ADVERT I SEMENT FEATURE
DELIVERING LIFE-SAVING CARE 24 HOURS A DAY East Anglian Air Ambulance (EAAA) is now 24/7 by air and by road, taking enhanced pre-hospital care to patients all over the region. For this month’s EAAA update, we hear from one of the frontline doctors about what it’s like being on call – and flying to patients in the early hours of the morning
octor Nicola Ebbs was one of the crew on the very first EAAA 12-hour helicopter night shift in
June, and has worked many since. “At EAAA, we’ve been operating 24/7 by rapid response vehicle since March 2020, but there was a gap in the early hours of the morning, from 1:30am to 7am, where there was no helicopter emergency medical coverage available in the region,” Nicola tells us. “Filling this gap has been a really big and important change, as we knew there were patients we couldn’t reach by road alone. Now, we are proud to be 24/7 by air and road, to help as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, in their time of need.” Nicola continues: “Flying through the night has been a big change, and is best described as oddly peaceful. There is hardly anyone else in the skies in the early hours of the morning – and the world below is much more still. For our pilots, the flying is harder; they have to be much more careful when choosing somewhere safe for us to land, and rely on high-tech NVIS goggles to see potential hazards. They
also have to adjust as we fly from night into day, which is tough on your body clock when you need to be alert. The move to a 24/7 service took years of planning and wouldn’t have been possible without additional donations and support. We have needed to raise an additional million pounds a year to make this possible, and we still require support to ensure that we can keep being there for our patients 24/7, this year and next.”
ALWAYS ON CALL The 24/7 helicopter service guarantees around-the-clock support to anyone who requires it, while the pilots will face new challenges – these include flying at night and the inevitable changes to their body clocks
SUPPORT EAAA BY PLAYING IN THE WINTER RAFFLE AND WIN A CASH PRIZE!
By playing in the EAAA Winter Raffle, you will be helping to keep Doctor Nicola Ebbs and her colleagues airborne, so that they can be there for the maximum
amount of patients, 365 days a year. You could also win up to £5,000! Go to eaaa.org.uk/winter to find out more.
CAMBSEDITION.CO.UK OCTOBER 2021 81
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