2023 Winner
SCOTLAND’S CHARITY AIR AMBULANCE
Flying emergency medics are marking a decade of life-saving missions across Scotland.
For 10 years the Air Ambulance has played an integral part in Scotland’s emergency response network, getting paramedics and specialist teams quickly to the scene of serious illness and injury, providing life-saving care in the air. Last year the country’s only charity air ambulance airlifted more patients than ever before to often-critical hospital care and since launching they have carried out more than 5,000 life-saving missions.
SCAA was formed by a group of local businessmen and relies on donations to operate. They can reach anywhere in Scotland within approximately 75 minutes and last year crews in Aberdeen and Perth covered nearly 92,000 miles.
In one incredible mission, an Air Ambulance pilot and paramedics faced an epic battle to save a patient who ‘died’ seven times during a stormy flight to hospital. Within moments of takeoff, the 57-year-old suffered a cardiac arrest. Paramedics carried out CPR and used a defibrillator to revive him, then had to resuscitate him a further six times during the flight.
Meanwhile, rapidly deteriorating weather conditions meant the paramedics were working on a constantly shifting and tilting platform as the pilot navigated through a snow storm in poor visibility.
“We call our crafts the People’s Helicopter, because they are funded by the people of Scotland for the people of Scotland. They are our Pride of Scotland,” said a spokesperson for the charity.