London’s Air Ambulance Charity appeal receives major funding boost

London’s Air Ambulance Charity has received a major funding boost for its Saving Time, Saving Lives appeal, bringing the amount raised to almost double its target. The charity has received £250k from the HELP Appeal, a charity dedicated to funding hospital and air ambulance helipads, and £1.4million from the Department of Health and Social Care for the appeal to raise funds for the redevelopment of its helipad base. The fundraising appeal launched at the start of this year as London’s Air Ambulance Charity marked its 30th anniversary with the campaign 30 Years Saving Lives. The Saving Time Saving Lives appeal aimed to raise at least £1million to redevelop the team’s helipad base at The Royal London Hospital to enable the medics to respond even faster, improve training and ensure crews have the facilities they need for their mental health and well-being. Robert Bertram, Chief Executive of the HELP Appeal said: “After visiting London’s Air Ambulance’s helipad base, it was clear that improvements were urgently needed to provide far better and more suitable facilities for the doctors, paramedics and pilots who are involved in highly stressful situations on a daily basis. We are proud that we are able to help them create a state-of-the-art facility that will also enable crews to reach critically ill patients even more quickly, helping to save more lives.” The money will go towards providing: A ready crew room placed closer to the aircraft for faster dispatch A space for crews to find respite, deliver peer-to-peer support and debrief critical missions. This would also be used for patient and family visits Education and training facilities Rest accommodation for frontline staff New storage space to accommodate additional medical and major incident response equipment. Louise Robertshaw, Director of Fundraising and Marketing at London’s Air Ambulance Charity said:  “We had an ambitious target to raise £1million during our 30th anniversary, and are delighted that the generous support from the HELP Appeal and the DHSC has meant we have almost doubled the amount we can use for redevelopment of our operational space. The money will enable our teams to continue to provide world-class rapid response care, every second of every day, and help find the next clinical developments to create the next generation of survivors.”        

from UK Fundraising https://ift.tt/2ZjIvS0