Thanks to an appeal over the summer which raised over £14,000, the people of Essex and Hertfordshire are now benefiting from some of the highest standard pre-hospital cardiac care the World has to offer with new state of the art equipment on board the Essex & Herts Air Ambulances.

Essex & Herts Air Ambulance Trust (EHAAT) recently took delivery of three brand new ZOLL® X Series™ Patient Monitors each worth £25,000 and is the first Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) in the UK to use this new cutting edge technology in conjunction with ZOLL’s AutoPulse® mechanical CPR device during flight.

Dr Gareth Grier, EHAAT Clinical Lead, explains: “At EHAAT we are delighted to have the new ZOLL X Series monitor as part of our essential set of equipment. The monitor allows us to continue to safely provide life-saving treatments for the patients of Essex and Herts at the roadside such as the delivery of an anaesthetic, something normally only available in hospital. We chose this monitor as it will ensure that even during the harshest of conditions outside of hospital; we can easily watch the effect of our interventions on patients. We undertake treatments for the most critically injured of patients as soon as possible after an accident or severe illness, wherever this occurs. When someone’s heart has stopped, EHAAT provide cutting edge treatment which has been published in international medical journals. We aspire to take this treatment even further by using the X series monitor in conjunction with ZOLL’s AutoPulse device which uses a “Pass Through” feature with defibrillation. Using this feature, electric shocks to the heart can be delivered at a specific time in a chest compression cycle, where the shocks will be at their most efficient in saving lives. EHAAT has already shown that working together with the Ambulance Service and first responder colleagues we can secure outcomes for our patients that are amongst the best in the UK.”

The monitors are used in all medical and trauma cases, both adult and children, attended by the Essex & Herts Air Ambulances, enabling the Air Crew to continue providing cutting edge, life-saving interventions to the sick and injured of Essex and Hertfordshire whilst ensuring patient safety and care is kept to the fore-front.

The Charity is delighted that people and businesses responded to the appeal for the third monitor in such a positive way and generously sent in donations of support. A big thank you to everyone that supported the appeal including Olympus KeyMed of Southend, IT Fleet of Colchester, Rotary Club of Brentwood a Becket and Freemasons from Colvin Lodge, Clacton-on-Sea.