North West Air Ambulance charity launches "Brew with the Crew" campaign
The charity are raising awareness that unlike the other emergency services, the rely solely on public donations to operate.
Last updated 15th Oct 2018
We've been given exclusive access to the North West Air Ambulance's base to see first hand how they save hundreds of lives across Greater Manchester.
It's as a new campaign's raising awareness of how they're actually a charity and rely entirely on donations from the public to launch their helicopters into the skies.
They're on stand-by 365 days a year to deal with incidents alongside the police, fire and ambulance service.
We're spending the day with the crew at Barton Airport in Salford where they launch their helicopters from for the whole of the North West.
Many critically injured patients wouldn’t survive without the service of the North West Air Ambulance Charity, and the service would not be here without the support of the community. As a charity, the NWAA receives no government funding and is completely reliant on public generosity through the likes of donations, fundraising and volunteering.
To emphasise how they have to drop everything at a moment's notice to go to a medical emergency, the charity has told us the crews miss 6,782 brews every year.
Back at their Blackpool and Barton base, emergencies can call for their life-saving service at any time during the day, 365 days a year. Sometimes no sooner than the kettle is on, then the crew are called out to reach critically injured patients across the North West.
So as the crew save lives whilst their teas and coffees go cold, the NWAA hopes Brew With The Crew will encourage people to brew up and host their own event to thank its helicopter heroes in the skies.
Andy Duncan, Lead Helicopter Emergency Medical Service Paramedic at the charity, commented: “It’s become quite a fond joke amongst our team that as soon as we pop the kettle on at base, we usually get called out to a mission. There are never any grumbles though – the crew understand their hard work and swift response often makes the difference between life or death. It’s a challenging, amazing job, which we wouldn’t be able to complete without the support the charity receives. We’re really hoping the North West will come together for Brew With The Crew and be part of making a real difference to their local air ambulance service.”
Heather Arrowsmith, CEO at the North West Air Ambulance Charity, said: “Our crew love a brew as much as the next, especially if it comes with a slice of cake! Brew With The Crew is a chance for the public to have some fun whilst raising funds which literally fuel helicopters and keep our crew flying. We wanted to bring the entire North West together to create an event which everyone can get involved with, all for a tea-riffic cause.”
You can find out more about the campaign here