A member of the public — with no formal medical role — who attempts to help someone in cardiac arrest before the arrival of emergency services. Also called a lay rescuer or bystander responder. Lay responders are a critical link in the chain of survival: early bystander CPR can double or triple survival rates from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Calling 999 and following dispatcher instructions allows anyone to perform effective CPR regardless of prior training. Many communities also have trained lay responders through schemes such as community first responder programmes.
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