Great North Air Ambulance Service

The Darlington community has rallied together to support the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) after the charity responded to several incidents in their town.

On Friday 12 January, GNAAS’ critical care team, which includes a pilot, doctor and paramedic, responded to two separate medical incidents in Darlington.

Flying from their base near Eaglescliffe, it took them approximately six minutes to land on scene and provide advanced critical care to the patients.

The team worked alongside the North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) to help stabilise the patients and they were taken to hospital by the NEAS road crew, but were also accompanied by our team.

The following day, the team on shift at GNAAS responded to another medical incident in Darlington and worked alongside NEAS to assess and treat a patient, before accompanying them on their journey to hospital.

In response to the three incidents attended by GNAAS over only two days, a member of the public posted in the ‘You know you're from Darlo when’ Facebook group on Saturday evening, suggesting its members donate to GNAAS.

The post said: “The Great North Air Ambulance Service has landed at least three times in Darlington in the last two days to help people in our town. Just a thought.... This group has 39k members. Imagine how much money we could raise with just 50p each (plus gift aid where able)? Was thinking it might be a good idea to raise some money for them from our group? You never know when one of us might need them.”

The post has been shared 23 times on Facebook and received 150 comments which include people either offering to donate or declaring they have sent a donation.

As of Monday 15 January, approximately £637 has been raised from residents in Darlington, with several people sending kind messages to the charity along with their donation.

Gordon Ingram, head of operations – North East at GNAAS, said: “Our critical care team based in the North East recently responded to three incidents in Darlington in just two days. Sadly, they were not all positive outcomes, and our thoughts are with those who have been affected.

“It’s incredibly humbling to hear about the community in Darlington coming together to help support our charity, and we have nothing but sincere gratitude for everyone who has donated.

“It currently costs £8.5m a year for our service to remain operational, and because we’re a charity, this means we do not receive government funding and rely on the generosity of the public to either donate or fundraise on our behalf.

“The money recently raised by those who saw the post in the Darlington Facebook group, will help our team continue to respond to the most critically ill or injured people across the region.”

To find out more about how you can support the charity visit: gnaas.com or call 01325 487263

About GNAAS

• The Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) is a charitably funded air ambulance service which provides life-saving care throughout the North East, North Yorkshire, Cumbria and Isle of Man.
  
• They operate two helicopters 365 days a year and also operate a night-time service in the North East and Cumbria on rapid response vehicles.
  
  
• The aircraft cover an area of more than 8,000 square miles and on board are specialist doctors and paramedics who effectively bring the hospital to the patient.
  
  
• The level of skill and expertise of the on-board team mean they respond to the most critically ill and injured people, giving them the best chance of survival.
  
  
• GNAAS is a progressive organisation which has pioneered pre-hospital care in the region.
  
• The latest techniques, equipment and drugs are constantly being evaluated to ensure the charity can provide the best care possible for their patients.
  
  
• 2022 marked the service providing 20 years of life-saving care. Throughout this time, they have responded to more than 23,500 incidents across the region, with road traffic collisions being the most frequent type of incident responded to by the team.
  
  
• They do not receive Government funding and must therefore raise £8.5m a year through public donations to remain operational.

For more information visit: https://www.greatnorthairambulance.co.uk/ or follow @gnairambulance on Facebook, X, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok