The Scottish Charity Air Ambulance (SCAA), which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, has chalked up another milestone its 5,000th emergency response.
SCAA’s H145, callsign Helimed 76, was carrying out a training sortie over Oban on Scotland’s west coast when it was tasked to go to the aid of a tourist who had collapsed while hill walking on the Inner Hebridean Isle of Luing. Arriving at the patient’s side less than 10 minutes later, SCAA paramedics, with the assistance of local retained firefighters (there is no medical service on the island), stabilised the man before transporting him to Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital 25 minutes flying time away compared with several hours by ferry and ambulance. Happily, after a short stay in the hospital, the man was well enough to go home.
Commenting on the milestone, the SCAA Chief Executive David Craig said that the rescue, while an important milestone in the charity’s history, also served to highlight the vital service the SCAA brings to remote communities across Scotland’s Islands and Mainland. “Our first year in operations saw us respond to 289 call outs. During the past year, that figure was 963 – a clear indication of the vital and expanding role SCAA plays in Scotland’s busy emergency response network.”
