Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance (LNAA) is taking part in the #ChristmasChallenge 2021 to raise £12,250 in just one week!
The charity needs to raise £6,125 in order to secure a match pot that will take the total to £12,250. All donations will support LNAA’s life-saving work, 24 hours a day, every day of the year.
Make a donation at https://donate.thebiggive.org.uk/campaign/a056900001wYkRkAAK. The campaign closes at midday on Tuesday 7th December.
Your donations could help get our crews to patients who have been involved in some of the most serious incidents.
Dr Luke Banks and HEMS Paramedic Alex Walker arrived on the scene of a stabbing in remote Lincolnshire at night as first responders were assessing the victim who was unconscious. The patient had suffered a stab wound to the chest and the nearest specialist trauma centre was at least 80 minutes away.
Luke and Alex had to work with other responders and make time-critical, complex decisions. They knew that the patient needed to be in hospital, in the hands of specialist cardiac trauma surgeons. But they also knew that they may not have been able to get to hospital in time.
Luke and Alex briefed their newly formed team on the plan. They were to simultaneously deliver an emergency anaesthetic alongside performing open heart surgery, right there at the scene of the incident.
L-R: Dr Luke Banks and HEMS Paramedic Alex Walker
The police provided lighting and Luke opened up the patient’s chest at the roadside. All hands were on deck as Luke asked a first responder to put his hand inside the chest and manually clamp an artery to maintain blood flow to the heart and the brain. Luke stitched the heart and performed an internal heart massage, whilst Alex performed an emergency blood transfusion.
On the way to hospital, bleeding in the patient’s chest was steadily getting worse. Luke had managed to close the wounds with stitches and surgical staples but the patient needed a further blood transfusion. The team had exhausted their supply but another LNAA team were on duty nearby and were able to rendezvous enroute to hospital with more blood.
The patient was taken to Nottingham’s Queen’s Medical Centre and taken straight into theatre.
This patient, who had in essence sustained a fatal stab wound, survived and walked out of hospital following recovery.
LNAA Medical Director Gareth Davies said: “Luke and Alex’s work was pivotal to the survival of this patient. They used all of their training and experience and showed great leadership, initiative and judgment, as well as technical operating ability.
“Without a doubt the patient would not have made it to hospital let alone survived without their intervention and support from the police, the ambulance team and colleagues on scene. There are literally only a handful of patients around the world that have survived injuries like this. The team should feel really proud of themselves, it was an incredible achievement.”
Your donation today will help keep doctors and paramedics like Luke and Alex in the air and on the road along with enabling them to continue developing their skills to make sure they can give patients the very best chances of survival.
Donations to the Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance could be generously matched by our supporters during the campaign, meaning your money could support twice as many patients.
LNAA’s Director of Fundraising David Martin said: “This incident is just one example of the skill set our teams take to a patient. It’s only because of the people who support us that our pilots, doctors and paramedics not only get to patients quickly but also are able to deliver this highly skilled, specialist care at the scene of an emergency like this.
“In order to access the £6,125 we have in the matching pot, we need to raise £6,125 in online donations. We don’t receive NHS funding, we are funded through generous donations so we really hope you get behind us during this Big Give Christmas Challenge 21 campaign and help us to reach our target.”
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