Paramedics in Hampshire help collect vital medical supplies for Ukraine which could help save 'thousands of lives'

Staff from the South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS), which covers Hampshire as well as other counties in the south of England, have donated enough items to maintain a Ukrainian field hospital for two weeks.

Equipment includes traction splints, neck collars, back boards, tourniquets, stretchers, blankets, blast and field dressings, decompression needles, chest seals, bandages, haemostatic agents to stop bleeding, extrication devices (used to remove victims of traffic collisions) and cannulas for types of intravenous access.

The supplies will fill one full lorry and will be going directly to field hospitals to enable some of the most severely injured soldiers and civilians to be kept alive for up to 24 hours while they await emergency surgery in hospital.

Kate Ellis, a paramedic team leader in Oxfordshire who has been helping to coordinate the SCAS response, said: ‘The response we have seen throughout the organisation has been incredible from the very start and we have now ramped it up further with the donation of medical supplies and equipment which we know are so desperately needed in the conflict zones.

‘This will help to ensure people can receive care for up to 24 hours while they await emergency surgery in hospital, meaning there is the potential for this work to help save hundreds, if not thousands, of lives.’

In addition, another two lorries are set to be loaded with further donations from staff, members of the public, community groups and businesses from across the south – including clothes, bedding, food and baby products – and forms part of a large-scale donation effort coordinated from Didcot, in Oxfordshire.

The lorries will be driven by Ukrainian nationals who will leave tomorrow evening (April 2) for their final destination in Lviv in eastern Ukraine.

Will Hancock, chief executive of SCAS, added: ‘We are all extremely proud of this work to support those most in need.

‘The resolve everyone has shown to not only keep delivering in the day job after such a tough time of late but also drive forward with this outstanding voluntary programme is truly amazing.’

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