“I needed the specialist training and equipment that only the air ambulance has. It is very costly to get this level of expertise to the scene of accidents and medical emergencies like mine and it is not paid for by the government or the NHS”
When heart attack victim Mark Metcalfe (54) collapsed at home, your local air ambulance was deployed with a Critical Care Crew to give Mark the very best chance of survival.
It took the helicopter just 14 minutes to fly from its base at East Midlands Airport and land near the bungalow where Mark was being treated by paramedics.
Mark’s partner Carol Moore had called the emergency services when she discovered Mark lying unconscious on the bathroom floor. She says: “I dialled 999 and went into robot mode. I have been trained and knew how to do CPR. I dragged Mark onto his back and did chest compressions frantically for about ten minutes, which felt like a lifetime. I was hysterical but I kept going and eventually I could hear sirens in the distance.”
The clinicians who arrived at the scene knew Mark’s best chance of recovery was to be anaesthetised before being transferred to the nearest specialist cardiology hospital, a procedure which can only be performed by a specially trained critical care doctor, so they called for the assistance of the air ambulance.
The air ambulance crew put Mark into an induced coma and discussed his condition with the cardiac team at the hospital before continuing with advanced critical care during his emergency transfer.
On arrival at the hospital the air ambulance crew handed Mark over to the surgical team who later discovered that Mark’s heart attack had been caused by a blood clot that had blocked his main artery.
Mark says: “I needed the specialist training and equipment that only the air ambulance has. It is very costly to get this level of expertise to the scene of accidents and medical emergencies like mine and it is not paid for by the government or the NHS. The air ambulance is solely run from public donations – that’s me and you! Please help to keep this service in the air.”
Our critical care paramedics and doctors are all trained to the very highest level. But the truth is – they can’t save lives without the backing of people like you. So please give what you can today.
Your local air ambulance can give lifesaving interventions that would normally only be delivered once a patient has reached hospital. Most recently, and probably most significantly, is the introduction of blood products to our service. Our critical care crew can now give blood on scene, be it in a patient’s own home or on the roadside, this gives patients the best chance of survival. In addition to this they carry a wide range of medical drugs, and can perform some out of hospital surgical procedures, all with the aim of saving lives.
Each rescue mission costs over £2,300, but your donation today, whatever the amount, will ensure we help more people like Mark. Thank you.
