HIOWAA passes 1,000 mission milestone for 2018

UK HEMS charity Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance (HIOWAA) has announced that it has been tasked to over 1,000 emergencies so far in 2018.

The charity made the announcement to kick off its National Air Ambulance Week (NAAW), which celebrates the work of UK-based HEMS charities. Led by the Association of Air Ambulances, it starts on 10 September and keeps going until 16 September.

HIOWAA has responded to road traffic collisions, cardiac arrests, sporting injuries, stabbings and many other incidents over the Hampshire and Isle of Wight area, with the total number of missions coming in at 1,014.

The service is in its 11th year of operation and has recently started a new campaign called ‘HIOWAA Heroes’, which aims to encourage members of the public to raise money for the charity ‘by doing something they love, or something that will challenge them’.

The charity says that it uses its H135 helicopter to fly two to three missions a day, seven days a week. In order to operate, the service needs to raise around £9,000 a day.