First Responder Coalition of Sierra Leone


The First Responder Coalition of Sierra Leone is a coalition of Sierra Leonean and international organizations dedicated to expanding prehospital emergency care and developing emergency medical services in Sierra Leone. It aims to address the high rates of injury and low rates of prehospital emergency care available in the country.

History

Deployed to explore the creation of prehospital emergency care systems in Sierra Leone, LFR International initially proposed a coalition to national partners to address the lack of prehospital emergency care available. The five founding member organizations later came together in Makeni, a town in Bombali District in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone, to establish a formal coalition, which was called the "First Responder Coalition of Sierra Leone." The Coalition's official mission is to "facilitate the development of emergency first responder programs to alleviate the burden of traumatic injury in Sierra Leone."
The five founding members were the Sierra Leone Red Cross Society, LFR International, the University of Makeni, Agency for Rural Community Transformation, and Holy Spirit Hospital. The Red Cross was the initial chairing organization of the coalition. Members wrote a constitution to officially establish the coalition, which was formally signed into existence on June 27, 2019. Its signatories were Kpawuru Sandy, Peter G. Delaney, Alfred Harun Thullah, Patrick E. Turay, and Shaza Dous.
The establishment of the FRCSL was seen as timely given the 72nd World Health Assembly's previous declaration that emergency care systems were essential to universal health coverage in May of the same year.

Projects

With a mission of training first responders to treat casualties of accidents across the country and developing ambulatory emergency medical services across Sierra Leone, the Coalition began training first responders in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone, in Makeni, in June 2019. Coalition members trained more than 1,000 community members over a two-month period and equipped each responder with basic trauma management skills and materials.

Members