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State funding as charity expands on the ground efforts

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By Sean Moriarty

Ireland's Community Air Ambulance service is to get Government funding for the first time ever since its foundation.

The team behind the Irish Community Air Ambulance is to step back from providing a Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) and will focus on its on-the-ground team of volunteer doctors and drivers.

The helicopter element of its services will be taken over by a Government agency - and as a result the organisation will change its name to CRITICAL.

The charity will continue to provide the Air Ambulance until February 28 and will then pass the baton to the new State-funded HEMS service based in the South West.

The charity will then focus on expanding its network of Volunteer Emergency Medical Responders into more communities across the country.

The charity was established in 2009 as the Irish Community Rapid Response, and in 2019 it successfully launched Ireland’s first and only charity Air Ambulance.

Since then, it has been tasked to more than 1,500 serious incidents and emergencies.

The charity has a fleet of Rapid Response Vehicles which have facilitated Critical Care Doctors and experienced GPs to respond to more than 1,800 incidents since 2020 alone.

Their teams are already on the ground in counties Mayo, Donegal and Dublin, with additional volunteer doctors set to join them in Kildare, Dublin, Wicklow and Waterford in the coming months.

“The Irish Community Air Ambulance was established by our charity in 2019 in response to what we knew was a need for a HEMS service in the south west of Ireland. We have consistently shown how vital the service is, so much so that it is now set to be fully funded by the State,” Micheál Sheridan, CEO of CRITICAL, said.

“We would like to thank all of those who helped keep HeliMed92 flying for the past couple of years and the HSE for its support over the last 10 months. We will now focus our efforts on our ground based Volunteer Emergency Medical Response initiative and bring Critical and Advanced levels of care to more communities across Ireland, both rural and urban.”

CRITICAL will work closely with the National Ambulance Service and has a number of Volunteer Emergency Medicine Doctors and Volunteer Emergency Medical Responders around the country. These volunteers are tasked by the National Ambulance Service to support the provision of pre-hospital emergency care to critically ill and injured patients in their local communities.

“We’re excited to focus on our network of volunteer critical and advanced care doctors. We have plans to expand this network and are already working with the National Ambulance Service in this regard. Our ground teams responded to more than 1,800 incidents over the last three years alone, working in partnership with the emergency services to give people the very best chance of survival when they find themselves seriously ill or injured,” added Mr Sheridan.

The charity has a fleet of Rapid Response Vehicles which have facilitated Critical Care Doctors and experienced GPs to respond to more than 1,800 incidents since 2020 alone. Their teams are already on the ground in counties Mayo, Donegal and Dublin, with additional volunteer doctors set to join them in Kildare, Dublin, Wicklow and Waterford in the coming months.

RESOURCES

In 2022 the charity’s resources were tasked to a total of 1,000 calls. Road Traffic Collisions and Cardiac Arrests accounted for almost half of all incidents.

The organisation will fundraise to kit out its volunteers so they can continue their life-saving work.

It costs an average of €25,000 to establish an Advanced Level Volunteer Doctor in the community; and €120,000 to put a new Critical Care Response Vehicle on the road.

The charity will be launching a new website in the coming weeks, in the meantime visit communityairambulance.ie or its social media channels for updates.

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Massive Park Road housing development given green light

A private developer has been given planning permission to build 249 new residential units at Upper Park Road. The development, which will be built on a recently cleared site near […]

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A private developer has been given planning permission to build 249 new residential units at Upper Park Road.

The development, which will be built on a recently cleared site near An Post’s sorting office, will include a variety of properties from five-bed houses to single apartments, along with a crèche and over 500 car spaces and over 300 bike spaces.

The development has been welcomed by local councillor Martin Grady.

“Killarney has a massive housing shortage so this is very positive. It will retain young families in the area, stimulating economic growth,” he said. “After 17 years of different planning applications it’s finally coming to fruition.”

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Ballydribeen residents living in fear due to anti-social behaviour

Residents in the Ballydribeen are living in fear as a result of increased anti-social behaviour in the estate. Several serious incidents in the estate have resulted in several Garda visits […]

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Residents in the Ballydribeen are living in fear as a result of increased anti-social behaviour in the estate.

Several serious incidents in the estate have resulted in several Garda visits in the last week.

Local councillor Martin Grady told the Killarney Advertiser that residents are “living in fear” as a result of very serious incidents in the last week alone.

One house in the estate was badly damaged when fire crackers were placed inside a letter box.

Another house had its windows smashed in over the weekend.

“It’s a major problem,” added Grady after meeting residents there earlier this week.

One of the most serious incidents occurred on Tuesday night.

A passing motorists had rocks thrown at his car while driving along the bypass whch is adjacent to the estate.
Taking to social media, local primary-school teacher Pádraig O’Sullivan posted:

“Travelling home tonight, at 11.05pm on the Killarney side of the bypass our car was hit by a rock – not a pebble – from the Ballydribben side , which hit the passenger door.

“It was centimetres away from hitting the window where my father, who is visually impaired, was sitting.

“This could have caused catastrophic permanent injury to him.

“The Killarney Garda were on the scene within three minutes.

“They can’t be patrolling the bypass all night.

“It comes down to parenting. You should know where your children are at this hour and be able to teach them what’s funny and what ruin a person’s life or cause a fatal crash.“

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