Interact Club spearhead campaign for helipads
IVESHEAD School Interact Club is spearheading a campaign to collect aluminium cans to build “Demountable Aluminium Helipads” at both Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham and Leicester Royal Infirmary - the two busiest A&E departments in the Midlands without Helipads.
The charity ‘Helipads for Hospitals’ is trying to collect one million cans for each helipad. The cans are melted down and then that is used to create the helipads
The club has been supported by Shepshed Cricket Club, Shepshed Bowls Club, Shepshed Lions, Shepshed Rotary Club and The Fennell Street Club in Loughborough.
Now the project has been given permission by Shepshed Town Council to site a large red bin with a can crusher attached on the Glenmore Park car park in
Shepshed, situated next to the Yellow Air Ambulance Used Clothing Bin.
Interact Club spokesman Ngaire Hall said that providing the helipads could help to save
lives by cutting the time it takes to get patients medical help.
“At the Leicester Royal Infir- mary, the Helicopter lands in Nelson Mandela Park, and the patient has to be offloaded into an Ambulance.
“At the Queens Medical A&E, which is a Major Trauma Unit, the Air Ambulance Helicopters have been landing across the Dual Carriageway in the grounds of Nottingham University, and are also offloaded into an Ambulance.
“The provision of helipads would save valuable time at each location.
“We are hoping, to have the bin in position before Remembrance Sunday, so the people of Shepshed will hopefully notice it on their way to the Glenmore Park Remembrance Service, on November 11.”
Several thousand cans have already been collected and if people have cans they have collected then once they have a black bin liner full they can contact Rotary President Robert Hall on 01509 842643.