At MidKent College we’re proud to put our fundraising behind brilliant local charities that serve our community.

Chosen by our students and staff, we’re delighted that our Charity of the Year for 2020 is Air Ambulance Kent Surrey Sussex.

This page is used by student and staff fundraising groups to collect funds for the charity, or you can simply donate here if you wish to support the work of the Air Ambulance.

Air Ambulance Kent Surrey Sussex strives to save lives by providing the best possible care every minute of the day, every day of the year. It is an independent charity.

Last year alone, the Air Ambulance helped was called out to help over 2,500 people in life-threatening conditions. To ensure that it can support as many people as possible, for 18 hours of the day it operates with two crews. For the remaining six, when it is quieter but there are still people out there who need us, it operates with one crew.

None of us ever know when we, our family, our friends or our community may need this vital service.

At KSS, there is a team of dispatchers who screen all 999 calls. It is their job to signal to crews that their help is needed.

Highly skilled pilots then take over, flying the medical team safely to the scene via the most direct route. They are often challenged to land in difficult locations - irrespective of the time of day or night – to ensure that medics get there as quickly as they can.

Each mission is attended by a doctor – typically a specialist in anesthesia or emergency medicine – and a paramedic who is trained in critical care and accustomed to challenging environments. The combination of their specialist skills means patients can be treated with world class, urgent medical care directly at the scene.

Patients may need to be placed into an induced coma to prevent further swelling from a brain injury. They may need a complex surgical procedure to enable them to breathe. They may even need an emergency blood transfusion.

All of these life-saving treatments would be demanding in a hospital environment and yet, for the medical teams at Air Ambulance Kent Surrey Sussex, they are treatments that must be administered in all weathers, sometimes at night and in fields, and in woods or on remote pathways in order to save lives.

After initial treatment, medical teams then decide which hospital is in a position to best support the patient’s ongoing care needs, returning to the skies and transferring them in the quickest time possible.