Herm raising £25,000 for new Herm emergency equipment

Islanders in Herm are crowdfunding £25,000 to buy a new emergency vehicle and three defibrillators.

This follows a recent spate of incidents that required members of the Herm team to deal with a range of issues, including broken bones, emergency sea rescue and mental health call-outs.

The John Deere gator is said to be an essential emergency vehicle, which is used to pick up paramedics from Herm and respond to any call-outs. It can carry emergency responders as well as casualties but needs to do two trips in order to collect the first aid equipment.

Authorities in Herm are asking for donations to fundraise for a new emergency John Deere vehicle with a stretcher, which they say is much needed for the island.

April-Rose Dewe, Operation Lead for Herm Emergency Services, says the vehicle will "have all of our equipment in it, a stretcher and it will stop us having to go and get the equipment and then going out to the casualty wherever they may be."

Many of the Herm Island response team are balancing their emergency call-out work with their careers as engineers, chefs and waitresses.

April-Rose says: "We've got a lot of estates workers, we've got the head chef who is also a community first responder - so every now and again, you might get somebody in their chef whites coming to assist you."

Island residents are also trained in advanced or basic first aid, fire fighting, policing and emergency response.

They can be called upon in critical situations, particularly as the island is busier throughout the spring and summer months.

The new John Deere Gator. £25,000 worth of fundraising needed. Credit: ITV Channel

April-Rose said: "Because the service we provide is voluntary, we don’t charge whenever we assist somebody or we go out – I think the public quite like to help out with the island."

Craig Senior, CEO Herm Island, said: "I know everyone is on hard times and we've all got to watch our pennies but somebody said to me the other day, if everybody who came to Herm donated something like 40p, we'd have got that vehicle on that one visit.

"I think it's just getting the word out there. People would like the opportunity to contribute something for the future generations of Herm."