Mum's fundraising pays for 18 responder vehicles

A woman who initially fundraised to pay for a 999 Community First Responder vehicle after her daughter became ill has gone on to gather enough donations to pay for 18 vehicles.

Debbie Roscoe, from Harborne in Birmingham, said she wanted to give something back to the NHS after her daughter Ellie was in isolation in hospital with measles as a teenager.

She decided to help volunteer Community First Responders and over the past eight years has raised more than £400,000 to pay for the vehicles which operate across the West Midlands.

West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) said Roscoe and her charity had made "a truly remarkable contribution".

Community First Responder teams are dispatched to 999 emergencies by the ambulance service and there are more than 500 in the region helping patients across Birmingham, Solihull, Coventry, Warwickshire, North Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire and the Black Country.

Roscoe said the care her daughter received at the age 19 was so good she felt compelled to fundraise in an individual way.

"Ellie was very ill in hospital, at Heartlands and we didn't know if she would be coming out of hospital at that stage," she said.

"She was in isolation in the infectious diseases unit and the staff were absolutely amazing there. I could not fault them."

Once her daughter got better, Roscoe said she came across the Community First Responders and decided she would raise money to pay for a fully equipped vehicle after asking them how she could help them.

"We started off at the dining table with £5.82 I think and went on to set up a charity called Arrive Alive, and we've now got 44 defibrillators in communities, hundreds of bleed kits, and we're up to [getting] our 19th vehicle."

She said each vehicle cost about £25,000 and the charity has raised the money through numerous events, bucket collections, holding an annual ball on Ellie's birthday, along with help from two sponsors and generally "tormenting people".

The team have recently reached a milestone of responding to more than 8,000 life-threatening 999 emergencies between June 2024 and June 2026, Roscoe said.

"We pulled into McDonald's the other week and as we pulled in... Ellie went 'oh my God there's one of the cars' and some of the responders were going in," she said.

"When you see them, you think 'oh my God I can't believe it'. Those cars are first on scene sometimes, because they're in the communities - they can start using a defib before the ambulance gets there.

"They're all volunteers, they're trained by the ambulance service, why wouldn't you want to do something for them?"

The charity is appealing for donations for its 19th vehicle and Roscoe said she had set herself a target of getting a 20th vehicle by the end of the year.

WMAS community response manager Tim Cronin said the vehicles were making a real difference by providing life-saving care in communities.

"To see Debbie's ambition grow from funding just one vehicle to supporting 18 is an extraordinary achievement," he said.

"The impact of her dedication is being felt by patients and communities across the West Midlands. We are incredibly grateful to Debbie and everyone who supports Arrive Alive for their continued passion, generosity and commitment."

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