London's Air Ambulance The View magazine 2015

Insight from our Chief Pilot

Volunteer with us

Hear from our patients

ILDN

TheViewLondon's Air Ambulance Supporter Magazine Issue 2 - 2015

Registered charity number 801013

Your London,Your HelicopterRead the latest on our vital 2nd helicopter campaign

LAA View Magazine 12pp #2.qxp_Layout 1 16/06/2015 16:49 Page 2

Welcome 3

News and achievements 4

‘Your London, Your Helicopter’ 6

Our Chief Pilot’s view 8

Jacqueline’s story 9

Volunteer spotlight 10

Sally’s story 11

In 2014 our advancedtrauma doctors andparamedics treated

1806 PATIENTS

MECHANISM OF INJURY603 Road Traffic Collisions480 Falls from Height434 Stabbings & Shootings289 Other (including rail incidents, industrial accidents & drownings)

2014 Mission Map

Havering36Redbridge40

Enfield69Barnet55

Haringey66

WalthamForest57

Hillingdon82 Ealing67

Hounslow9

Richmondupon Thames45

Barking &Dagenham44

Kingston19

Sutton21

Merton17

Lambeth93Wandsworth41

Kensington& Chelsea43

Southwark47

Lewisham66

Greenwich55Bexley31

Croydon66

Bromley56

OutsideLondon30

Harrow32Brent55 Camden51

Westminster 120Hammersmith

& Fulham 38

Islington45 Newham76Hackney101

TowerHamlets104

Visit us: londonsairambulance.co.uk

City OfLondon 29

2

In this issue


I’m delighted to welcome you to thelatest issue of The View. As oursupporters, you are an integral part ofthe London's Air Ambulance family andyou are helping us to serve the people ofLondon and save lives on our city’sstreets every single day. Thank you.

I hope you enjoy readingabout our recentachievements and theimpact we have onthe lives of thepeople we arecalled out to help,and their families.We believe that ourwork is compelling

but we know we coulddo even more with a

second helicopter.

London only has one emergency medical helicopter. Withthat single aircraft we are currently serving a population ofover 10 million people within the boundary of the M25.

With a second helicopter available and by extending ourdaylight flying hours to sunset each day in the summermonths, we will be able to reach an estimated 400 morepatients a year by helicopter, simply the most efficientway to deliver our life-saving team. It will also give us fargreater resilience during maintenance periods and MajorIncidents. It is so important to us and therefore toLondon to make our second helicopter a reality.

Thank you for your continued support; our service simplywouldn’t be there without you.

Graham Hodgkin

CEOLondon’s Air Ambulance

As doctors, we see first-hand thedifference that supporters of London'sAir Ambulance make on the streets ofLondon every day. Knowing that it isthe support of the London communitythat enables us to get our advancedtrauma team to the side of seriouslyinjured people is humbling.

We constantly strive to pushthe boundaries of pre-hospital care and tosave even more lives.London's AirAmbulance is aleader in thedevelopment andpractice or pre-hospital care in the UKand abroad.

I have been part of thisorganisation for over 20 years. Ithas been a tough but enjoyable journey.

Thank you to all our supporters, without you we wouldn’tbe able to rise to the challenges of our job.

Dr Gareth Davies

Medical Director

London's Air Ambulance

All content © London’s Air AmbulanceDesign: David Sheppard at Proworx : : Proworx.co.uk

3

WelcomeLAA View Magazine 12pp #2.qxp_Layout 1 16/06/2015 16:49 Page 4

4

5km FamilyChallengeraises £20,000In March, 70 teams took to thestreets of London to take part inthe Tower Powerhouses 5kmFamily Challenge to raise moneyfor London's Air Ambulanceand Historic Royal Palaces.

This event was the first of its kind for us and was a

huge success. Thank you to everyone who took part.

Teams started off at the Tower of London, where they

collected their first clue and set off on their 5km walk

around the City, searching for clues and answers to

uncover facts about the history of London.

