The Great Western Air Ambulance Charity, who provide the air ambulance and Critical Care service for B&NES, has launched a campaign to help them track down people in the region that they have treated.
#FindOurFirst aims to reconnect the charity with people from BANES that they have helped over the years.
The charity’s first flight was in 2008, and over the course of 10 years they have experienced many ‘firsts’ from their first blood transfusion, to their first landing in Bath.
This comes as the charity announces that 2017 was their busiest year yet. They attended 97 incidents in BANES alone, and were called to on average 5 incidents every day across the whole region.
Jonathan Benger, Critical Care Doctor and Trustee of the charity said: “This year marks ten years since I flew on that first mission in our helicopter.
“From our first flight, to our first blood transfusion; our first landing on the BRI helipad, to our first trauma patient – we’ve experienced many firsts over the years, and we’ve attended thousands of incidents in our helicopter and Critical Care cars.
“We don’t hold any patient data at the charity, and so we’d love to track down some of our first patients from Bath and North East Somerset, to find out how they are doing and to welcome them to our air base to meet the crew.”
He continued: “It’s because of our patients that we keep going, come rain or shine, 365 days a year. Sharing their stories is a great way for the charity to showcase the work which we do – and for some people it’s a shock to find out that they were treated by GWAAC or flew in the helicopter, as they were too ill to realise it at the time.
“As part of our 10th birthday celebrations, we’d like to re-connect with as many people that we have treated as possible.”
Do you have an interesting story to tell about how the charity helped you or one of your loved ones? If so, then they would love to hear from you.
To find out more, visit www.gwaac.com/find-our-first-campaign.