See how your Golden Hour makes a difference… Rebekah’s Story

Today marks the start of National Air Ambulance Week 2019, a week to celebrate the incredible work carried out by air ambulance critical care teams, doctors and paramedics who provide lifesaving pre-hospital care and save lives every single day of the year. It is an opportunity to increase national fundraising for each of the UK’s 21 air ambulance charities since they do not receive any day to day direct government funding.

This Friday (13th September) we are challenging businesses and employees to take part in Golden Hour and donate an hour’s profit or pay to Air Ambulances UK, to help support the 21 air ambulance charities across the UK.

 Golden hour refers to the critical hour immediately after an accident or medical emergency has occurred, when rapid medical treatment for the patient during this time will provide the highest chance of preventing their death.

Your Golden Hour of profit or pay will help air ambulance charities like Wiltshire Air Ambulance provide lifesaving care to those involved in medical emergencies.

Rebekah’s Story

Rebekah was on a day out in Avebury with her son Josiah – who was four weeks old, her daughter, husband and mum. Rebekah recounts the moment she realised something was terribly wrong with her son: “As Josiah started to feed he started to turn blue and I remember literally seeing and feeling as though the life was leaving his tiny body.” Husband Ian was quick to react. He followed the instructions given to him by the ambulance control centre and performed CPR on Josiah.

A land ambulance arrived six minutes later along with Wiltshire Air Ambulance. Two air ambulance paramedics revived Josiah and stabilised his condition. Due to Josiah’s tiny size, it was decided that he would be transported to hospital in a land ambulance. Air ambulance paramedics Keith and Dan continued to stabilise baby Josiah and calmly provided updates to Rebekah, who was in a state of shock and sitting in the front of the ambulance.

Rebekah reflects: “We will always owe both the land crew and the Wiltshire Air Ambulance team for coming to our rescue and saving our son’s life. You really don’t know what’s just around the corner. Life can literally change in an instance and it’s amazing to know this fantastic and lifesaving service can be with you in your time of need.”

Josiah has remarkably made a full recovery due to the quick thinking and lifesaving efforts of the team from Wiltshire Air Ambulance.

So why not get involved and donate an hour’s pay or profit to enable UK air ambulance charities to continue their amazing lifesaving missions? It’s so easy, simply use our golden hour calculator and make your donation https://www.airambulancesuk.org/goldenhour/

Your generosity has the power to help save a life.