Last Thursday my colleague, Sam Moylan-Heydt and I had the privilege to represent Cisco at the launch of the London Air Ambulance’s new educational app HeliMed. The app was launched to inspire school children to study Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) in a fun and engaging way.
After a brief fly-by, the Air Ambulance, finally found its home on the football pitches at St.Pauls Way School in Mile End, East London – much to the amazement of the attending guests and, of course, the school children.
HeliMed’s launch is particularly special for me as not only am I supporter and fundraiser of the work that this amazing team of talented individuals but the company I work for made a significant investment to help get HeliMed off the ground via a grant from the Cisco Foundation.
What’s the London Air Ambulance and what does it do?
The London Air Ambulance is a Specialist Doctor and Advanced Paramedic team that provides advanced medical care to the most vulnerable patients across London. During the day they use an Air Ambulance and at night they use fast response vehicles which carry the same level of equipment. On average, the London Air Ambulance will deliver this life saving care to 5 patients per day – in its 28-year history, that is providing care to over 35,000 patients.
The London Air Ambulance can deliver this Advanced Clinical team to any location within the M25 within 8 minutes. Once on site, the team will set to work managing the situation and providing life saving treatment at the roadside. They say that first hour of care is known as the Golden Hour and without this team of highly trained individuals it can literally be the difference between life and death.
Not many people know this, but all 25 Air Ambulance Services across the UK are registered charities and raise their own funds for the running and maintenance of the helicopters and in some instances, planes.
Why HeliMed & Cisco?
Part of the legacy from Cisco’s support for the London 2012 Olympics is our continued involvement in inspiring STEM related projects, so to me this project seemed to be a perfect fit for Cisco and the Cisco Foundation.
The HeliMed app enables students to bring STEM subject to life by working out the fly time and then flying the Helicopter through the London back drop, treating the patient and choosing which of the 4 London based Trauma Centers they should return to.
The App is currently being launched into a number of schools across Tower Hamlets and Newham in East London.
Through the donation from the Cisco Foundation and other partners, the app is free to download from both iTunes and GooglePlay
All Photos can be found here
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1 Comments
Andy,
This is brilliant. I know the guys at LAA and it’s a fantastic cause.
I’ll download the app’ and take a look.
Stu