Funding turbulence ahead

● Cash could be an issue as ambulance takes off into virus headwinds, reports Alastair Gossip

The head fundraiser of Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance (SCAA) has admitted coronavirus poses a “challenge” to the ongoing operation of the new Aberdeen helimed.

As excitement builds towards the launch of the new aircraft, which will be put into active service tomorrow, charity bosses have been left to overcome one problem: How to raise money to keep it in the air.

As with scores of charities up and down the country, SCAA has been hit hard by the government measures put in place to stop the spread of the virus – and still has to find a way of raising around £3 million.

A total of £6m is needed to cover setting up the Aberdeen base and the first three years of operations. That is on top of costs of maintaining SCAA’s Perth-based copter, which has been in service since 2013.

“I don’t want to really say we are not in dire straits but I don’t want to say we are desperate,” SCAA fundraising director Nick Harvey said.

“We could see air ambulances potentially come under more demand in the coming months so we want to make sure we are there.

“What’s quite critical to understand is our responsibility is to ensure the ongoing operations and sustainability of the charity.

“It will cost us £4m a year to operate the two helicopters, serving the whole of Scotland. For us this is about ensuring that we have a pipeline of support coming through: not just today and tomorrow but next year and the year after too.”

The charity had been encouraging volunteers to raise sponsorship through events such as Run Balmoral, the Kiltwalk and the Etape Caledonia cycle.

Meanwhile SCAA received nearviral success online through a scheme taking advantage of cash incentives for recycling crisp packets.

Unfortunately, because of Covid-19 these have been postponed, put on hold or cancelled, leaving the charity – which receives no government funding – at a loss.

Mr Harvey added: “The cancellation of all this presents a massive loss of income for us, a charity which relies entirely on public donations, and our current challenge is to sustain ourselves when the vast majority of our activities have been suspended.

“So we are working hard to develop other ways for people to contribute including our life-saving lottery, which costs only £1 a week to play.

“Regular giving is another way that will hopefully see the community giving whatever they can afford.

“That’s the area we are really focusing on now and will into the future because the digital space on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram are places people arguably have a little more time to spend just now, so we are reacting to what is going on.

“But we understand many families face their own challenges at the moment as money is limited and the priority will always be taking care of your own loved ones,” he admitted.

“We would simply ask that if you value the work we do, and you have the means to support us, please consider donating to SCAA.

“What we were absolutely wedded to through all of this was the service going live tomorrow, providing that extra depth of emergency health response across the whole of Scotland.”

The new Helimed 79 will be tasked with helping some of the country’s most severely injured and poorly patients – and its impact will particularly be felt in the north-east.

With the nature of the roads leading to some rural parts of the region, and the distance to the major trauma centre at Foresterhill in Aberdeen, experts predict the copter will make a life-saving impact locally.

But its crew will be called upon by the Scottish Ambulance Service to aid casualties all over Scotland.

READY FOR TAKE-OFF: But many of Nick Harvey’s fundraising schemes have had to be called off because of Covid-19