During its 10 years of operation and more than 5,000 missions, the Air Ambulance service has not had many repeat customers.
One of the unfortunate few is Sarah Feenan, a motocross rider from Co Kildare who has twice been picked up by the Emergency Aeromedical Service (EAS) after coming off her bike.
The first time was when she broke her femur in a crash while practising in Mullingar and had to be airlifted to Tallaght Hospital. The second time was August last year at a race day in Athlone.
“It was the last race and last lap. I don’t remember exactly what happened. I don’t remember even getting airlifted. I just remember waking up in Tallaght Hospital,” said Ms Feenan at Casement Aerodrome at an event to mark the 10th anniversary of the EAS on Wednesday.
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“The service was great. They were there so quick and had my pain relief sorted on the track. They kept me calm,” she said. She broke both arms but is now recovered and back on the bike,
Johnny Lyons from Galway was gored by one of his bulls in November 2019. “I woke up five minutes later and I was in behind the gate and the bull looking in at me.”
He waited for the bull to leave before managing to get up the road to his home. “After that I don’t remember much more for 13 days.”
Mr Lyons believes the Air Ambulance, which took him to Galway, saved his life. “They tell me I got a heart attack in the helicopter. But I was in Galway [hospital] within 11 minutes. So that was vital for me.”
The EAS, which comprises a single Air Corps helicopter operating out of Athlone, was set up in 2012 as a joint project between the HSE and the Defence Forces to compensate for the closure of Roscommon Hospital. Its first tasking was for a man injured by a cow.
It was initially set to run for a 12-month trial period covering mostly the midlands. It now covers the entire country and can reach all corners of Ireland within 30 minutes if the conditions are right.
The EAS is flown by Air Corps pilots and National Ambulance Service (NAS) paramedics. Transporting very ill patients via air presents its own challenges, said advanced paramedic Pat Moran. “It’s a hostile environment. During the summer its incredibly warm. If it’s 30 degrees on the ground, it will be 40 in the helicopter. And you can’t open a window. You’re in full PPE so you will literally sweat from the top of your head out your boots.”
It can also be disconcerting for some patients particularly if they are elderly or confused. “It’s alien to them. They are maybe not able to operate the headset. So communication can be lost.”
“There is an awful lot of pride when you look at this service,” said Brig Gen Rory O’Connor, who heads the Air Corps. “Many young men or women, be they technicians or pilots, try to get into this service because we are delivering some real, tangible benefits to people.”
The work of the EAS tends to be seasonal. Capt Jason McDermott, the liaison officer between the NAS and Air Corps, said it is coming into a busy period now.
“At the beginning of the summer it’s motorbikes. Guys tearing it up on bikes which they mightn’t have been on all winter. It’s calving season too.”
The start of the Covid-19 pandemic two years ago also saw a pronounced increase in an unexpected injury category, Capt McDermott said. “DIY injuries. People doing jobs which hadn’t been done for 40 years and injuring their hands and falling off roofs.”
