Lions clubs throughout the Southeast were invited to Kent Sussex and Surrey (KSS) Air Ambulance headquarters at Redhill Aerodrome on a sunny Saturday, in recognition of their outstanding fundraising efforts for KSSS; Uckfield and District Lions members were included in the guest list.
The presentation started with representatives of KSS thanking Lions in the Southeast for their hard work in raising nearly £500.000 since the partnership with KSS began in 2012. This money has allowed a whole host of vital equipment to be bought such as night flying equipment, rapid response vehicles (RRV’S), video laryngoscopes, portable patient monitoring system and of course kit bags to contain the equipment.
Uckfield Lions Club were thanked for their organization, supported by other clubs in zone 1c, of the annual Bluebell Walk at Arlington which over the last ten years has raised £32.000 for KSS.
The next Lions project for KSS is the purchase of another RRV at a cost of £50.683 ready to hit the road. These vehicles attended 1338 incidents in 2023, many because of weather conditions making flying difficult.
KSS are heavily involved in teaching CPR to school children throughout the Southeast and Lions members where encourage to have ago. During this exercise an emergency was declared and, once outside, Lions noticed a paramedic performing CPR – fortunately on a dummy. We were instructed to look across the airfield and could see a Drone heading towards us. It approached within 10yards of the paramedic and delivered a defibrillator, literally from the sky; the latest innovation being tested by KSS.
After this the Lions had a close-up view of an on-call helicopter, which unfortunately was then called out on an emergency. It was agreed by all attending that KSS are doing a fantastic job and Lions in the Southeast are happy to continue with their support.