A special thank you goes to all our fantastic volunteers

who helped out on the day, we couldn’t have done it

without you. The atmosphere was great and everyone

really enjoyed the day.

A revolutionary new mobile app andEE’s 4G network are helpingLondon’s Air Ambulance save livesby reducing the time it takes todispatch the charity’s advancedtrauma teams by up to two minutes.

This app is the first of its kind, developed by EE’sCustomised Apps partner Mubaloo and is optimisedto run on EE’s 4G network. The app increasesemergency dispatch efficiency by automatically

providing key incidentinformation and real-timenavigation to our traumateams on the move.The app helps us toreach patients quickerthan ever before andcould help save thelives of hundreds ofcritically injured patientsacross the Capital each year.

Over the lastyear we have achieved

so much with your support.Whether you’ve played our

lottery, donated, volunteered, orgot involved in another way,you’ve joined together with

thousands of our supportersto be part of London's AirAmbulance’s life-saving

service.

LIFE-SAVING DISPATCH APP LAUNCHED WITH EE

“This is one ofthe best charity

events we have done. Itwas my seven year old,

Joshua’s, first one and heabsolutely loved it”

Sue Kirby,event participant

News and


5

On average the charity is called fivetimes a day to deliver its life-savingmedical interventions to peoplecritically injured in the Capital.

Many of these patients are suffering from catastrophic

bleeding. Tragically some die at the scene as a result of

their severe blood loss and never make it to hospital.

London’s Air Ambulance has performed the world’s first

roadside balloon surgery to control internal bleeding. Use

of pre-hospital Resuscitative Endovascular Balloon

Occlusion of the Aorta (REBOA) to control haemorrhage in

trauma patients was a ground breaking move. London’s Air

Ambulance can now potentially perform REBOA on

patients suffering severe pelvic haemorrhage, an injury

most commonly associated with cycling incidents and falls

from height.

In May our new shop at The RoyalLondon Hospital, Whitechapel,was opened by Trevor Payne,Director of Estates and Facilitiesat Barts Health NHS Trust andJames Maxwell, Senior ProjectManager at Parkeray.

If you’re in the area pop along for a visit and have a chat

with our fantastic volunteers working there.

The shop sells a variety of London's AirAmbulance merchandise, including;

Toy helicopter £14 - a great gift that children will love.

Mug £6 - nothing beats a nice cuppa in your favourite mug.

Wristbands £1.50 - show your support for London’s Air

Ambulance at pocket money prices.

If you can’t make it to the shop you can buy any of these

items by contacting Christine, Community

Partnerships Manager on 020 7220 5494 or at

[email protected]

(postage charges will apply). Shop opening times vary,

please contact Christine to check the latest.

Following the success of last year’s event, we will be holding our ChristmasCarol Service on Monday 14th December at St. Andrew Holborn Church.More information will be available soon. Please keep an eye on our website.

Christmas Carol Service

World’s first pre-hospital REBOAprocedure performed

SAVE

THE

DATE

achievements

Supp

ort

Lond

on’s

Air A

mbu

lanc

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Adva

nced

Trau

ma

Team

pororp

New Shop Launch


6

London's Air Ambulancedelivers an advanced traumateam to critically injuredpeople in London 24/7, using ahelicopter by day and rapidresponse cars at night or inadverse weather conditions.The team, which at all times includes an advanced trauma

doctor and paramedic, perform advanced medical

interventions, normally only found in a hospital Emergency

Department, in time critical, life threatening situations.

We want to make sure we can get to our patients as quickly

as possible. When we are able to fly we can get to our

patients up to eight times faster than in a rapid response car.

We want to be able to do this every day, every daylight hour

possible. To do this, we need a second helicopter.

The cost of acquiring and sustaining a second helicopter and

extending our daylight flying hours over five years is £6 million.

Last year the charity was awarded £1 million from the

LIBOR fund by Chancellor George Osborne. The ‘Your

London, Your Helicopter’ campaign was launched to raise

the remaining funds.

