Air Ambulance Week 2021, is taking off across the UK 6th-12th September, raising awareness of the life-saving work of air ambulance charities across the UK.
During the national awareness week, organised by Air Ambulances UK, we will also be joining other air ambulance charities around the country in a campaign called Every Second Counts and Every Penny Matters.
The campaign highlights how air ambulance charities such as ours rapidly deliver advanced life-saving pre-hospital care directly to the side of patients with sudden a life-threatening injury or medical emergency; essentially bringing the A&E department to the patient when every second counts towards survival.
Last year alone, we were called out to help over 2,500 people in life-threatening conditions. This forms an important part of the emergency services across Kent, Surrey and Sussex and supporting the NHS.
Each mission costs on average around £3.5K and is almost entirely funded by public donations, meaning every penny matters.
We are calling on people all over Kent, Surrey and Sussex to support our charity during Air Ambulance Week to ensure we can continue to save the lives of children like Madi, who was just two-and-a-half years old when she was critically injured after being kicked in the face by a passing horse last year. She was on a socially distanced walk with her family in Surrey. We flew to the scene to rapidly deliver life-saving pre-hospital care to Madi.
Madi’s mum, Jen: “I don’t remember at what point the air ambulance landed, but I remember feeling a huge sense of relief that Madi was in the best hands. The crew spent about 20 minutes on scene assessing Madi’s injuries and deciding what immediate care she needed. Then they moved Madi and her daddy to the helicopter and flew them to St George’s, arriving 12 minutes later.
“Sadly, Madi suffered a number of facial fractures and damage to her right eye. She’s had four surgeries over the past year and still has a long road ahead, but I’m so pleased to say she is recovering really well.
“KSS provide life-saving specialist critical care at the roadside and have saved thousands of lives like Madi’s. They were there for me and my family at a time when we so urgently needed help, and for that we’ll be forever thankful.”
To celebrate Air Ambulance Week, Air Ambulances UK, Rotary in Great Britain and Ireland and Raffolux, the online raffle company, have partnered to launch the ‘Every Second Counts’ prize draw, where people can enter to win an Audi Q3 and support their local air ambulance charity. For more details and to play please click here.
Other ways to get involved and support us include sharing our social media posts throughout the week, across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn, and/or by making a donation to us.
Lynne Harris, our Executive Director of Income Generation, Marketing and Communications: “Air Ambulance Charities such as ours provide life-saving, critical care directly at the scene. We are a vital part of your communities, your safety and your lives, but we can only operate thanks to the incredible generosity of our dedicated supporters. It costs more than £15M each year to deliver our critical service across Kent, Surrey and Sussex and we heavily rely on public donations and fundraising. Supporting us throughout Air Ambulance Week is a fantastic way to acknowledge the vital difference we make within our regions. Thank you.”
For more information about Air Ambulance Week click here.
Key facts:
- There are 21 individual air ambulance charities in the UK, which provide pre-hospital care support to the NHS and form an important part of the UK’s frontline emergency services
- There are 37 air ambulance helicopters operated across the 21 individual air ambulance charities
- Air ambulance charities collectively make an average of over 80 life-saving missions every day – that’s over 30,000 a year
- The average cost of an air ambulance mission is around £2,500-£3,500 and each one is funded almost entirely by donations
- Around 68% of all air ambulance charity life-saving missions are to people who are critically injured in incidents such as road traffic collisions, falls, workplace incidents and sporting or leisure accidents
- About 32% of missions are to people with a sudden medical emergency
- Among the most frequent type of life-saving missions are to people seriously injured in road traffic collisions and those experiencing a sudden cardiac-related medical emergency
Jen, mother of former patient Madi is getting behind Air Ambulance Week.
