Ireland Air Ambulance

February 2009

The flight simulator for Ireland Air Ambulance visited Carrickfergus College on Tuesday 10th February 2009. This gave pupils a chance to try their hand at flying the helicopter, all be it an a 'virtual' setting.

Ireland Air Ambulance will be the 17th Air Ambulance Service operating in the UK and Ireland and will be funded in the same way as the most of the other Air Ambulance services in this region - by Charitable Donations and Corporate Funding. There is no service of this kind in Ireland. But that is about to change.

Operating 365 days a year, aircraft works within the 'Golden Hour' which will offer the capability to cover the following areas: Antrim, Armagh, Belfast. Cavan, Donegal, Down , Dublin, Fermanagh, Galway, L'Derry, Leitrim, Louth, Longford, Meath, Monaghan, Roscommon, Sligo, Tyrone, Westmeath, and not forgetting Rathlin Island and the Isle Of Man.

From a 999 call this fully equipped Helicopter Emergency Medical Service [HEMS] Air Ambulance will be tasked, airborne and en route in under 3 minutes with a fully trained Trauma Doctor and Trauma Paramedic on board. Their expertise will allow them to also determine which is the best hospital to deal with that particular type of injury at that time - whether it is a head, spinal, limb or other. The Air Ambulance pilots will do the rest!