Have you ever needed an air ambulance?

[Seiheiki]

Following on from the thread about have you ever called 999, have you ever needed an air ambulance, either for yourself or anyone that you've helped?

When my Mother had a brain haemmorhage and stroke the hospital she was blued via ambulance for said she was so unwell they possibly needed to airlift her to a London specialist hospital, and the air ambulance had been notified. We were incredibly lucky that she stabalised so it wasn't needed in the end, and are eternally grateful that it was an option available to us.

Not been in one, but one landed opposite our house a few years ago for a patient. They do such an amazing job.

Not me, but I found one of my clients in a very bad way when I visited him . The paramedics, who arrived first, spoke to Doctors at the hospital and they sent the air ambulance up in case he needed to be put into an induced coma before moving him. The paramedics managed to stabilise him enough to move him in the end. He'd had a catastrophic brain injury and died a week or so later unfortunately .

I have to call 999 a lot because of my job. Even after almost 30 years in same/similar roles, I am always amazed at our emergency services which are free at point of use.

It was scrambled for my dad but wasn't needed, he was disappointed! No free helicopter trip

My best friend did. She was in an RTA. She died a couple of days later. It's also my charity of choice.

Midlands air ambulance are doing a campaign atm where they're featuring survivors and their stories.
www.maacmissioncritical.com/

No, but we were away in North Wales last week and a HM Coastguard helicopter landed on the beach to help a man, shortly followed by an Air Ambulance.

There were a family on the beach so busy taking videos of the helicopter that they didn’t realise they were in the way of where it wanted to land. The helicopter had to land further away than it wanted and the pilot went over to speak to the family afterwards, I can only assume to tell them what selfish people they were.

I put bits of change in every place I saw collecting for the air ambulance after seeing it on the beach.

I never thought to donate to the air ambulance after missing out on going in it but if I ever go to McDonald’s I always donate to their children’s charity as when I was recovering in hospital my mum was able to stay in a room provided by them for free for the entire time I was there

Yes.

Not me but two relatives have. One to be flown to a specialist centre after an accident and another to be flown to the mainland after a heart attack.

.

Not for me but I was lying on my bed (ground floor bedroom) post spinal op and heard a noise
Looked out the window and the air ambulance was flying so close I went out to see

We had been having problems with children causing damage to buses and messing about with them. One of them had run out from behind the bus after smashing a window (about 6ft from the actual zebra crossing), been hit by a car (an elderly man driving to visit his wife in the nursing home) and broken both his legs. He didn't end up going via air. And they never messed with the buses again...

[quote DonLewis]My best friend did. She was in an RTA. She died a couple of days later. It's also my charity of choice.

Midlands air ambulance are doing a campaign atm where they're featuring survivors and their stories.
www.maacmissioncritical.com/[/quote]
Thanks @DonLewis I've just read through all of the experiences. I'm so sorry that you lost your best friend.

I'm glad you clicked the link, I also find it fascinating.

It was a long time ago now, we were 17 at the time. I was crushed for a very long time. And even now, over 25 years later I still have difficulty with car journeys (counselling and other various things help to a point, but I guess it happening when I was so young has affected my brain).

My son was wearing an air ambulance t shirt (it says 'I made a mission possible') in hobbycraft and he saw another man wearing the same t-shirt. So we went over and had a chat. The man was lovely, especially when he asked what our connection was to the air ambulance and I told him and welled up a bit. He had a similar story.

It's such an amazing service, truly non-discriminatory and one that you'd really hope was funded if ever you found yourself needing it.

Great way to raise awareness @Seiheiki thanks for the thread and your kind wishes.

So many lovely stories on this thread. The gratitude for these flying hero’s is palpable through your stories! Heartwarming stuff

It really truly makes you realise how lucly we are in this country to have access to the NHS, emergency services and such specialist care free of charge at point of need.

I know someone will chime in with "we pay tax and NI", hence putting "at point of need".

I haven't but have seen it overhead regularly. It sometimes lands nearby in a spot we can see from the house and I have to say its's amazing watching the control the pilot has over it landing in areas restricted by trees and dog walkers etc.

I was at the nearest city hospital once with my DS when he was about 6 and we walked past the air ambulance landing pad. The pilot was there waiting for the medical team to return as they'd taken a patient in to A&E.

The pilot was lovely and invited us to have a closer look, answered all DS's questions etc. It was fascinating and informative especially as the pilot knew the landing spot that we can see from our house and chatted about how they approach it etc.

They do such an amazing job.