• Swindon & Wiltshire News
• Wednesday May 1 2013

Chamber raises cash for highway heroes

Wiltshire’s highway heroes Swift Medics are nearly £800 better off, thanks to a fundraising drive by Marlborough Chamber of Commerce.

Chamber president Paul Shimell and treasurer Rachel Atkins presented doctors Dan Bawden and Jonathan Glover with a cheque for £795.43, the proceeds of a charity ball.

Swift Medics are the volunteer doctors who save lives at the scenes of Wiltshire emergencies before the victims are transported to hospital by the emergency services or Wiltshire Air Ambulance.

Because of the advanced skills of doctors compared with emergency paramedics alone, lives are much more likely to be saved when a Swift Medic attends the scene.

Over a year Swift Medics will attend over 300 medical emergencies, saving a life or preventing permanent, life-changing disabilities on around one in six occasions. And they want to increase the number of people saved.

But despite their vital role in saving lives, Swift Medics receive no funding from local or central government, health trusts, or the NHS. It costs £10,000 to train and equip a new member of the team, and costs a further £3,000 per team member, per year in training, equipment and insurance.

To find out more about the work of Swift Medics, log on to www.swiftmedics.net or find them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SWIFTMedics