Air Ambulance Charity Kent Surrey Sussex (KSS) has launched an urgent £1 million fundraising appeal, ‘Buy It for Life’ to enable it to buy a second critical air ambulance helicopter so that it can save even more lives across Kent, Surrey and Sussex.
Purchasing this helicopter will enable KSS to attend 17% more lifesaving incidents, significantly extending its operational capacity.
Failing to do so will hamper planned innovations and community initiatives, including using drones to deliver defibrillators and Prevention, Education and Training activity, adversely affecting the charity’s ability to save more lives.
As part of the appeal, and for the first time ever, people across Kentm Surrey and Sussex have the chance to donate to have their name displayed on one of the KSS air ambulances, meaning they can be a part of every lifesaving mission.
Anyone donating £100 or more to the ‘Buy it for Life’ appeal will have the opportunity to have their name, name of a friend or family member, team, community group or business, or the name of a loved one in their memory, on the helicopter. To secure one of the limited number of spots visit aakss.org.uk/helicopter.
David Welch, Chief Executive of KSS, said: “Demand for our service has never been greater. Last year we made a record number of over 3,300 missions to people in urgent need of our lifesaving care. We must continue to respond to this growing need, now and into the future.
“That’s why we now urgently need the people of Kent, Surrey and Sussex, to help us raise the final £1 million to buy our air ambulance. Owning rather than leasing our helicopter will allow us to increase the number of hours we can fly, and continue to improve and innovate our lifesaving care, so that we can reach even more patients and save even more lives. But we only have until the end of May to do this as it is a time-limited window in our contract with our new commercial aviation partner.
“For your community and your county. For your family. For your friends, please help buy our air ambulance helicopter so that when the worst happens, we can keep even more families and loved ones together.”
Every day, KSS responds to the most serious medical emergencies responding around 9 times every day. The charity’s air ambulance helicopter is like a flying emergency room, getting its specialised doctors and paramedics, and lifesaving treatment, to loved ones when they need it the most. The £1 million appeal goal will mean that KSS can continue its critical work.
The race against time to buy the helicopter is on. KSS has every faith that the communities of Kent, Surrey and Sussex will respond generously to this unique, time-limited, ‘Buy it for Life’ appeal.
