Farmers to fight for Air Ambulance

FARMERS in Kerry are to hoping to play a part in saving the cash-strapped air ambulance service, which they say is vital to the county.

In early January the Rathcoole-based Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS), which serves the Munster region, warned that they would have to ground the service due to a lack of funds. Though they have not done this, they have cut the service from seven days a week to five days a week.

The emergency medical service has a €400,000 deficit.

The cut-backs come just over six months after the service went live with a target of 500 missions a year – a target it was well on course to reach given it has been tasked to help save lives on more than 277 occasions up to last Friday.

Although the National Ambulance Service (NAS) provides medical staff and coordinates the missions, the charity needs €2million-a-year to fund the helicopters, pilots, fuel and its airbase, which come through fundraising.

Much of the costs are associated with fuel due to the duration of flights.

Since its inception it has been tasked to a number of medical emergencies in Kerry, including one recently in the Firies region.

The rural nature of Kerry means that this HEMS service is vital.

TD Danny Healy-Rae and his son, Cllr Johnny Healy-Rae, have met with farmers on the election campaign who want to help save the service for Kerry. The farmers, who are members of Kerry Co-Op and the IFA, are hoping to use their membership of these organisations to help raise funds for the service.

“The farmers want to help get the service over the current hump,” said Deputy Healy-Rae.

“This is of utmost importance to Kerry given its rural geography. Everyone running in this election must pledge their support to the service. It is not a back-up service, it is vital and we must support [it],” he said.

The team behind HEMS met with Health Minister Simon Harris to discuss the funding shortfall. He advised them to contact the National Ambulance Service (NAS) for funding, but they cannot provide the shortfall, leaving the future of the service in jeopardy.