23rd Jan 2018
Doctor Chrissie Hymers, paramedic Karen King and Firefighter Joanna Waite have visited Hornsey School for Girls to speak to students about London's Air Ambulance and their careers.
The talks were arranged by Pilot Andy Thomson, and aimed to inspire the students to take Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) courses and pursue a future career in these STEM subjects, where sadly women are still underrepresented.
Hornsey School Teacher Rebecca Wildish helped set up the talks with the Year 7 group and Year 8 group. Talking to the girls Andy, Chrissie, Karen and Jo explained that London's Air Ambulance takes the hospital to patient, delivering emergency care to critically injured patients right at the scene. They then told students about their own route to becoming involved with London's Air Ambulance. The students also had the chance to ask questions, with most interested in the types of subjects they needed to take to emulate Chrissie, Karen and Jo's achievements, and to find out how the team coped with the types of work they do and incidents they see daily.
Our charity is committed to inspiring young people to take up STEM careers and runs a schools outreach programme to do this. Hopefully the fantastic students at Hornsey School for Girls will be empowered by our female crew and will be part of the advanced trauma team of the future!