7-Sep-2022 Source: Kent Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance
Air Ambulance Week 2022 is taking off from 5th to 11th September 2022 to raise awareness of the life-saving work of Air Ambulance charities across the UK.
During the national awareness week, organised by Air Ambulances UK – the national charity that champions, supports and represents the life-saving work of 21 Air Ambulance charities – Air Ambulance Charity Kent Surrey Sussex (KSS) will join other Air Ambulance charities around the UK in promoting the 2022 campaign, Critical Moments – Life-saving Difference.
The campaign highlights how Air Ambulance charities such as KSS make a life-saving difference in critical, life threatening situations responding where and when required across the UK. Air Ambulance crews bring the skills and expertise of a hospital accident and emergency department to the scene of an emergency, performing complex procedures, using advanced equipment and administering medication that improve survival rates.
KSS, which operates 24/7, forms an important part of the emergency services in Kent, Surrey, West Sussex and East Sussex, saving lives and ensuring the best possible outcomes for our patients. Our crews of pilots, doctors and paramedics responded to 3,051 incidents in 2021, the charity’s busiest year in our 32-year history.
Demand for our service this year looks higher than ever. If current activity levels are sustained for the remainder of 2022, we will exceed last year’s figures, with the highest number of incidents responded to, the largest number of night patients attended and the most responses to road traffic collisions and accidental injuries.
It costs £15.2M a year to provide our pre-hospital emergency medical service for the 4.8 million people who live in our regions. 86% of our total income is raised through the generosity of KSS’s supporters.
KSS is calling on people all over Kent, Surrey and East and West Sussex to support our charity during Air Ambulance Week 2022 to ensure we can continue to save the lives of people like Sam Jenner who suffered a cardiac arrest when she was getting ready for work one September morning when she was 23 weeks and five days pregnant.
Our team arrived quickly at the scene, delivered life-saving interventions and rapidly transferred her to King’s College Hospital. Sam’s baby boy, Jack, was born on 29th November and on 12th December she underwent heart surgery. Sam and her family are forever grateful to KSS for the role we played in helping to save her and her son’s life. To show her support, Sam has fundraised for the charity ever since.
David Welch, our CEO, and also a Board member of AAUK said, “There are 21 Air Ambulance charities across the UK, which provide pre-hospital emergency medicine and form an important part of the UK’s frontline emergency services. Together we ensure the best possible treatment for our patients in need of life-saving pre-hospital care.
“Air Ambulance Week provides a great opportunity to raise the profile of the vital role we play within our local communities. It is also a chance to remind people that we are a charity and, in order to be there for people in their hour of need, we rely heavily on the generosity of the communities we serve. As part of Air Ambulance Week, my sincere and heartfelt thanks go to our amazing supporters, like Sam Jenner. Our service would simply not be able to operate without the incredible support we receive.”
Emergency Services Day, also known as 999 Day, falls within Air Ambulance Week, on 9th September. This is a national day across the UK for people to show their support to our selfless NHS and emergency services heroes. One of the aims of the day is to promote emergency services charities and the work they do. For us, it’s a great opportunity to raise further awareness about KSS and the ongoing support we need from our local communities.
If you’d like to get involved with KSS as a fundraiser or volunteer, please click here. There are a wide range of KSS fundraising events and ideas detailed on our website including our Heli Hike sponsored walk at Aylesford Priory on 24 September and Host A Roast in November. Your support is much needed and is hugely appreciated!
