Norfolk Accident Rescue Service appoints John Potter as Patron
Norfolk Accident Rescue Service (NARS), a charity providing expert medical help at the scene of life-threatening medical emergencies, has appointed our very own John Potter, owner of Potters Resort, as its Patron.
John has stepped into the role to support and raise awareness of the life-saving work the team of Critical Care Paramedics and Doctors plus NARS First Responders do in supporting the East of England Ambulance Service Trust. John first got to learn about the life-saving work of NARS through his role as Founder and Patron of The Potters Friends Foundation, a community interest company founded in memory of Brian Potter MBE.
You may recall that Potters Friends Foundation presented NARS with a £10,000 donation last summer to purchase a new first responder vehicle to go alongside the two critical care vehicles they already have with John pledging to buy another car when they need it.
In the first year alone, the NARS First Responder vehicle has responded to over 750 999 calls and is directly responsible for saving lives in Norfolk already. Based at their headquarters in Dereham, the vehicle is going out day and night across Norfolk covering anywhere the ambulance control room needs them to support including remote areas such as Wells in North Norfolk.
We caught up with John, who said: “I’m very honoured to be asked to help these fantastic people champion and raise awareness of the valuable work they do in saving lives across the county. They receive zero government funding and this growing team of highly qualified critical care paramedics and off duty doctors alongside their first responders literally volunteer in their own time to save lives – in addition to the good work they do in their full-time jobs! They truly are inspiring examples of modern day heroes coming to our rescue every day.
“These heroes obviously need expensive equipment to do their life-saving work and we want to equip and train more heroes so we can be there in a moment’s notice to help you or your loved ones in their critical moment of need across Norfolk. If you would like to help either through giving time or providing services, though donations or choosing NARS for a charity event – it would be amazing and please do get in touch with myself or through the NARS website.”
It was NARS Chairman and Critical Care Paramedic, Chris Neil, who asked John to be Patron. Chris said: “We are thrilled that John has agreed to be our Patron and support us at an advisory level, and we know that his knowledge will really help us continue to grow, highlight the work that we do and support our future vision. With all the support that John has already given us in providing us with a car to allow us to offer even more coverage and assist in saving lives, he was the natural choice to be named as our first Patron and we are delighted that he has agreed to take on the role.”
NARS First Responders are volunteers trained by the East of England Ambulance Service to attend certain types of emergency calls, and their aim is to reach a potential life threatening emergency in the first vital minutes before the ambulance crew arrives to help stabilise the patient and provide care. NARS was formed in the 1970’s as a critical care charity and has a core group of volunteer doctors and critical care paramedics who give up their spare time and receive extra training to provide specialised trauma care at the scene of serious road traffic collisions and or serious medical calls such as cardiac arrests.