Fundraising continues to bring second lifesaving helicopter to Cornwall
Cornwall Air Ambulance have been providing an update on their Heli2 Appeal at the Royal Cornwall Show
Last updated 8th Jun 2024
Cornwall Air Ambulance (CAA) say they're continuing to fundraise to bring a second lifesaving helicopter to the county.
The charity are speaking to locals at this year's Royal Cornwall Show about their Heli2 appeal - and say they're thankful for the support so far.
CEO Tim Bunting said: "It's been brilliant. The support we're receiving is tremendous. We're over £800,000 towards our target of £2.85 million - so a bit of a way to go!
"What we would really, really love is for that aircraft to arrive for Christmas. That would be the best Christmas present for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly."
CAA say a new AW169 helicopter will enable them to deliver more missions, advanced care – and in turn, help them save even more lives.
The charity supports over 1,000 patients who are seriously ill or injured each year, but there is scope to reach even more people by air with the purchase of a second aircraft.
Paul is a critical care paramedic: "By going up by air, because of Cornwall and its rural and coastal location, it just enables us to get there very quickly. Particularly in the summer months when the B-roads and that are really swollen by traffic, so it would just enable us to deliver care quicker to patients."
Currently, when the AW169 is away having its annual maintenance, the charity leases a backup AW109 aircraft from air operations partner Castle Air, so they can continue to respond to critical care missions by air. However, they say the AW169 is "far more advanced and capable".
Jeremy is a critical care paramedic: "It's really important that we get the second aircraft to make sure we fulfil our obligation to provide the level of critical care for Cornwall that we want to provide."
The appeal is running until the end of December 2024.