A team of 14 individuals, representing all aspects of the London’s Air Ambulance charity, will be taking part in the Marathon des Sables later this year. The challenge is known as “the toughest footrace on earth”, as it sees competitors run the equivalent of 6 marathons over 6 days through the beating heat of the Sahara desert.
The charity was pleased to welcome one of our lucky lottery winners to our helipad last week so that we could present the winning cheque and say thanks for her support.
Bromley resident Alison Steele scooped the top prize of £1,000 in the London’s Air Ambulance weekly lottery, which raises vital funds each year for the charity. Thanks to lottery players across London, the charity is able to maintain its life saving service all year round.
While most of us will be slowing down for the festive season, our teams will continue to serve London 24/7 throughout Christmas and New Year. To help those on duty share in festive spirit, a hamper of goodies will be waiting for each team when they arrive at the helipad, from 24th December to 1st January.
London’s Air Ambulance has been shortlisted for the Air Ambulance Service Award in the Health Business Awards 2017 in recognition of our newly remodelled Physician Response Unit (PRU).
The British Safety Council has celebrated the work of the emergency services at its annual awards luncheon in London. We were honoured to be presented with a Special Sword of Honour Award alongside representatives from the Metropolitan Police Service, Greater Manchester Police, London Ambulance Service, North West Ambulance Service, London Fire Brigade, British Transport Police and the RNLI.
The award was given in recognition of the emergency services’ heroism and dedication to protecting the safety & health of people living in the UK.
Last week, we were pleased to receive a new portable helicopter landing site lighting system, made possible thanks to funding from the HELP Appeal. The new HEMS-Star portable lighting set costs nearly £9000 and will be an essential resource for our helicopter crews. It is designed for rapid deployment to provide safe and effective marking at designated or ad-hoc helicopter landing sites.
What happens when you put our medical crew, operational staff, CEO, ex-patient and supporters in a tent in the desert to compete in the “toughest footrace on earth”? It’s only four months until we find out.
A team of London’s Air Ambulance employees and supporters are now preparing for April 2018, when they will tackle the epic 250km Marathon des Sables (MdS). Lasting six days, this race was described by Sir Ranulph Fiennes as the hardest thing he has ever done.
New research undertaken with London’s Air Ambulance has shown that the time taken to reach a critically injured patient in London can be cut in half by driving with warning lights, sirens and traffic rule exemptions (blue light driving) in a rapid response vehicle.
The research, authored by Marius Rehn, Gareth Davies, Paul Smith and David Lockey is published today in the Emergency Medical Journal.
Last night saw the Air Ambulance community come together for the Association of Air Ambulance’s Awards of Excellence at the Millennium Chelsea Harbour Hotel. London’s Air Ambulance was nominated in five categories at this celebration of the dedication and hard work behind the community’s life-saving operations, and we were humbled to have taken home three awards.
Tonight the Association of Air Ambulances hosts their annual Awards of Excellence, celebrating the incredible work done within the Air Ambulance community. This year, we’ve been delighted to have four staff members nominated for individual awards, as well as an additional nomination in the Special Incident category for our team’s response to the London Bridge attack. Here, we shine a spotlight on the individuals nominated.
Frank Chege — Charity Staff Member of the Year
