Generosity keeps us flying

Dear Editor As we approach the close of another busy year for Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance (SCAA), I and the crew want to thank the people in this area who continue to raise vital funds to keep this unique service in the air.

Throughout 2016, we have been honoured to deliver paramedic care and provide rapid transport in your name to those seriously ill or injured anywhere in Scotland.

Helimed 76 is now flying huge distances as far as the northern island of Sanday to the rural Borders in the south and from the east coast to the remote Western Isles.

SCAA – fuelled by your giving – has flown vital help to the heart of communities everywhere.

The crew has fully utilised our upgraded aircraft that came into service just over a year ago, responding to almost 400 emergency call outs in this year alone.

We have also been able to make valuable use of the extra seat on board to carry parents, guardians or escorts with our patients, providing great comfort to both family and friends of those being transported.

None of this would have been possible without your continued support.

Many of our patients have gone on to raise money for SCAA so that they too can help someone else in similar circumstances.

SCAA’s professional and expert crew can provide the frontline time-critical response that will continue flying help and hope across Scotland – but it is the people in every family, community and every region of this country that will ensure we stay in the air.

Your continued invaluable contributions funds this amazing charity and will fuel it into the future, so that myself and the crew of Helimed 76 can continue to be there for those most in need. John Pritchard MBE MCPara, Lead Aircrew Paramedic Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance (SCAA)