Business Talks – Helicopter Tour and Defibrillator Training – 23rd May

Pictures may be taken at this event. If you do not wish your picture to be taken, please let us know ahead of the event.

Bookings will remain open until the event itself, but please note that if you book with less than 24 hours to go, your name won’t be on the “List of Attendees” or the “Signing in Sheet” and you won’t have a “Name Badge” on arrival.

As a Chamber Member, you will have exclusive access to the “List of Attendees”.

On Thursday 23rd May from 10:30am – 12pm we will be bringing together key businesses from across the South East at an exclusive event at our Rochester Base.

You’ll hear first-hand from key members of Air Ambulance Charity Kent Surrey Sussex (KSS), including award-winning CEO David Welch, Charity Times Leader of the Year 2021, and Kent Ambassador. You’ll have the opportunity to look around the helicopter and meet the crew of doctors, paramedics and pilots. Plus enjoy an opportunity of face-to-face networking with other key business leaders over light refreshments. And learn how to deliver CPR and use a defibrillator.

We hope you never need us, but every year thousands of people do. And if you do, we’ll be there to fight for your life. Our helicopters are flying emergency rooms. When there’s a life-or-death call, we bring specialised doctors, paramedics and treatment to the scene, fast. And we don’t stop. 24/7, 365 days a year. Every day 5,000 people in the South East dial 999 seeking medical help. We respond to a handful of these – nine a day on average. But these are the most critical emergencies. Injuries and illnesses where only we can make a life-saving difference.

We were called to 3,328 missions, that’s nine missions every day, 104 more missions in 2023 than in 2022. This increase is quite remarkable, considering 2022 and 2021 were also our busiest ever. The need for our service is showing no signs of slowing down, and we need your help now more than ever.

1,397 of these missions were in Kent. These missions ranged from a 74-year-old man who suffered a cardiac arrest to an 18-year-old woman involved in a road traffic collision. These were people like you and me going to work, on the school run, going to the pub not knowing they were about to have the worst day of their lives.

In 2023 our costs increased by £2.2M. It now costs 18.8M a year, £51,000 a day to deliver our lifesaving care, an increase of 13% in just a year. An average mission costs £4,100. This is because of both new initiatives and new challenges. We invested in our fleet, upgrading our last MD902 helicopter to an AW169 which is faster and offers the potential to deliver care in the air. We also continued to innovate, including testing drones to deliver defibrillators.

Please see our full list of our event Terms and Conditions