Handling everything from cardiac arrests to road traffic accidents and even a wasp attack, the unique work of the dedicated team of the East Anglian Air Ambulance (EAAA) saves lives round the clock.
The EAAA gets well over 1,000 helicopter call outs a year. The life-saving charity works 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
This courageous team of aviators and medics launches from a Norwich airfield to respond to the most urgent medical cases in the area. It takes a lot to be part of this elite team, as the difficult cases they encounter leave a mark on even the toughest of responders - marks that would undoubtedly be deeper were it not for the immense camaraderie and sense of family that keep everyone going.
Henrietta Davies wanted to fly since she was 12, and now as a HEMS (Helicopter Emergency Medical Service) pilot she's one of only 39 female commercial helicopter pilots in the UK compared with 1014 male pilots. Women make up just 3.7% of licensed helicopter pilots in the country. She juggles her 12-hour shifts around her three children – all aged below six.
Critical care paramedic Luke Chamberlin lives in a household that literally revolves around the HEMS team- his wife Paige is also a paramedic on the service. They balance their shifts with raising their 2-year-old son. Luke believes becoming a father has made him a better paramedic, empathy which becomes frighteningly useful during a daunting 2am deployment, when Luke is called to treat a teenager who has been involved in a road collision.
Working closely with Luke and Henny is Doctor Halden Hutchinson-Bazely - or Hutch, as he's known to his HEMS team – a medic with a background in the armed forces. He served in the RAF for 12 years and his dad, uncle, grandad and even great grandad were all in the Air Force.
Hutch is driven by a strict sense of duty to serve the public, but must balance that with the emotional demands of treating the most severe medical cases in testing circumstances.
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