In March this year we were thrilled

to announce that the London

Freemasons pledged a

£2 million donation

towards our second

emergency medical

helicopter. We are

calling on the

people and

organisations of

London to join

together in owning

the solution to

London’s vital need for

a second helicopter.

“Standingon the London’sAir Ambulance

helipad, it struck methat the single red

helicopter in front ofme might be the

difference betweensomebody living or

dying that day.”

Twiggy

Fuselage & Skids

£1,000,000

1 Tail

£2,000,000

2 Engines & Nose

£3,000,000

3 4

We’re over half way there Thank you to everyone who has already donated to

‘Your London, Your Helicopter’. With your help, we

have raised £3,888,537 (latest figure at time of

going to print). We’re overwhelmed by our

supporters’ generosity, we still have a way to go

but with your help we can cross the finish line.

‘Your London, Y ILDN


7

0

Rotors

£4,000,000

4 Medical Kit

£5,000,000

5 Livery

£6,000,000

6

Help us spread the wordWe’ve had some famous faces supporting the campaign,

including London born supermodel Twiggy, who said:

“I love London. I grew up in North West London and now

live in Kensington. I was shocked to find out that London

only has one helicopter for life-threatening medical

emergencies. When I learnt London’s Air Ambulance

needed to raise money for a second helicopter, I wanted to

help this life-saving charity in any way I can.”

“Standing on the London’s Air Ambulance helipad, it struck

me that the single red helicopter in front of me might be

the difference between somebody living or dying that day.

It could be me, you, or one of our beloved friends or family

that one day need their help”.

Please make a donation today,whether £5 or £500. It couldn’tbe easier; text HELICOPTER to70800 to donate £5 or visityourhelicopter.london. Everypound will take us a stepcloser to making a secondhelicopter for London a reality.

DONATE TODAY

Your Helicopter’

You can alsosupport the

campaign by tellingyour friends and family

about it, following us andsharing our posts on

Facebook and Twitter,please use

#YourHelicopter


I’m Neil Jeffers, I’ve been a pilot atLondon's Air Ambulance since 2005. Iwanted to join because being part ofemergency services is a greatprivilege. Flying and landing in thecentre of London, which is a greatcity, was an added bonus. Now, afterten years, my heart is very much here,I wouldn’t want to do any other job.

When we get taskedto a patient by theparamedic atLondon's AmbulanceServiceheadquarters, thealarm goes on thehelipad. The Co-pilot makes his wayto the ops room topick up the iPad,his helmet and aradio. He identifiesthe job on the

iPad and talks to the ambulancecontrol service to say he’s received it, then makes his wayto the aircraft. As that is happening the Captain, the Doctorand the Paramedic are making their way up to the aircraft,strapping into the aircraft and starting both the engines,with the fire crew monitoring the start of the aircraft. Wehave final checks between the Captain and Co-pilot, thefire crew will secure the aircraft and then we’re off to thejob as quick as we can. That all takes less than four

minutes. Before the aircraft has even lifted we will tell airtraffic control where we’re going. We’re granted priority

over every other aircraft in the airspace. So they will

literally clear a way for us to fly in a direct line at 150 milesan hour to get to where we need to go.

Minutes count for our patients, that’s absolutely what it’sall about. Every single thing we do is about our patientsand the best way we can help them. We strive forperfection at all times. Ultimately what I aim to do is get tothe aircraft and get it airborne efficiently, land in the safest,most appropriate place and get the medical team as closeto the patient as quickly as possible. The average flight

time for last year was 6.7 minutes, which is up to eighttimes faster than by rapid response car.

Having a second helicopter would be a huge benefit;we could reach more people in the most time-efficientway. I have been working with helicopters for manyyears, they’re complicated machines and their safety isparamount, therefore they need a lot of maintenance.Every time our single aircraft is on the ground gettinglooked at by engineers, is time that we are not in the air.A second helicopter will mean we can reach ourpatients more often by air.

London’s Air Ambulance is a charity that operates

24hrs a day. We are here for anyone who has beentraumatically injured. We take the hospital to ourpatients, performing procedures at theroadside withinminutes of injury.A lot of the peoplewe go to are justin the wrong placeat the wrong time.

