Ambucopter in the swing for Rasen Rotary cash

This year was the ninth time the event had been held; the last seven have been in support of the Ambucopter.

For the first time, members of the Rotary Club of Lincoln assisted at the event and together the club has netted £3,560 for the charity, bringing the total raised over the past seven years to more than £19,000.

Representatives from the two clubs went along to the Waddington base to make the presentation, on what would prove to be the Ambucopter’s busiest day.

“We convened for the presentation, scheduled for 2pm, and saw G-LNAC take off to come and join us on the other side of the road - only to see it shoot off to the south, to an RTA near Bourne,” said Rotarian David Mason.

He added: “We hung around and finally managed to see the helicopter, meet the crew and get a quick snap of the presentation, before they headed off again.”

In fact, the charity’s new AW169 helicopter was called out to five life-threatening emergencies across Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire that day.

Paramedic Neil Clarke said: “Thanks to the greater endurance of our new helicopter, we were able to respond to five serious, possibly life-threatening, incidents - above our daily average of three missions.

He said: “Our crew worked alongside the land ambulance crews, delivering advanced procedures and pain relief, as well as delivering a doctor to the scene within minutes of the call coming in, increasing the patient’s chances of survival.”

On average, the Ambucopter responds to three calls each day and transports the equivalent of an A&E department to the scene of the incident or accident, giving some of the most seriously injured people their best chance of survival possible.

Lincolnshire Fundraising Manager, Emma Thorpe, said: “On average its costs £2,500 every time the Ambucopter is called dispatched to a life-threatening 999 call.

“With around 1,000 missions every year this means we have to raise £2.5million just to keep the helicopter operational.

She added: “As the organisation receives no direct Government or National Lottery funding, donations such as those from the Rotary Clubs are vital to ensure we can continue saving lives in Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire every year.”

Home base

The Helicopter Emergency Medical Service is based on a purpose-built site at RAF Waddington. It has five crew (two pilots, two paramedics and one doctor).

Missions

Since its flying operations began in 1994, the Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance has been called upon for more than 18,300 missions.

Help save a life

There are many ways to help Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance; to find out more, or to make a donation, visit www.ambucopter.org.uk