Great Western Air Ambulance appeals for donations to provide 'incredibly important' care
The charity wants £30,000 to train its crews
Last updated 26th Jul 2023
The Great Western Air Ambulance is calling on people across our region to donate what they can this summer.
The charity, which provides emergency care to residents in Gloucestershire, Bristol, Bath, North Somerset and Wiltshire is attempting to raise £30,000.
The money will be used to provide two years of training to its team of around 35 clinicians, made up of consultant doctors and specialist paramedics.
'Our team need lots of training'
Chief Executive, Anna Perry, has told us the donations will aid the crucial work of her staff.
"They do really, really specialist jobs. Everything from amputations, to emergency caesarean sections, to cutting open your chest - as well as giving people emergency anaesthetics.
"It's incredibly important that you get all of that right, so our team need lots and lots of training ... and all of that costs money of course," she said.
The training happens both internally at the charity's own sites and externally in theatres at local hospitals.
It means crews have the necessary skills to serve a region of more than 1,700 square miles, with a population of over 2.1 million people.
GWAAC's critical care team helps around 2,000 patients each year, attending medical incidents including car crashes, falls, strokes and premature births.
"At those times, every second counts. You don't want a clinician to be fumbling around, wondering where something is in the kit bag, or trying to remember how to do a procedure.
"We need our crew to train, train, train. When they're in a really pressurised situation ... it needs to be really smooth, they need to be on top of their game," Anna added.
The annual GWAAC running cost is around £4 million, with each mission estimated to cost the charity £2,000.