Lay First Responder International receives Royal Award for Post-Crash Response Innitiative

15 December 2020

LFR International has been recognised with a Prince Michael International Award for establishing a Lay First Responder (LFR) Post-Crash Response Program Model for Road Traffic Injuries in Resource-Limited African Settings.

To address the absence of formal emergency medical services (EMS) in much of Sub-Saharan Africa, LFR International has focused on the development of robust affordable alternatives for resource-limited settings using lay first responders to improve post-crash response since 2016.

LFR International has developed a model to establish robust EMS by training transportation providers as first responders to address post-crash injury. The model has been tested in four countries (Uganda, Chad, Guatemala, and Sierra Leone), measuring knowledge improvement/retention, patient impact, and longitudinal impact on first responders. LFR has trained 5,173 responders, who have provided care to thousands of crash victims, and launched the “First Responder Coalition of Sierra Leone,” achieving large-scale implementation.