Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance reached a new milestone on Friday – completing the 7,500th life-saving mission in just over 10 years.
The bright yellow and green helicopter is crewed by pilots, paramedics and doctors who are trained in advanced pre-hospital care. This means that the Air Ambulance is effectively able to bring the emergency department to the patient and then take them quickly and directly by land or air to the most appropriate hospital best able to treat their injuries.
A full range of life-saving equipment is carried on board, including 2 state of the art ultrasound devices, a blood transfusion kit and an immediate blood analyser, helping to save valuable seconds in the vital golden hour.
The Air Ambulance is usually airborne within 4 minutes and flies at 140mph from Thruxton. It reaches most locations in Hampshire in just 15 minutes and can be on the Isle of Wight in 20 minutes.
It costs approximately £9,000 a day to keep the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance flying and saving lives.
For more information visit www.hiowaa.org.
