published Date: Grantham Journal 31 July 2008

 By Jo Hall

 Thursday, 2.05pm - FALKLANDS veteran and inspirational charity campaigner Simon Weston has been appointed patron of Belvoir First  Aid.

 Simon agreed to take up the position after discussing the charity's  work with chairman Martin Fagan, from Stathern, at a charity event.

His involvement is a huge boost for BFA, which was set up in 2006 and provides first aid cover at public events in the Vale of Belvoir and Melton and runs first aid training courses.

Simon's determination and courage to overcome 46 per cent burns he sustained during the Falklands conflict attracted worldwide attention.

The 47-year-old, who now works as a motivational speaker and charity campaigner, said: "I am absolutely delighted to be working with BFA.

"It is a worthy cause and gives great support to the Vale and Melton communities in the work they undertake.

"I hope my involvement can add to their excellent reputation and help them grow and sustain the charity."

Mr Fagan said Simon is already coming up with fund-raising ideas just days after becoming the charity's patron.

He said: "We have been impressed with Simon's enthusiasm and commitment and are delighted to welcome him to BFA.

"Simon is a well recognised campaigner for charities and we feel his work and support will help us develop the charity enormously and allow us to grow and support our communities in extended ways for the future."

BFA is working on plans to upgrade first aid boxes in every village hall in the area, but needs donations to continue its work.

July 2008 - InTechnology sponsor Belvoir First Aid

InTechnology, the international communications company have agreed to sponsor BFA with the provision of five high technology 'Push to Talk' telephones. These telephones work as standard cellular telephones but in addition they have a facility to work as Walki-Talkies between two of more of the handsets anywhere in the world!

May 2008 - Amazon medical support BFA through provision of a combined ECG and AED.

Amazon Medical have loaned BFA a combined Schiller ECG and AED to support their event medical work. The unit weighing only 2.5Kg, will give greater support to BFA in their medical cover at events in the Vale. "Whilst we do not undertake routine ECGs," says Ian Shepherd, "this unit will allow us to have even more information avaiable to the Paramedics on the occasion of any serious incident at an event. We are very grateful to Sally Turner, MD at Amazon, and her staff for all their support."