Rotary donation to KSS Air Ambulance

Earlier this year a group of Rotarians from the club visited the KSS Air Ambulance at their base at Redhill Aerodrome.

The purpose of this visit was to donate £3000 from President Gordons Rotary Charity during his presidential Year.

The Air Ambulance receives no funding from either the NHS budget or from Central Government. It is a Charity and is dependent on contributions from the General Public, from fund raising activities, people leaving bequests in wills and donations from Business organizations etc.

The Rotarians arrived early in the morning and were all able to have a hearty “brunch” in the superb Aerodrome Café at Redhill.

We were then given a tour of the helicopter base at the Aerodrome.

We were able to see all the response cars and met various members of the crew who gave us a detailed description of the work that is carried out by them in response to various accidents and incidents in Kent, Surrey and Sussex.

We were extremely fortunate that the helicopter was at the aerodrome and we were shown all the equipment on board and talked through the stages of the Air Ambulance responding to a request where a quick response is required to transport often severely injured people to a specialist hospital. Time is of the essence and the quicker that a patient can be transferred for immediate care will make a tremendous difference to their outcome.

People always associate the Air Ambulance with traffic accidents where they often have to land on the motor way itself and the pilot was explaining the amount of space required when they land as they must account for the movement of the Rota Blades and the safety of the public. This is why the motorways are closed on both carriageways to ensure sufficient space is available for the helicopter to land and then take off again.

The crew had recently attended an incident in Ashford and we were interested to learn that the helicopter had landed on the playing field of a near by school so that the immediate medical care could be given by the doctor who then continued to monitor the patient while they were transported to one of the London Hospitals. 

They often have to land in difficult terrain if trying to reach people who have been climbing or walking in more remote areas or, cyclists who are embarking on cross country rallies or races and also people who may have had accidents in a coastal area, both Sussex and Kent have coastal regions .

We had the most interesting morning at Redhill and learnt a great deal about the operation of the Air Ambulance support for the people of Kent Surrey and Sussex. This is a vital service so much needed in an emergency. One hopes you will never need it yourself and we were all so very impressed by their dedication in ensuring that their response to incidents either during the day or night is the best and quickest that can be achieved.

We were informed that the name of Ashford Rotary Club would be added onto the helicopter fuselage as all donations to the Air ambulance are acknowledged in this way.