Great Western Air Ambulance Charity launch fundraising campaign following tough year during Covid-19 crisis
It's after they've seen an increase in demand for their services but a slump in funding
Last updated 2nd Dec 2020
Great Western Air Ambulance Charity (GWAAC) have launched their Big Give Christmas Challenge to raise the £15,000 needed to cover the cost of their crew’s surgical skills training course.
The charity has remained fully operational during the crisis providing their critical care service, as well as stepping up to help the NHS in the fight against Covid-19.
From transporting some of the most critically ill patients to hospitals to ensure they are at the best place to receive treatment, to ensuring hospitals had enough specialist ventilators, crews have ensured they've supported the national effort.
The specially trained crew bring lifesaving skills found in a hospital emergency department straight to the scene of an accident and are specially trained to perform life-saving roadside surgical procedures to people across Bristol, Gloucestershire, South Gloucestershire, North Somerset, Bath and North East Somerset.
As a charity, GWAAC relies on donations from the public but due to the pandemic a lot of fundraising events have had to be cancelled and income has dried up.
“Crews are called out just over 5 times a day and the average mission costs about £2,000 so that’s a lot of money needed to keep the service going”, said GWAAC CEO Anna Perry.
“Back in March we realised we were going to be asking a lot of our crew as they began to also respond to the Covid-19 crisis and asking them to be brave as they put themselves in danger.
"The year ahead is going to be tough"
“And we decided the charity needed to be brave too and step up to support the national effort of saving as many lives as possible and we just had to trust that local communities would step up too and help raise the money we needed.”
New research carried out by the charity also shows 6 out of 10 people in the South West think providing emergency services in the UK is one of the causes most important to them right now.
Further responses to the survey detailed that emergency services and frontline workers are at the forefront of people’s minds during the coronavirus pandemic.
In order to provide the lifesaving treatment, the Critical Care Doctors and Specialist Paramedics need to remain highly trained in these emergency medical procedures.
Anne Perry continued: “A lot of our fundraising events have had to be cancelled as people can’t meet up and do things like they usually would.
“Our crews need to practice these surgical skills in a hospital training centre to make sure they do the best job when they’re out in a field, in the rain, in the cold or under a huge time pressure.
"The year ahead is going to be tough and we need all the support we can get.
“That’s why we’re trying to raise this money so they can be better trained to provide these valuable and specialist skills.”
The Big Give Christmas Challenge runs from Tuesday 1st December to Tuesday 8th December. If you’d like to donate to GWAAC head to their donation page here.