Schools compete to name Kent air ambulance

KentOnline / KMTV

It's part of fundraising efforts by Air Ambulance Charity Kent Surrey Sussex.

Transcript

00:00Earlier this month Air Ambulance charity Kent Surrey Sussex launched a fundraiser to buy

00:05their second helicopter, which they currently lease.

00:09The charity says buying the helicopter will allow its pilots and paramedics to fly for

00:13longer and potentially save more lives.

00:17As you can hear from the noise this Air Ambulance has just landed outside the KSS headquarters

00:23in Rochester and what a sight it is.

00:27Now a new competition will allow schools and youth groups across Kent to name the helicopter

00:33as part of the Buy It For Life campaign.

00:36It's really important that everyone in the community knows what we do and understands

00:39the important role that we play and we want to get the community involved so school children

00:44are really important and there's a big programme that we have planned to help educate and train

00:48children so that they know what to do if they come across someone who's experienced a medical

00:53emergency and it's also a chance for schools to feel very much a part of every life-saving

00:58mission that we fly to save a patient's life.

01:02Schools will have until the 24th of May to submit their entries, with the winners being

01:06announced in June.

01:08So what names have the children landed on?

01:10I think it might be Hilary the Helicopter, maybe.

01:13Why Hilary?

01:14I don't know, I just like that name, somehow, Hilary the Helicopter, it's a period of alliteration.

01:22So, we said Sana, because in Latin it means to heal or hail.

01:27I was thinking Lifty the Lifesaver, because like alliteration, and also it lives from

01:35the ground.

01:36What about you?

01:37I was thinking Hector.

01:39I came up with Hilary because I've just always loved that name, and it rhymes.

01:43And I came up with Lifty the Lifesaver because I love the name Lifty and this really is a

01:48lifesaver, everything that it does.

01:50It was great to see the kids, they were very excited to see the aircraft, they had some

01:54really creative names, I'm not going to pick one but I do have my favourite, but it was

02:00really entertaining, it was really good fun to have them here.

02:02Right, I know you're not a child anymore, but if you were going to name the aircraft,

02:06what would your name be?

02:08Oh, I'd have to stick with something from Thomas the Tank Engine, Harold the Helicopter.

02:14Yeah, as you can see, the enthusiasm of the children to get involved in this project is

02:18amazing.

02:19But what we really need is everyone to get involved, it's essential for people's survival

02:25in the future.

02:26It's really important because they obviously know what happened to me three years ago,

02:30so I obviously was a patient of the Air Ambulance, and therefore it's just putting a bit of backstory

02:35and a bit of thank you back to the Air Ambulance to say for everything they did for me.

02:39We can come along and help them.

02:40With half a million raised so far and half a million still to go, it's really up in the

02:45air whether KSS will raise the money they need.

02:49Oliver Leeds of the South reporting for KNTV.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended