THE LIFE-SAVING charity which provides air ambulance services across Warwickshire is asking for the public to keep it airborne by helping to fund a new base of operations.
The Air Ambulance Service for Warwickshire has launched an appeal to help it build a new base outside Catthorpe, near the border between Warwickshire, Leicestershire and Northamptonshire.
The charity currently launches many of its life-saving missions from Coventry Airbase, which is scheduled to close this summer to make way for the Coventry and Warwick Gigapark, a battery manufacturing and technology hub.
The charity, which responded to 470 emergencies across Warwickshire last year despite receiving no NHS funding, says the new base will mean faster response times for patients, state-of-the-art facilities for crews, and dedicated family-friendly spaces for aftercare and recovery support.
The Air Ambulance Service Chief Executive Officer Peta Wilkinson said: “A quarter of the UK population say they know someone that has been helped by an air ambulance. But a mission doesn’t start when we take to the air – it starts with someone choosing to support their local air ambulance charity with a donation.
“Until now we have always needed to use rented premises for our helicopters and rapid response vehicles, but this is no longer sustainable. We urgently need a permanent base that is owned by the charity so that we can secure our future and continue to provide care in the air in the fastest time possible.
“This site in Catthorpe is perfect as it lies at the centre of the three counties, with superb access to the M1 and M6. Because of the vital nature of the project, we are investing substantially from our reserves but hope that we can count on the support of the communities we help.
“Businesses, organisations and individuals can all contribute in a variety of ways to what we are calling our ‘Big Bases Appeal’, but every penny will provide security for a service that any one of us may need one day.”
Visit https://tinyurl.com/3zzrmrff for more information or to donate.
