

SINCE being officially launched seven weeks ago, the Air Ambulance has attended two incidents in Fermanagh.

Overall, the Air Ambulance has been called out 47 times throughout the North, and is already making a life-saving impact.

Following a 12 year campaign to have the service put in place, the secondary Air Ambulance is based at St Angelo Airport, Enniskillen while the primary Air Ambulance is based near Lisburn.

Rodney Connor, one of two Fermanagh-based Trustees of Air Ambulance NI, said “During this time, the service has been tasked 47 times, including twice locally in County Fermanagh.

We’ve also found that so far, 77% of the incidents have been in rural areas, while road traffic collisions make up the majority of what we have attended, with other missions to agricultural incidents and falls.”

Through the Air Ambulance, medical teams are able to reach any part of Northern Ireland within 25 minutes. The service is staffed on a rota basis from six full-time paramedics, a team of fifteen doctors and two pilots.

The Air Ambulance NI service is provided seven days a week during daylight hours and as a local charity needs £2m a year to keep it going. The charity is already receiving support, but more funds are required to ensure the £2 million a year target is met.

“The support we have been getting has been brilliant. We have had two great tractor runs, one at Crom and another in Magherveely and both of those were run to raise money for this service. The support and response we received from the people of Fermanagh has been really tremendous,” said Rodney.