2024 Year in Review – pt 1
February 12, 2025YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS MADE THE DIFFERENCE
Thank you to each of our incredible volunteers who dedicated their time, skills and passion to support GWAAC. Their generosity made a real difference, helping us reach more people and raise vital funds to help save local lives.
donated by 396 volunteers
delivered by 14 volunteers to community groups and businesses
collected in 400 collection tins by 11 volunteers
worked by 218 volunteers across our nine shops.
That procedure [thoracostomy] and everything else they did, is usually done in a hospital. They did it on the side of the road, in the dark, in the wet. I’m here because of what that GWAAC team did for me.
Simon's story
A routine trip to the supermarket ended in devastation for Simon – a crash took his partner’s life and left him critically injured. Our crew rushed to the scene and very quickly saw how critically ill Simon was. His spine, ribs, lungs and heart had been severely damaged. SPCC, Pete Reeve, describes him as one of the most broken people he had ever seen.
On the roadside, our crew anaesthetised Simon, performed a thoracostomy to relieve pressure on his lungs and gave him several blood transfusions. The priority was to get Simon stable enough to make the trip to Southmead Hospital, bypassing nearer hospitals. Against all odds, Simon survived and recovered to walk again – something he was told wouldn’t be possible.
Young Person of the Year
Ethan Ross-Smith won the Young Person of the Year award at the Air Ambulances UK Awards of Excellence for his work fundraising and volunteering for GWAAC. Inspired by his dad, Operations Officer Tim Ross-Smith, Ethan abseiled to raise money, guided people around our critical care cars at events, and helped at a photo-shoot of a crew simulation.
Supporting medical students to practise clinical scenarios
In 2024, our volunteers supported our crew at clinical outreach and education events by participating in simulations, including at our SPCC recruitment day, and contributing to clinical photoshoot days, adding a level of realism and human interaction to scenarios.
Volunteers have been a huge help to our team. Having them act as patients in simulations provides a realistic element for participants. Students have fed back that it means they have to focus on human factors as well as clinical care, better preparing them to treat patients in real life.
OUR FINANCES
*subject to audit
Where our money came from
How our money was spent
We secured support for our permanent home
We are incredibly grateful to our major supporters, John James Bristol Foundation, County Air Ambulance HELP Appeal and The Nisbet Trust for their commitment from the earliest stages of the Mission Support Centre project.