8

Our ChiefPilot’s View

It couldbe any ofus, at anymoment.


9

“I looked left and right, stepped intothe road and… was hit by a bus.”Jacqueline sustained a lifethreatening head injury on her wayhome from work and was fighting forlife on the roadside.

She needed advanced medical care immediately. It was6pm and London’s streets were buzzing with rush hourtraffic. At that moment, it was only London’s AirAmbulance and its one helicopter that could saveJacqueline and give her the best chance of avoidingdisability and a life of complete dependence on others.

“I am so grateful. Without a doubt, that was my saving,”says Jacqueline. London’s Air Ambulance was byJacqueline’s side in minutes. The team intubated her onthe roadside and airlifted her to The Royal LondonHospital. The fight for her life continued as she spent thenight in an operating theatre.

Meanwhile, the MET Police, for whom Jacquelinevolunteered as a Special

Constable, was searchingLondon in an attempt tofind Jacqueline’s familyand give them theopportunity to saygood bye. Thedoctors did notexpect Jacqueline tolive much longer.

“You just don’t expect it to happen to you. Not to you,”reflects Jacqueline’s mum. “The bell ringing and twopolicemen standing on your doorstep. Like you see iton TV. The police drove me to The Royal LondonHospital on blue lights. The point was to get me toJacqueline because they did not expect her to make it.The reason why my daughter is still alive and why she isdoing so well is the speed and quality of care. London’sAir Ambulance was crucial, so was the NHS and thepolice were fantastic.”

“I have narrowly escaped death and the doctors did notbelieve that I would ever walk or talk again. I now liveindependently and regularly give talks at universities tohelp students of psychiatry understand head injury. Beforemy accident, I was working for the local council helpingyoung people with alcohol and drug problems. I might notbe able to return to my job but I can walk, talk, enjoy lifeand I can continue helping others,” says Jacqueline.

“What would I say to all those who support London’s AirAmbulance or are considering a donation? Your donationsreally are saving lives. It helped save mine and gave methe best possible second chance in life. Thank you.”

“You justdon’t expect it to

happen to you. Notto you.”

Jacqueline’s mum

“What would Isay to all those whosupport London’s Air

Ambulance or areconsidering a donation? Your

donations really are savinglives. It helped save mine and

gave me the best possiblesecond chance in life.

Thank you.”Jacqueline

Jacqueline’s story


Joan began volunteeringwith London’s AirAmbulance in August 2014and regularly volunteers inour office each week.She first became a supporter of London's Air Ambulancearound three years ago when she signed up to play ourLottery after meeting one of our canvassers inUpminster. She decided to support the charity becauseshe felt that she could see where her money was goingand that it would make a real impact.

As a supporter of London's Air Ambulance she receivedthe first edition of The View magazine in 2014 and thiswas where she first heard about volunteering. “I didn’trealise all the different types of volunteering opportunitiesso had never really considered it before. But then I heardthat there might be some opportunities within the charityoffice and thought this would be something I’d enjoy.”

Having recently retired she felt that volunteering could bea good way of meeting new people and helping aworthwhile cause. So she contacted the office and cameto meet Hayley, the Volunteer Manager, to discuss howshe could get involved.

Joan already had excellent administrative skills afterworking for her local council for many years and theyhave been put to good use within our CommunityFundraising Team.

Joan is responsible forthanking individualsand communitygroups who spendtheir time tirelesslyfundraising for us andshe enjoys seeing all thedifferent ways that peoplework together to support the charity.

“I enjoy coming into the office each week and really feelpart of the team. Everyone here is so committed andpassionate about their work and it’s obvious to me thateveryone cares so much about the Charity. I feel like mycontribution makes a difference and I have learnt a lotabout how a charity works. I would definitely recommendvolunteering to anyone thinking about ways to supportLondon’s Air Ambulance as donating your time is a greatway of contributing.”

