This year, the Thames Valley & Chiltern Air Ambulance was chosen as the recipient organisation, and events led by Joy Bull, Kathryn Robson and Beth Lang raised £1,504 for the charity.
The Thames Valley & Chiltern Air Ambulance is funded entirely by charitable donations, and receives no government funding. Since it was established in 1999, the Air Ambulance has flown over 15,000 missions, each of which costs £2,500. The anticipated cost of sustaining the service is approximately £2m per annum.
The distinctive red and yellow Thames Valley & Chiltern Air Ambulance is a familiar sight at the John Radcliffe Hospital site where the WIMM is located, and staff were keen to support a charity which provides such an invaluable service to the local community. The Air Ambulance specializes in responding to emergency calls where patients are injured in otherwise inaccessible locations, or in circumstances where an extremely rapid response is essential to the patient’s survival.
Derek Smith, a volunteer at the charity, came to the WIMM to accept a cheque from Joy Bull and Kathryn Robson on behalf of the Institute. He said: ‘We really are so grateful. Thanks to people’s generosity we will be able to upgrade our aircraft next year so we will also be able to carry out operations at night. We are so lucky that people are so generous.’
If you would like to find out more about the Thames Valley & Chiltern Ambulance, and to find out how to donate, please visit: http://tvacaa.org