Yesterday (Thursday September 7) Huntingdon’s Town Hall was illuminated in orange, the colour of the town’s local lifesaving charity Magpas Air Ambulance, to mark air ambulance week.
Air ambulance week 2023 took off on Monday (September 4) and is the annual awareness week dedicated to showcasing the vital work of air ambulance charities across the UK.
Magpas Air Ambulance is a charity which provides lifesaving emergency medical care to patients across the East of England 24/7, but predominantly serves the people of Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire.
To show support for Magpas Air Ambulance, Huntingdon Town Hall was lit up in orange, with the lights being turned on by the Mayor of Huntingdon, Cllr Phil Pearce, and charity flags flew from the balcony.
To mark the occasion, Magpas Air Ambulance CEO, Daryl Brown MBE DL and Critical Care Paramedic Dan Read were also in attendance, alongside Adam Shailer, who knows only too well the lifesaving difference the charity can make when your life is turned upside down.
In August 2016, Adam was riding his motorbike to work when he collided with a car, fell off at high speed and was run over.
In total Adam suffered 18 broken ribs, a broken sternum, air in chest cavity, bruising and bleeding around his lungs, a lacerated liver and kidney, and a squashed bowel in two places.
His pelvis was broken into 29 pieces and one of his knees was completely broken.
The Magpas Air Ambulance advanced medical team was called to him and provided Adam with hospital-level care, including surgical procedures, at the roadside in a bid to save his life.
Magpas Air Ambulance critical care paramedic Dan Read, who was also one of the medical team members who saved Adam’s life that day said: “Adam is the sickest person I have ever treated who has survived.
“I’ll always remember the day of Adam’s incident. The EEAST Ambulance Service crew did an excellent job, but Adam also needed vital hospital level care there and then—Magpas Air Ambulance is available to deliver that to patients in their ultimate moment of need.”
When Adam met Dan Read again at the light up in Huntingdon he said: “It was a privilege to support Magpas Air Ambulance again as Huntingdon Town Hall turned orange as part of Air Ambulance week, and an honour to meet one of the very many people who saved my life again.
“It was great to show Dan how far I’ve come thanks to the opportunities afforded by the lifesaving treatment he gave me that day.”
If you want to find out more about your local lifesaving air ambulance charity, visit magpas.org.uk today.
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