Midlands Air Ambulance launches lottery
A LIFE-SAVING service has launched a new scheme to help fund thousands of mercy missions every year.
Midlands Air Ambulance, a charity which funds and operates three Midlands-based helicopters, has introduced a new prize-giving lottery.
The service, which is based at Cosford, Strensham and Tatenhill air bases, is one of the UK’s busiest air ambulance operators and attends more than 3,000 incidents across the region each year.
Annual running costs for the service, including pilots, crews, flight doctors and maintenance, stands at £5.7 million and the charity relies on solely on public and business donations.
For a £1 stake in the new weekly lottery scheme, people can now help the charity save lives and be in with a chance of winning up to £1,000 in the weekly prize draws.
Air Ambulance area fundraising manager Jason Levy said: “We are totally reliant on the generosity of the public and business community to fund our operations so this new lottery will make a direct and vital contribution to saving lives.”
The service has attended more than 30,000 emergencies since it was founded in 1991, and it is now one of the longest-established air ambulance organisations in the UK.
In the last 10 months alone, the service has attended more than 1,000 road traffic accidents, 175 industrial accidents, completed 100 emergency hospital transfers and airlifted 188 children.
The charity’s three helicopters carry out on average five flying missions a day, at a cost of £500 per take off and £25 per minute spent in the air.
The service does not receive any funding from the Government or the National Lottery, and relies on fundraising drives to cover its costs.
From this week, Midlands Air Ambulance Lottery officers have been calling on members of the public to ask for their support.
“We have been delighted with the fantastic response so far from people,” a charity spokesman said. “More than 200 people have signed up in Birmingham. From airlifting severely ill children to hospital, to attending road traffic accidents across the region as well as dealing with sports injuries, the Midlands Air Ambulance is a worthwhile charity and a cause which affects everyone.”
The maximum flying time on board an air ambulance to hospital from anywhere in the region is les than 15 minutes.
If a patient reaches hospital within 60 minutes of injury, their chances of survival are dramatically increased.
* For more information, visit www.midlandsairambulance.com
