Air Operations Officer Steve Garvey leads the dedicated crew of Cornwall Air Ambulance critical care paramedics. He explains why you should join the mission to bring a next generation helicopter to Cornwall.
Faster
“The faster we can reach a patient and treat them, the better their chances of survival are. As paramedics and doctors, we talk about patient outcomes a lot. That basically means we want the people we treat to make the best recovery possible. The faster AW169 will allow us to reach patients more quickly. We are in turn able to start their treatment earlier and improve that patient’s outcome.”
More Space
“The scene of an emergency can be a very difficult place to treat a critically ill or injured person. Whether we land at the aftermath of a car accident or find ourselves treating someone on a busy beach, the environment can cause additional stress to a patient. Removing them from the public gaze into a warm, safe environment so we can assess and treat them in a cabin with enough space to do so will make a huge difference.”
More Power
“I had one priority in mind when we were looking at bringing a next generation air ambulance to Cornwall – it must help us improve the care we give to patients. Part of this means having the ability to carry more medical equipment so we can make more lifesaving interventions. The extra power of the AW169 will allow us to do this.”
360-Degree Patient Access
“The AW169 will provide 360-degree access to the patient with a stretcher down the middle, whereas in our current aircraft we can only treat them from one side. It may sound simple, but having the extra space to allow two crew members to work on a patient will greatly improve the care we can give.”
More Missions
“We try to help everyone who needs us, but sadly there are some people we simply cannot reach in time. A next generation helicopter will shave crucial minutes off our mission times which means we will be available to respond to more 999 calls for help.
When we finish a mission, it can be incredibly frustrating knowing there is someone else who needs our help, but we can’t go to them because we need to return to base and refuel first. The extra fuel capacity of the AW169 will enable us to treat more patients as its greater range will allow us to carry out back to back missions.”
