HIOWAA Rapid Response
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance recently became a new client to AmbientLife and photographer Tim Wallace has been spending time with the organisation and related support agencies to document their emergency-based work. We were contacted by the group a few months ago and asked if we could spend a week with them documenting the work that they do both through their HEMs based helicopter and Rapid Response vehicles. This week we spent some time with the Critical Care Doctors that operate the Rapid Response car through to the early hours of the morning each day to provide rapid emergency cover for those in need.
Tim - "When we hear the term 'Air Ambulance' we all often think of a helicopter, however one element that people do not always realise the importance of or indeed its existence, is the Rapid Response Vehicles that operate day and night to get highly capable expert Doctors to a patient location as quickly as possible. It is sometimes the case that an emergency call will come in to the group and whilst the Helicopter is always an option in some cases it is not the fastest option to respond given factors such as the proximity of the emergency where it would take longer to get the helicopter in and landed on the ground where as the Response car can be there faster to deliver the expert care to the patient quicker thus increasing their chance of survival in the most serious of cases. I spent some time recently with 2 Critical Care Doctors as they went online with the Response Car in the Hampshire area to capture some imagery of what it feels like to be in their shoes on a typical evening. The work produced will be utilised by both Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance and South-Central Ambulance Service to raise awareness of their commitment and work to offer the best possible care in sometimes the worst possible situations."
