PREPARING for night flights in Holsworthy, a representative from the Devon Air Ambulance Trust (DAAT) visited members of the community on Monday, September 26, for a celebration day.

The town will soon have an operational ‘night-time’ helipad, which will be situated at the local football club’s grounds as lighting infrastructure is already in place here.

Community helipads development officer, Toby Russell, came along on the day to speak about what has been involved with the project so far and where all donated money is being spent.

He explained to those present that the money donated from local groups has been spent on a ‘GSM Switch’, which will be used to control the floodlights allowing the HEMS (helicopter emergency medical service) team to turn the lights off and on via a code sent to a mobile phone SIM.

The air ambulance crew will also received a ‘text back’ service, which will give them peace of mind that the lights are on and the night-time helipad is ready to receive them.

He added: “But don’t worry, no advertising companies or spam can call the number so the lights wont be flicking on and off at random points in the day.”

On why the night-time helipad will be a vital resource for Holsworthy, Mr Russell said: “Having Holsworthy as a focal point for this service will benefit the town and surrounding areas greatly. Because of your rural set up and layout, a service like the helipad will be very important as the journey time to the nearest major trauma centre by land ambulance is long and it will also allow the crew better access to the town later at night.

“The majority of casualties we pick up are taken to Derriford Hospital in the air ambulance. Children with major problems are increasingly being taken to Bristol and major burns are treated at Swansea. These hospitals can cope with night flights because they already do, however, if these journeys were undertaken by land ambulance there is a large difference in time — which can make all the difference in an emergency situation.”

Mr Russell explained that if a casualty was taken to one of the major hospitals, for example Derriford hospital, by land ambulance ‘even on a blue light’ from Holsworthy it would take around 50 minutes. This time would be more than halved if a casualty were transported by air ambulance, he estimated, bringing the time down to around 23 minutes.

Mr Russell said: “The air ambulance have already surveyed the area. This means that they will already know what the site looks like, which can cut down landing time by about ten minutes because they already know the area is safe to land in.”

The new community night-time flying helipad projects will cost the air ambulance an extra £1-million a year, which will take the total cost to £5.5-million a year. In order to implement this community helipad project, Holsworthy, with the help of the town council, needed to acquire additional funding.

Representatives from two of the main funding bodies behind the project, the Balsdon Trust and the Holsworthy Hospital’s League of Friends, were in attendance on the day to show their support for the community asset.

Cllr John Allen joined the celebration day as a representative and trustee of the Holsworthy Hospital League of Friends, he said that ‘the league are very happy to support this worthwhile project’ adding: “It is great because it will be adding another facility/resource to the town.”

Mayor of Holsworthy Jon Hutchings was representing the Balsdon Trust on the day. The trust is a group who give out grants of money to organisations, individuals or projects, like the community helipad in Holsworthy.

Cllr Hutchings said: “The trust is keen to help out local community projects like the air ambulance’s helipad.”

The night-time flight helipad will be situated at the football club’s grounds, where floodlights are already in place.

The football club is also in the process of making other preparations for the Devon Air Ambulances Trust’s new community helipad.

Chairman of the Holsworthy Football Club, Stephen Lee, said they are happy to assist the air ambulance with the new nighttime helipad, even if it does cause disruption to evening game play.

He said: “The football club is happy that if the pitch is in use they will just have to clear the pitch for the landing. It will be no different than when we do it during the day so we don’t mind a little disruption to game play if it is going to mean helping the air ambulance out.”

Mr Lee said, however, that they will have to make a few adjustments in the coming weeks, which will include improvements to the tarmac entrance, which GM Plant contractors will carry out soon.

Concluding the day Cllr Hutchings said: “When I took over as mayor I said there were two things I wanted; defibrillators and a helipad.”

He said that the helipad is a necessary commodity for the air ambulance as it means they are able to fly later into the night, which he added ‘can only be a good thing’.

He said: “The time it has taken to get this project together has been very short, maybe only three months in fact, showing how much support we have had.

“Locally people will see it [the helipad] and how much it is being used. There aren’t many people around here who haven’t been or seen someone taken by the air ambulance in an emergency and will all know how vital this service is.”

The mayor also wanted to express his thanks to all those who came together to help set up this community project.

He said: “Thanks has to go to the town council for pulling everyone together, to the Balsdon Trust and league of friends for their donations towards this project and also a thank you to GM Plant who will be carrying out the work on the access.”

He added: “It’s a nice community project and nice to see people coming together to support it.”

The running cost will now be handed over to the football club and air ambulance. However, Cllr Hutchings said: “If the running cost becomes and issue and unmanageable for the football club then we, at the town council, will look at supporting them in some way if we are able — we aren’t going to just pass it over and not be involved.”

Once work has been completed to the entrance of the football club’s ground to enable land ambulances in to assist more effectively and final checks have been carried out it is hoped that the new helipad site in Holsowrthy will be live and operational by the end of October/November.