Air Ambulance KSS and Lion Working Harder Than Ever 2022 was the busiest year to date in Air Ambulance Kent Surrey and Sussex (KSS) 35-year history as they were called to 3,224 missions and helped provide life-saving care to 1,928 patients experiencing the worst moments of their lives, an eight percent increase on the previous year. Of these the most common callout was to road traffic collisions (RTCs) which accounted for 30% of their missions. 2023 was again a very busy year. From January to mid-June KSS was called to 1,510 missions and attended 880 of the most seriously injured people in the Southeast, that’s 10 missions and six people every single day. During this time, they saw medical jobs increase to similar levels as those of RTCs, with more patients experiencing cardiac arrest, stroke and complex breathing issues such as asthma being given KSS expert treatment and care at the scene. The continued support from the Lions Clubs of District 105SE enables KSS to be there for these people when they are need most, and our relationship with KSS continues to grow and flourish. We really are helping in the fight to save lives. Past Air Ambulance Newsletters and reports show just how successful our partnership with KSS has been over the past 12 years. That success continues with the completion of our latest appeal for funds to provide seven VScan Ultrasound hand-held units. These have now been provided, and they are in use in all KSS aircraft and rapid response vehicles. “The VScan is durable and robust, ideal for the pre-hospital environment, and provides excellent images which we can easily interpret on scene and also review for training and clinical governance. Tools like this will allow Team KSS to continue to provide world-leading patient care, optimising the chances of a successful outcome for our patients.” Dr Harriet Tucker This brings the total of all our projects with KSS over the past 12 years to around £425,000. And the work goes on. Our next pledge to KSS is to provide eleven sets of newly designed medical kit bags for use in the field. These are vital items of equipment for the medical crews and will be carried to all patients on all callouts, bearing the Lions logo. They will greatly facilitate the treatment of patients in the field and in the air on the way to hospital, thus increasing the chances of a successful recovery. See overleaf for full details of these items as described by our friends at KSS. My fellow Lions, the life-saving service provided by KSS is vital to the wellbeing of all people in our area, and its objectives are in total alignment with our own. Through our partnership with KSS, we can identify exactly what wonderful results our support produces, and how many lives it saves. We can truly say that this is: Lions helping in the fight to save lives Please give as generously as you can. Please send your donations to the District Charities Treasurer in the normal way, clearly marked for “Air Ambulance”. Lion Howard Lee Chairman, Lions Air Ambulance Appeal Steering Group Manage Cookie Preferences