Air ambulances
Two air ambulance charities currently provide cover 365 days a year for all six of the counties we cover.
The distinctive yellow helicopters have become a familiar sight across the region’s skies in the past few years, with thousands of patients receiving sometimes life-saving intervention from the crews of paramedics and doctors.
The helicopters are run largely by charitable donations and rely on the goodwill of local people to keep them in the air.
Why an air ambulance?
Air ambulance cover can make a crucial difference
in a medical emergency. The helicopter’s speed and its ability to
access 
remote areas make it an
ideal solution to the particular problems posed by the more rural parts
of our region.
It also sometimes provides by far the fastest method of reaching locations difficult to access by a land ambulance, such as beaches, docks and golf courses.
The golden hour
The medical profession is strongly of the opinion that a patient’s
chances of survival are far greater if they reach hospital within one
hour, often called the golden hour. Our air a
mbulances get the
paramedic on scene fast, the patient to hospital fast and free up land
ambulances for front-line work.
Many of the calls we attend are to road accidents, and the air ambulances enable us to take patients with serious head injuries rapidly and comfortably direct to neurological specialists without having to go to a local A&E and wait for transfer.
Funding and thanks
The continued generosity of the general public and local businesses has contributed to another successful year. The charities, which are separate from the EEAS, rely on volunteers and we are grateful to those people who willingly give up their time to help in the fundraising activities. More good examples of the work of the air ambulance can be seen on the charities’ websites:
Exhibition
Life with the air ambulance is a photographic exhibition running between June 30 and July 5 at the Forum in Norwich.
Photographer Julian Claxton has allowed us to preview some of his work below. To see more visit his site here.
