by Damian Dowds, Inishowen Independent
THE CARNDONAGH community has given a warm welcome to
plans to establish an Irish air ambulance service.
Derek Rowe, a director of the All-Ireland Air
Ambulance Service was in Carn last week where he met
with community representatives and outlined his
plans that will ultimately see four helicopters
provide a round the clock air ambulance service
across the country.
“The service is a very good idea, especially for
rural communities,” Sinn Féin’s Sean Ruddy, who
attended the meeting, said. “Derek Rowe established
a similar service in Cornwall in the late 1980s and
that helped save thousands of lives.”
The service will assess and deliver the patient
quickly and directly to the appropriate hospital
that caters for their needs. It will aid patients
from outlying and inaccessible areas where a road
ambulance is taken off station for too long, deal
with transplant transfers, and ferry individuals
suffering head injuries, spinal injuries, strokes
and heart attacks to hospital.
Mr Rowe said that Ireland is the only EU country
that doesn’t have a dedicated air ambulance service
and his organisation, which is funded through
voluntary donations, seeks to fill that gap. At the
moment, Irish Coastguard and Air Corps helicopters
are used to transport patients.
“We’re ready start operating,” Mr Rowe said. “We’ve
already purchased our first aircraft, which can
carry two patients, and we’ll be operating during
daylight hours only until we take delivery of a more
advanced helicopter.”
Once final approval has been granted by the HSE the
service is ready to commence operation. This
helicopter will be based in Kerry, with three
further aircraft to be based in Enniskillen,
Waterford and Belfast.
Initially, the organisation will provide eight hours
cover five days a week at Kerry, growing over the
coming months until it achieves round the clock
cover across the country.
All-Ireland Air Ambulance is funded through
voluntary donations and the full service will cost
€85,000 per month to operate.
“Charity boxes will be put in shops and pubs around
Inishowen with the money collected going straight to
the charity,” Sean Ruddy said. Any business that
would like to take a collection box can contact Sean
on 086 8176497.
The organisation also runs a €2 weekly lotto through
its website,
www.aiaa.ie , takes mobile phones for recycling,
and even runs a clothes and textile collection and
recycling service. “We’re currently on the lookout
for sites in Inishowen to put our clothes recycling
bins,” Mr Rowe said. “So if anyone has space for
bins they can contact us through the website.”
Mr Rowe paid tribute to Inishowen Community Radio in
particular for its work in publicising and promoting
the service and said that his organisation will
return to Inishowen in the coming months for further
public meetings. |
