2024: Reflecting on a year to remember

This is only possible thanks to you and your kindness and support, so we’re taking a few moments to look back on another busy twelve months with just a few of our highlights, reflections and your achievements in 2024.

Operations

During Air Ambulance Week in September, we announced that EAAA now provides treatment and care to, on average, six people every day who are experiencing medical emergencies.

Touring Pilot Dave marked the milestone of reaching 10,000 flying hours. Captain Steve, EAAA’s longest standing pilot, stood down after an incredible 18 years of service to his community. Captain Steve was recognised at the Air Ambulance UK Awards of Excellence, winning Pilot of the Year.

In May, we welcomed the news that planning had been granted for a 24/7 helipad at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, our region’s Major Trauma Centre. In the same month, we marked the sobering milestone that EAAA had treated 25,000 patients since the charity launched in 2000.

The Anglia One (Norwich) helicopter completed a one-off trial Sustainable Aviation Fuel in July 2024.

Throughout 2024, our Aftercare Team continued to provide invaluable support to local people and their loved ones in the turbulent aftermath of their life changing incident, helping them make the difficult transition back to daily life and beyond.

Our Research, Audit, Innovation and Development (RAID) group held their one-day medical research conference at Downing College in Cambridge in November. The event, which was open to everyone with an interest in pre-hospital emergency medicine (PHEM), focussed on innovations in pre-hospital resuscitation.

Volunteering

We completely depend on an incredible team of dedicated and diverse volunteers who donate their time, energy and skills to EAAA in many ways. In 2023/24, we challenged them to donate the equivalent donate the equivalent of 30 taskings worth of their time in 2023/24. This year, they far surpassed this by donating the equivalent of 52 taskings!

From CPR volunteers to speakers, admin and collection box volunteers and all those regular and occasional volunteers who help at events, including EAAA flagship events Trek 24 and Only The Brave, their dedication continues to make a life-saving impact, for which we are truly thankful.

Our community

With each tasking costing an average of £4,250, our community of EAAA donors, fundraisers and supporters kept the helicopters in the air and critical care cars on the road during 2024. You came out in your hundreds (and thousands!) to take part in EAAA’s flagship Trek 24 and Only The Brave events, fuelled by your commitment to provide life-saving critical care to people who need it most.

Beyond our own events, in August we watched in awe as Manette Baillie completed a skydive in Suffolk to mark her 102nd birthday. She nominated EAAA as one of the good causes to benefit from her fundraising jump, and her amazing feat caught the attention of media outlets across the world!

The Lap of Anglia saw pedal power over four days, 435 miles, 14,167 feet, sun, heavy rain and strong winds as 59 cyclists took on the 2024 lap. They raised over £60,000 and, in October, the Lap of Anglia organisers announced that this had taken their lifetime fundraising in aid of EAAA to over £290,000.

Bullock Fair Charity Shop in Harleston raised £1 million to help save lives across the region during their twenty years of support for EAAA. In October, Bullock Fair’s Managing Director, Sally, also featured on BBC One’s The Repair Shop, when a model air ambulance helicopter, that had been on the roof of the shop for many years, was lovingly restored by the programme’s experts.

EAAA’s Community CPR Team trained over 30,000 people in CPR and how to use a defibrillator. This means that more people in Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk are equipped with the skills to help save a life in the event of a cardiac arrest. Claire Whitehouse, from Thorpe near Norwich, was a catalyst for ensuring 1,111 people received training from EAAA, after she performed CPR on her neighbour when he suffered a cardiac arrest.

Charity news

The latest series of Emergency Helicopter Medics, featuring medical emergencies and patients treated by EAAA crews, aired on Channel 4 and More 4 in May. The programmes offered viewers a further insight into the work of air ambulances in the UK and we were honoured to be a part of this programme again.

Helimed House, our Norwich headquarters, opened its doors for the Heritage Open Days. We welcomed 500 visitors over a weekend in September during Air Ambulance Week.

We launched our ‘Missions’ app, which uses real-time data to enable supporters of East Anglian Air Ambulance to give micro-donations each time the crew are tasked to somebody experiencing a medical emergency. In October, the app was recognised at the Third Sector Awards as winner in the Digital Innovation category.

None of this would have been possible without you. EAAA receives no regular government funding and relies almost entirely on public donations. In the year ahead, we’re committed to saving even more lives, and we are immensely grateful that you continue to inspire us with your kindness and generosity every single day.

On behalf of everybody at EAAA, we send our best wishes for a happy and healthy 2025.