Leinster vs Connacht

leinster rugby charity partner
Irish Community
Air Ambulance
The Irish Community Air
Ambulance is Ireland’s only
charity Helicopter Emergency
Medical Service (HEMS) Air
Ambulance. The organisation
works in partnership with the
National Ambulance Service,
responding to serious incidents
and medical emergencies 365
days a year.
The Community Air Ambulance is based
in Co Cork however the charity plays a
significant role in Leinster. Last year, the
HEMS Air Ambulance was tasked to
incidents in Wexford, Kilkenny, Offaly,
Wicklow and Kildare. It also funds a
Critical Care Rapid Response service
staffed by Volunteer Critical Care Doctors
and an Advanced Life Support Doctor
Service with community-based GPs. In
total, the charity was tasked to 625
incidents and emergencies in Leinster
during 2021.
The Critical Care Rapid Response service
has expanded in Dublin in recent weeks.
Two Specialist Registrars in Emergency
Medicine, Dr Andy Patton and Dr Daragh
Mathews, are now volunteering with the
service, providing pre-hospital emergency
care to critically ill and injured patients
across Dublin and surrounding counties.
Dr Andy Patton who has been a
Volunteer Doctor with the charity since
2021 was tasked to 283 incidents
and emergencies during 2021 alone
including cardiac arrests, road traffic
collisions and major traumas. He has
been joined on the team by Dr Daragh
Mathews. They are often called to the
sickest and most critically injured patients
including cardiac arrests, RTCs, falls from
heights, assaults and stabbings.
Dr Patton explains, “Critically ill and
injured patients can deteriorate rapidly
before reaching hospital. By responding
to the patient in the community, we can
intervene earlier and give them the
best chance of survival with a good
recovery. We are essentially bringing the
Emergency Department to the patient.”
Micheál Sheridan, CEO of the Irish
Community Air Ambulance, added,
“We now have a team of five specialists
in Emergency Medicine volunteering
their time in counties Dublin, Mayo and
Donegal. We’re lucky to be joined by
such highly qualified professionals who
work in Emergency Departments across
the country. The aim of our organisation is
to bring hope to patients when they need
it most and our rapid response teams are
central to that.”
Dr Daragh Mathews said, “I am
delighted to be able to start providing
Pre-Hospital Critical Care in Dublin and
surrounding counties as a Volunteer
Doctor with Irish Community Air
Ambulance. We work alongside the
brilliant paramedics and advanced
paramedics of the National Ambulance
Service and Dublin Fire Brigade to
provide hospital level interventions at the
roadside for the sickest or most seriously
injured patients.
Dr Jason Horan is a Consultant in
Emergency Medicine at Mayo University
Hospital. He volunteers with the Irish
Community Air Ambulance in his spare
time. “I make myself available to the HSE
National Ambulance Service to respond
to the more serious 999 calls in the local
community. Because of the geographical
spread, often I will be the first
professional resource to arrive. I respond
to the more serious road traffic collisions,
other significant injuries, collapsed
patients, seizing children, cardiac arrests
and childbirth”
For more information about the service
or to make a donation to the Irish
Community Air Ambulance visit:
https://communityairambulance.ie
76 | www.leinsterrugby.ie