If, like Joan, you have some spare time and wish to getinvolved in volunteering for London’s Air Ambulance, wehave a range of roles to suit different skills and availability.Whether it is helping in our office or shop, or helping tocoordinate collection boxes in your local area, there issomething for everyone.

Please visit londonsairambulance.co.uk

or contact Hayley on 020 7220 5496 or

[email protected]

for further details.

10

Spotlight

This issue,the Spotlight ison Joan, ourCommunity

Fundraising OfficeVolunteer “Everyone here

is so committed andpassionate about theirwork and it’s obvious tome that everyone cares

so much about thecharity.”

Joan


Sally and her son Franklin recentlyvisited London's Air Ambulancehelipad at The Royal LondonHospital. Franklin is 16 years old andstudying for his GCSEs, he plans togo on to do A-levels. He’s a strong, fitteenager who does boxing training inhis spare time. He has his wholefuture ahead of him.

But it could have been a very different story if it wasn’tfor the speed and expertise of London's Air Ambulance,who attended a tragic accident 15 years ago, whenFranklin was just 15 months old. Sally shares their story.

“Unfortunately the bath was left running. Being a veryinquisitive, intelligent little boy, Franklin climbed into it. Igot to him within seconds and pulled him out but thewater was so hot, he was screaming and screaming. Thefirst thing of course was to ring 999, the lady talked to us,going through what to do. The first person to arrive was alocal paramedic in the car and then I overheard him saythat the air ambulance was on its way.”

“Franklin had suffered 60% third degree burns. When theadvanced trauma doctor and paramedic from London'sAir Ambulance arrived the priority was pain relief andrehydration. Children with burns lose fluid much fasterthan adults. There was a high risk that Franklin would gointo shock and die. He was rushed to the nearest

specialist burns unit at theChelsea & Westminster Hospital.I travelled in the helicopter withhim; I’m petrified of heights butmy mind was so focussed onsaving Franklin and I didn’t want himto be alone. He was taken into surgeryimmediately and later transferred to the paediatricintensive care unit at St George’s Hospital, he spent threemonths there, the first two in intensive care.”

“It was a really tough time, I just cut everything out of mylife and focussed on Franklin. It’s been a rocky journey buthe’s come through it, he’s extremely strong willed, he hasthe mental strength as well as physical.”

“Ever since Franklin’s accident I’ve always done things tosupport the charity. I was out shopping one day andsomeone was there promoting the London's AirAmbulance Lottery. Of course I immediately signed up,it’s such an easy way to regularly give to a fantasticcause. It’s so amazing we have this service but when Ifound out there is only one helicopter for the whole ofLondon, I was shocked, I thought there were half adozen of them flying about.”

“We were lucky the helicopter was available; I trulybelieve it was the treatment they gave Franklin on thescene and being able to get him to the right place soquickly that saved him. And that day they didn’t just saveFranklin, they saved all of us.”

Thank you to all our existing lottery supporters, your support helps us to sustain ourlife-saving work. The lottery is a fun way to support our charity.

For just £1 a week you have the chance of winning our weekly top prize of £1000.If you or anyone you know would like to join please visit londonsairambulance.co.uk/lotteryand sign up today. If you have any queries please email [email protected]

or call Jackie on 020 7220 5478 (9am-5pm. Mon-Fri)

11

Sally’s story

“Ever sinceFranklin’s

accident I’vealways done things

to support thecharity.”

Sally


@LDNairamb

London’s Air Ambulance

visit londonsairambulance.co.uk

Registered Charity London’s Air Ambulance is the registered charity that delivers anadvanced trauma team to critically injured people in London. Registered Charity (801013).

Help us continue to save lives across London: • Fundraise in your local community • Remember us in your Will

• Become a Regular Giver • Become a Corporate Partner

• Take part in an event • Be a Volunteer

• Give a gift in memory of a loved one • Join our lottery

We need your support.We hope you neverneed ours.

To get involved and find out more visit londonsairambulance.co.uk/support-us or call: 020 7220 5470 Thank you

SupportLondon’s AirAmbulance


Documents

London's Air Ambulance The View magazine 2015