Junior School pupils got a wonderful insight into the life-saving work of London’s Air Ambulance this term, with a visit from Schools & Youth Engagement Lead, Rhiannon Evans. As part of Blackheath High's all-through Futures Programme, Rhiannon was delighted to come in and give our young people information and insights into less familiar roles, to help them make informed choices about their futures. 

Rhiannon delivered a fascinating talk on the charity – we learned that: 

• London’s Air Ambulance attends on average five major incidents every single day, in some of the most challenging situations healthcare professionals encounter 

• It takes a maximum of 11 minutes to get their helicopters to the scene for medics to give life-saving treatment 

• One hour after injury is the ‘golden hour’ to save a life – this is the time window within which these hugely skilled doctors, pilots and call operators operate 

• The average cost of a mission (helicopter and car) is £2,208 – yet 2/3 of Londoners do not know that the Air Ambulance is a charity 

• London’s Air Ambulance is currently fundraising £15m for new, state-of-the-art helicopters to replace its aging fleet, carry more equipment and save more lives 

• They were the first air ambulance in the UK to perform open heart surgery at the scene of an accident 

Junior School pupils were captivated; and used the opportunity to ask lots of astute questions such as ‘what type of helicopters does the Air Ambulance fly?’ and ‘what kind of weather do you not fly in?’. They also learnt about the various roles in the team – medical/operational and charity/fundraising – a of course the charity’s role in raising community awareness of the service. 

Rhiannon then went on to join our Sixth Formers at the Senior School for a Wollstonecraft Speaker talk, exploring the many career options open to women in the service: from medics and highly specialised phone operators, to pilots (there is only one female pilot across of the UK’s Air Ambulance services, a statistic our students were very keen to change!) and all-important fundraisers. 

For more information visit London’s Air Ambulance.