WHEN it comes to life and death every second really does count. 

And for the crew of Essex and Herts Air Ambulance getting to the scene as quickly as possible is paramount. 

For every minute that somebody’s in cardiac arrest without any intervention, their chance of survival drops by more than 10 per cent. 

To bolster its cover over the counties of Essex and Hertfordshire the air ambulance charity has launched a second £8.5million lifesaving AW169 aircraft. 

To mark the launch of the helicopter we were invited to see the incredible work the crews do – and get the rare opportunity of a ride in the aircraft. 

Flying from North Weald airbase to Hatfield, I and the other lucky passengers got a 20-minute trip in the sky, where we saw parts of Essex, London and Hertfordshire.

The normal flight path for this journey would take a matter of minutes, but the journey was slowed down as we learned about the lifesaving helicopter.

It costs the charity £1million a month to keep its aircraft operational, which would not be possible without donations from the public.

Paramedic Adam Carr sees first hand day in, day out, how important the air ambulance is. 

He said: “More than 40 per cent of the work we go to now is medical in nature, with the majority cardiac arrests. And we see this huge difference in someone who’s had bystander CPR and someone who hasn’t had bystander CPR.

“There’s more than 35,000 cardiac arrests in East of England that these services attend to and the success rate in this country is probably eight to ten per cent.

“For every minute that somebody’s in cardiac arrest and they are not having any intervention, their chance of survival drops by over 10 per cent, so that’s huge and unfortunately we can’t get there quickly enough for that. So we need someone to be on that, as soon as they can, and as effectively as they can.”

The new helicopter is one of two aircraft and four rapid response vehicles across the charity’s bases in Earls Colne and North Weald.

In the first five months of this year, they have attended to 917 patients at a range of road collisions, medical emergencies, accidental injuries and other trauma incidents.

Jane Gurney, CEO, says none of this would be possible without the public digging deep to donate. 

She said: “It’s such a milestone for us to be able to own our second AW169. “It’s all thanks to the amazing support of the communities across Essex and Hertfordshire which we couldn’t do any of this without. We’re just so grateful.”

We were able to take a ride in the helicopter as it was not operational – which Jane described as a “very rare”. 

She added: “It means everything to be able to offer this unique ride which never usually happens.

“We’re still operational with our backup aircraft, so I’m very keen to let everyone know not to worry, it doesn’t mean you haven’t got our services today because you absolutely have.”

Jane said: “It costs £1million a month and there are so many ways that people can support us.
“If anyone does want to do more for us, you can join our 450 volunteers, or if you want to donate you can check out the website.”

Former Capital Breakfast radio presenter and MasterChef winner, Lisa Snowdon, who is an ambassador for EHAAT, was also at the celebration event.

She described the crews as “heroes of the skies”. 

She said: “They can save lives and provide that clinical and critical care, they can work by the road sides and they can take people in and out difficult situations.”

Lisa became an ambassador after filming for MasterChef.  She said: “I was doing MasterChef in 2022 and there is always a mass catering challenge, and we were up early one morning and went to North Weald.

“There was a lot of pressure as I just knew it was for Essex and Hertfordshire Air Ambulance. I was team leader for this challenge, and I got to meet a lot of amazing people that work within the company.

“I was approached by Cliff [operations director] who asked me as a Hertfordshire girl and someone who lives in Essex, whether I would like to be an ambassador, so it was kind of a no brainer.”