Midlands Air Ambulance Charity’s Strensham airbase, located in Worcestershire, has received an extensive refurbishment and extension to include larger aircrew facilities and a dedicated education and training area.
In line with the charity’s commitment to continuously improving its pre-hospital patient care offering, the new building now includes a brand new training room.
Hanna Sebright, chief executive for Midlands Air Ambulance Charity, explains why a new training room was required. “As a progressive charity we are always looking for efficient and effective ways to develop our operations. At our Strensham airbase, due to irreparable weather damage to our stand-alone education and training centre in 2018, we made the strategic decision to combine our aircrew accommodation building with a new fit-for-purpose facility and training room for the community and education purposes.
“The training area allows the specialist clinicians to undertake theoretical and practical simulations in a larger and more suitable environment, helping them to continually develop their skills to support patient care.”
A carport was also built for the charity’s rapid response vehicle and Worcester-based cardiac car. This means the aircrew do not have to de-ice the cars in the winter, and provides cover during the daily vehicle and kit checks. Works to the hangar included a specialist gel coating painted to the walls and roof, which allows natural movement of the hangar without joint leakage.
Funding for the £200,000 renovation, which took seven weeks to complete, was partly funded by donations from the public and by a grant from the HELP Appeal – the only charity in the country dedicated to funding hospital and air ambulance base helipads.
Robert Bertram, chief executive for the HELP Appeal, states: “We are delighted to have been able to make a further donation to the Midlands Air Ambulance Charity to help fund a larger aircrew facility. Also having a new carport protecting its emergency responder vehicles from freezing weather, will mean that the vehicles will be ready to respond to an incident immediately, which will save time and save lives.”
The build was completed by Redditch-based contractors DES Build, using Wernick module buildings, following design and build consultancy from Lambert Smith Hampton.
For more information on Midlands Air Ambulance Charity and how you can support the lifesaving service, visit www.midlandsairambulance.com, find Midlands Air Ambulance Charity on social media, or call the team on 0800 8 40 20 40.
