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Serving The Wider Community
My daughter recently had an accident which required the services of Kent Air Ambulance. At our subsequent visit to their headquarters in Marden, near Maidstone, I was fascinated to discover more details about the work that they do, and that Bromley and Croydon were also in their catchment area, alongside their sister base at Dunsfold. Lettie was out riding her Irish cob, Patsy along a bridleway with her friend Sarah, and whilst adjusting her stirrup the horse spooked and she slid quite gently off of the horse’s back into a muddy puddle.
“Under normal circumstances I would have expected her to have stood up laughing,” explained Sarah. “But instead I could sense something was wrong. Then she told me she couldn’t move her legs.” Sarah dialled 999 and paramedics believed Lettie had fractured her pelvis so she was airlifted to Maidstone Hospital. It took the Air Ambulance just nine minutes to get to Lettie and a further four to get to hospital following her accident at
Thurnham. Thankfully there was no permanent damage and Lettie was sent home five days later. But the experience has had a lasting effect on her, and she has vowed to raise vital funds for the air ambulance service, which needs £1.7m a year to stay airborne. We recently visited their base in Marden to say thank you to the crew and find out more about the vital service they provide, and were given a guided tour of the aircraft by pilot Nick Bramley and Dr Amy Hughes. “The Air Ambulance is a charity at the end of the day and I want to give something back because they helped me. The service is really important because it can get to serious emergencies really quickly,” she explained.
She wants to raise money for the Air Ambulance by holding a music and quiz night at our local village hall and by taking part in Funky Footwear Friday on September 24. Contrary to popular belief, Air Ambulances are not part of the NHS and rely on the public’s generosity to keep them flying. Amazingly, less than twenty one years ago the Air Ambulance service did not exist across the South East. The service in Kent was established in December 1989 by Kate Chivers, a true pioneer, who worked tirelessly to raise funds for the charity. The first helicopter
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ContactMy daughter recently had an accident which required the services of Kent Air Ambulance. At our subsequent visit to their headquarters in Marden, near Maidstone, I was fascinated to discover more details about the work that they do, and that Bromley and Croydon were also in their catchment area, alongside their sister base at Dunsfold. [...]