Air Ambulance Week: Charity saves lives on farms

Air Ambulance Week runs throughout next week (9-15 September).

The theme is “Today’s Supporter, Tomorrow’s Lifesaver”, one chosen to highlight how air ambulance charities need financial support to continue delivering advanced pre-hospital care.

The messaging is intended to remind people how anyone anywhere in the UK can become a patient at any time.

See also: Dying to Feed you – raising farm health and safety awareness

Air Ambulances UK’s chief executive officer Simmy Akhtar said every day air ambulance charities are collectively dispatched to an average of 126 lifesaving missions or more, each one funded almost entirely by donations.

“Today’s Supporter, Tomorrow’s Lifesaver is an important reminder of the impact each of us can make,” she said.

• Donations to the air ambulance service can be made at airambulancesuk.org/donate-now 

We hear how Air Ambulance gave critical care on two farm’s and how Young Farmers are helping with fundraising below.

Chris Gray: Leg saved

Chris Gray © Air Ambulance UK

Arable and beef farmer Chris Gray recalls how the care he received from Essex & Herts Air Ambulance (EHAAT) critical care team helped save his leg.

He had been driving a telehandler while moving cattle when the animals started to get away from him.

“I decided it would be quicker to jump out to round them up, rather than trying to manoeuvre the JCB around them,” he said.

Chris thought he had secured the handbrake, but it hadn’t caught.

As he jumped out, he lost his balance and fell.

He was winded after crashing to the ground and the machine was still turning sharply, landing directly on top of his right leg.

A quick-thinking colleague reversed the telehandler off his leg while Chris called the emergency services, providing his what3words location.

Critical care

Paramedics from the East of England Ambulance Service and the EHAAT critical care crew gave him medical attention at the scene, before transferring him to Colchester Hospital by land ambulance.

The air ambulance pre-hospital care doctor and critical care paramedic travelled with him.

Chris was hospitalised for six days, and six weeks later his focus on rehabilitation was rewarded when he had medical clearance to drive.

It was a significant moment for him as it meant he could return to light duties on the farm and is now clocking up an average of 13,000 steps a day.

“I’m now more aware of the risks, but I love being back,” he said.

“I’m really invested in the farm, so being able to manage 13,000 steps in a day again is positive, and I need to keep progressing.” 

Stuart Gallop: Broken bone and severed artery

Stuart Gallop © Air Ambulance UK

Falling 15 feet from a tree at his grandfather’s farm in Gloucestershire left agricultural engineer Stuart Gallop with life-threatening injuries.

He had been chopping down trees for firewood and landed on an exposed strut sticking out of the bed of a rusty trailer.

He had broken his femur and was bleeding out from his femoral artery.

Stuart’s girlfriend called the emergency services and a Great Western Air Ambulance Charity was dispatched to the farm with two doctors and a paramedic on board the helicopter.

The team needed to stabilise his condition at the scene before they could move him, administering blood-clotting drugs, antibiotics and advanced pain relief.

“I am pretty sure that the fast-acting Critical Care Team saved my life that day,” says Stuart.

He was taken by land ambulance to Southmead Hospital’s major trauma centre. 

After a six-hour operation surgeons were able to save his leg by performing an artery transplant to regain blood flow.

“I was worried that I would be unable to ever do my livelihood again, my job as an agricultural engineer is fairly physical and relies on being able-bodied,” said Stuart.

“I feel so thankful for the support I received on the ground from the air ambulance as well as the surgery and aftercare the NHS provided me.” 

Just eight weeks after his accident, Stuart was able to return to work on light duties, with extensive physiotherapy.

Young Farmers Club spearheads fundraising efforts

The Knighton YFC fundraisers © Knighton YFC

Air ambulance services are run by charities and rely on donations to function.

Every year tens of thousands of pounds are raised by farming organisations, including Young Farmers’ Clubs, to support this vital service.

A walk across Wales by Knighton YFC in Powys earlier this year raised more than £4,000 for the Wales Air Ambulance service.

It helped support the £11.2m annual cost of keeping its helicopters in the air, and a fleet of rapid response vehicles on the road. 

Sam Beavan was one of the team of 11 YFC members who completed the walk carrying a spinal board and mannequin “patient”.

He said the important work of the air ambulance and first responders was thrown into sharp focus last year when they responded to a farm accident locally.

Fortunately the outcome was a positive one, but that incident galvanised the club into action.

To coincide with its 80th anniversary year, the members decided to embark on a fundraiser by walking the width of Wales from Knighton to Aberystwyth.

“It was meant to be 80 miles, but it actually turned out to be 97.5,” said Sam, a beef, sheep and poultry farmer.

The youngest member of the team was just 13 and the oldest 24.

“It was really tough going, not so much the distance, but the toll it took on our feet. Having that fundraising goal really kept us going,” Sam recalled.