'Plenty to keep me busy!' - Meet the Kildare mum of three saving lives in spare time

Meet Martina Bonner Mullaney, a 41-year-old woman living in Naas, Co Kildare juggling being a mum to three young children, a lecturer in UCD, doing a PhD and volunteering as a Naas Community first responder - a woman does it all! 

There is no task or challenge Martina has strayed away from and there's never a dull moment in her life - but that's the way she likes it.

Originally from Stranorlar in Co Donegal, Martina has been living in Naas for about eight years now.

She and her husband have three young children between the ages of four and seven years old.

"I also have two dogs as well, so between the football, the kids, Naas CFR and work as well, it's plenty to keep me busy!" Martina said.

For work, Martina was originally a qualified radiographer for 20 years but recently went a different direction and is now lecturing in UCD.

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Martina is also involved with the Gaelic for mothers and others club in Naas for the last four years. She joined Naas Community First Responders around the same time.

Naas CFR currently has 17 volunteers in the Naas area who respond to emergency calls such as choking, chest pain, stroke and cardiac arrest emergency calls.

The group cover a 5km radius of Naas and surrounding areas including Sallins and Johnstown and often arrive ahead of the ambulance to administer medical assistance and support.

The group also offers community engagement and education on CPR, choking and AED training and awareness sessions.

"Would you believe I joined Naas CFR when I was off on maternity leave after having my daughter. I was sitting at home and going, I'd like to do something.

"And at the time, that's when the whole war in Ukraine broke out and everything. I was sitting at home watching TV, and I was there going, I'd like to do something different. I'd like to give something back to the community.

"At the time, I was looking at all the options available to me. I just felt Naas CFR, being a first responder, it felt like I could make more of an impact in people's lives.

"I suppose from my experience in the past, working in the hospitals, I've kind of seen people at their worst and everything.

"And I felt like I could do something and I could help people".

Martina said that where she is from in Donegal there's no first responder schemes. 

"We're very privileged in Naas here that we do have multiple ambulances, we have the ambulance hub in Naas as well. 

"So we find on calls generally, we're not waiting too long for ambulances. But I know from family members at home they've been waiting hours for ambulances to arrive."

Martina is a volunteer at Naas CFR for almost four and a half years now. 

"It always takes you a while to do something like this because you're not too sure what to expect, but from the beginning, they were a very welcoming team. 

"They were such a mix of people as well. When I joined at the time, there was a theatre nurse, there was a guard, there was a teacher.

"Like me and my kids we're at the stage, I suppose, we're lucky now that everybody's happy and healthy but you never quite know what's around the corner. 

"A lot of times when we go on calls, and I suppose if they're older people, I'm thinking about my parents. We do see tough calls.

"But I think a lot of times coming out, I always like to come back from them and feel like I've made a difference. That I've tried to help in some way and support those people or those family members in what way I can, rather than sitting back and doing nothing."

When asked how she manages to juggle everything in her life, Martina said "I'm one of those people, I just like being kept busy.

"I like a challenge as well. And I think it's for some people but it's not for everyone, I have to say.

"It's always busy. I'm a planner. I share Google Calendar for my family. Everybody knows whenever I'm working or when I have scheduled calls. 

"It's just kind of balancing ourselves and the kids and calls and work and everything on top of it. It's a chaotic household, but I suppose most houses are really."

Martina said that when a call comes in for the volunteers they never quite know what they are going into.

"We always know kind of what sort of call it is or what sort of call it's originally come into. But things can change. Situations can develop.

"Our aim is always trying to get there as fast as we can, help whenever we can. But I think for me, one of the biggest moments for me was when I was involved with ROSC. So ROSC is Return of Spontaneous Circulation.

"That's basically somebody who was unresponsive, who had a cardiac arrest and we managed to get them back. 

"I think that was a big thing for me. They are quite rare, those situations so when they do happen, it's an amazing feeling."

Martina said that a special part of the job for her is when they receive letters from families expressing their gratitude to the group.

"In certain situations, you can't imagine, the impact you make to those people in that time. Even on calls we've had where the person has not survived, we've received lovely letters from the family members.

"We're meeting people at their worst and I think it's something that we can make such a lasting impact. Even though, for us, we might never see this person again, we're getting nothing back from them, but it's just knowing that we've done all we can in that time for them. 

"Say, my family members, I'm just putting myself in their situation, that I would love if somebody did that for them if they ever needed it."