News & Stories News Support DSAA this Air Ambulance Week - Today’s Supporter, Tomorrows Lifesaver Join Us for Air Ambulance Week from Monday 9th September to Sunday 15th September 2024! Your involvement can make a life-saving difference. This Air Ambulance Week, your support can save lives! Whether it’s hosting a fundraising event, joining our weekly lottery or making a donation, every action counts. Why Your Support Matters We are your local air ambulance charity and we are funded by you! Our team of doctors and specialist practitioners bring the hospital to critically ill or injured patients when it is needed the most. The enhanced skills of our team, specialist equipment and drugs that we carry, along with the speed of our response, is often the difference between life and death. With operational costs of nearly £10 million a year and the approximate cost of one mission equating to £3,500, every pound raised during Air Ambulance Week will play a vital role in helping our crew to continue saving lives. How You Can Help Donate £10 today to help us save lives Donate here > or call 01823 669604 Join our Flight for Life Lottery Sign up for just £5 a month > Become a Regular Donor Support us with a monthly gift > Host a Brew for the Crew A yummy way to get involved! Host a Brew for the Crew in your home, in your community, workplace or school. Enjoy a cuppa, some treats, and help raise vital funds for DSAA. Sign up for free, and we'll provide you with everything you need to make your event a success, including downloadable posters, invitations, recipe cards and more! Sign Up for Brew for the Crew A Message from Our CEO Speaking of the importance of public support and looking ahead, Charles Hackett, our CEO commented: "Last year we were tasked to over 2,900 incidents; the charity’s busiest year on record. In some ways this is good news, as each year we are able to bring vital, life-saving care to more patients who need it, with more people being helped and saved. But, at the same time, it shows how many people in our area need the enhanced and critical care that we provide, care that is otherwise not available outside of hospital. Next year, Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance will be 25 years old. Is that a time to look back and celebrate what has been achieved? Perhaps, but even more importantly to look forwards. In order to reach all the patients that need our care, to increase the hours per day that we are available, we need to increase the resilience of our aviation capability by having a second aircraft and build an operation base which is fit for 24-hour operations. With thanks to the wonderful generosity of the public to our cause thus far, we’ve started put plans in place by securing a delivery slot from the helicopter manufacturer and having an initial design scheme for an operational base upgrade. Our birthday next year brings the challenging gift of ensuring that we have the funds to complete these enhancements to our service and to cover the operational costs that continue to rise. But it also brings the opportunity to reach and provide life-saving care to patients in their hour of great need and that opportunity is huge motivation enough. Throughout Air Ambulance Week, you can make a difference; each act of kindness today, becomes hope for tomorrow. Your support is vital in enabling us to reach every patient that needs us, so on behalf of them, thank you." Manage Cookie Preferences