London Air Ambulance has recently launched an urgent fundraising campaign in order to replace its two helicopters as soon as possible. The air ambulance service receives 89% of its funding from public donations and today launches the Up Against Time campaign. The charity revealed that they need to raise 15 million British pounds by 2024 to replace both planes, which are becoming increasingly difficult to maintain.
The Effort to Raise Funds for the Air Ambulance Cause
Throughout the morning, volunteers, staff, and off-duty crew from across the organization will collect donations on the streets of London. They also stated that they intend to raise awareness by releasing new polling data as part of the campaign launch, citing research that found only 38% of Londoners are aware that the service is primarily funded by public donations. This comes after 36% said they believe the service is funded by the NHS or the government.
However, the organization stated that part of its role is to get medics to the scene as quickly as possible so that they can provide complex treatment to critically injured patients with life-threatening or life-changing injuries who do not have time to return to the hospital.
A Look into the Necessity
Last year, London Air Ambulance assisted 1,714 patients on the scene or five per day on average. “When patients are so seriously injured that there is no time to get to the hospital, our medics provide life-saving treatment at the scene, such as open chest surgery and blood transfusions,” Dr. Hurst explained. “But we’re a charity, and we wouldn’t be able to reach our patients in time to help them if it weren’t for public support. We have an urgent need to replace our helicopter fleet right now because the current helicopters are becoming increasingly difficult to maintain.” We can only continue to serve all those who live and work in London when they need us the most if the public supports us,” added Dr. Hurst.
