Cornwall Air Ambulance shortlisted for three AAUK Awards of Excellence 2023

Cornwall Air Ambulance is thrilled to have been shortlisted in three categories for the Air Ambulances UK ‘Awards of Excellence 2023’.

The annual awards celebrate and recognise the specialist lifesaving critical care skills and commitment of those working tirelessly within and in support of the air ambulance community.

The charity has been nominated for Campaign of the Year, Charity Team of the Year and Pilot of the Year.

Campaign of the Year

‘Help Holly’, the charity’s special 2022 Christmas animation, tells the moving story of a young girl who was involved in a serious road traffic collision over the festive period. Thanks to the quick response of our critical care crew, Holly received lifesaving treatment, enabling her to get home to her family just before Christmas. The powerful story showcased the response of the crew, Holly’s journey from roadside collision to hospital, and included some stunning Cornish coastal scenes as well as an encounter with Father Christmas. A BAFTA winning composer and supporter of the charity produced a soundtrack called ‘Blades in the Sky’ which was recorded with choirs from across Cornwall – and even included the main voice of a young, airlifted patient who was rescued following an incident in the sea. The response to the campaign was phenomenal, reaching millions of people and raising over £200,000 to fund the charity’s missions over the 2022 festive period. That was the most money ever raised from a single Cornwall Air Ambulance campaign.

A still from the Help Holly animation

Charity Team of the Year

The Finance and Business Intelligence Team at Cornwall Air Ambulance have very kindly been nominated by the Great Western Air Ambulance Charity, following collaborative work with other air ambulance charities. The team have embarked on a bold programme to bring all their data sources together and use them, along with the power of modern data management tools, to generate useful insights around mission stats, fundraising campaigns, contact lists and monthly account reports. They invited colleagues from other South West charities to the airbase to share their approach, enabling others to learn from the work they have undertaken.

Pilot of the Year

Captain Richard Dixon can never do enough to help others and is always going out of his way to help patients, even when not on duty. Several months ago, whilst walking his dog in the woods, Rich heard a woman shouting and went to assist. He found the woman with a baby and standing over an unresponsive male. He recognised the man was in cardiac arrest, he performed CPR and called 999. Richard then ran approximately one mile up to the road to await the arrival of the Cornwall Air Ambulance duty crew on a RRV, directing them to the scene. Unfortunately, despite effective treatment, the patient passed away. But resuscitative attempts would not have even been started without the prompt initial treatment provided by Richard. Alongside this, Richard is always willing to help the clinical crew, including arranging logistics, liaising with emergency services and ferrying kit to and from scene. And his skills as a pilot have been demonstrated in the latest series of Cornwall Air 999, with one supporter even decided to make their own knitted version of him!

Rich Dixon, Pilot

Simmy Akhtar, CEO of Air Ambulances UK, said: “Congratulations to all those who have been chosen as finalists for the Air Ambulances UK Awards of Excellence 2023. Thank you to those who submitted nominations for the awards. All nominees are extremely talented, and our judging panel had the unenviable task of finalising the shortlist for all categories. Thank you also to our judges for their time and commitment to this process. We are extremely excited to welcome colleagues and peers to the awards ceremony and look forward to bringing our air ambulance community together at our annual conference and awards on 30 November.”

The winners will be announced on the 30^th November, at a ceremony in Reading.