Peggy Clifford’s Birthday Fundraiser in Blackwater Tavern raised €1,666.46 for the Irish Community Rapid Response (by Land and Air) Air Ambulance. Many thanks to everyone who supported the fundraiser. Pictured at the cheque presentation in Blackwater Tavern were Danny Breen, Jimmy O’Sullivan, Denis Downing, John Egan, Jonathan Egan, Daniel de Sylva, George O’Neill, Mike de Sylva, Mary O’Neill, Peggy Clifford, Ruth Bruton, Kieran O’Neill and Teddy O’Neill. pic Mary O’Neill
Irish Community Rapid Response (ICRR) is a charity dedicated to delivering pre-hospital care to people in serious life-threatening emergencies through volunteer medical professionals across Ireland. When you call Ireland’s emergency numbers, 999 or 112, to report a life-threatening medical emergency, an ambulance will be dispatched from the nearest hospital. At the same time, the emergency services will deploy an ICRR Volunteer Doctor, Rapid Response Vehicle or the ICRR Air Ambulance.
‘Irish Community Rapid Response are committed to providing safe, effective, and timely emergency medical care to those seriously ill or injured in Ireland through the provision of a network of volunteer doctors, Rapid Response Vehicles and a dedicated Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS). “Right people are in the Right place at the Right time with the Right equipment and the Right skills to achieve the Right outcome”’
ICRR have now recruited and trained volunteer doctors in many key geographic locations in Ireland. To enable these doctors operate effectively, ICRR aims to recruit volunteer Community Champions in every community they operate in. These champions will support the medical team by fundraising and generating support and awareness locally, helping to save lives in their community.
The Irish Community Rapid Response ICRR urgently needs €400,000 to keep them flying but this has not been raised to date. The (ICRR) led Air Ambulance, has recently been reduced to a five day only per week service, to ensure the service can continue for another six weeks. However, this cost saving measure is a temporary fix to ensure 6 weeks of continued service before the financial viability of the service is reviewed again. There is a Go Fund Me link on their Facebook page to raise money.
The ICRR Air Ambulance is estimated to fly 600 missions in 2020, but with the reduced days to the service, there will be over 184 missions that it will not respond to. The types of life-threatening missions that the ICRR Air Ambulance responds to are medical and trauma related such as road traffic collisions, farm accidents, anaphylaxis, cardiac arrest and strokes.
The ICRR Air Ambulance, a HEMS service, is run in partnership between the charity, and the HSE National Ambulance Service (NAS), who provide the medical crew. NAS tasks the service through 112 / 999 calls to its National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC). However, the helicopter, pilots, air-base, insurance and fuel are 100% funded through donations to the charity, ICRR.
Please Support this vital emergency service in anyway you can.
Tickets for the 
draw are €5 each or 3 for €10 and are available now at Kenmare Post Office until Friday February 21st.
A Bingo Night for the Air Ambulance takes place in Brooklane Hotel Friday February 28th at 8pm.
For further information about the Air Ambulance or to organise a fundraiser call Ruth Bruton on 086 4182144 or email ruth.bruton@icrr.ie