Wiltshire Air Ambulance purchase three new syringe drivers
Funds raised after virtual canal swim earlier this year
Wiltshire Air Ambulance have announced the purchase of three new syringe drivers with the help of the funds raised from their 'Virtual canal swim' in April.
A tweet from their official account explained that the syringe drivers are used by their critical care doctors to deliver continuous pre-hospital anaesthetic, treat cardiac arrest patients after a successful resuscitation, as well as people with asthma, breathing conditions or those in pregnancy.
Wiltshire Air Ambulance pilots, paramedics and staff embarked on a mammoth Virtual Canal Swim challenge, which consisted on swimming for an incredible 43 miles (1,376 lengths of a 50m swimming pool) in 19 hours.
The University of Bath kindly donated space at their Olympic-sized pool for the challenge, which was held across two days on 12 April and 14 April, with 9.5 hours of swimming per day.
The team looked to raise £5,000 from the challenge to fund the purchase of three syringe drivers and two electronic medical tablets for our Rapid Response Vehicles (RRVs).
Wiltshire Air Ambulance safety and ground operations manager Richard Miller said:
“Last year we embarked on the Love Your Air Ambulance cycling challenge and also had aircrew run 24 miles in 24 hours across Wiltshire and Bath, all to raise funds for blood warmers and blood products.
“The whole team wanted to embark on a new challenge for 2022 and this time we swam swimming the width of Bath and Wiltshire, spanning the 43 miles covered by the Kennet and Avon Canal from Bath to Froxfield near Marlborough.
“We’re very thankful to the University of Bath for hosting this challenge event for us, offering the team some of the best facilities around."
Wiltshire Air Ambulance’s pilots, paramedics, doctors and charity staff were grateful to be joined in the challenge by charity ambassadors and paralympic swimmers Steph Millward and Suzanna Hext, who helped contribute a significant number of lengths!