Mayo doctor appointed to board of Irish Community Air Ambulance

THE Irish Community Air Ambulance, formerly Irish Community Rapid Response, has made a number of new appointments.

Mícheál Sheridan, a native of Cavan, has been appointed CEO, while there have also been a number of new appointments to the board, including Mayo native Dr. Lisa Cunningham.

Dr. Cunningham is an emergency doctor who specialises in pre-hospital emergency medicine. She is a HEMS doctor with Essex & Herts Air Ambulance in the UK.

Having qualified as a doctor from UCD in 2010, she is nearing the end of a five-year advanced training scheme to become a consultant in emergency medicine.

Married with three children, she has also been appointed team doctor with the Mayo ladies footballers.

The Irish Community Air Ambulance was tasked to 490 incidents across 13 counties in 2020. In 2020 it cost €1.5 million to provide this vital service.

There have been 175 taskings to date in 2021.

A priority for the air ambulance is to work with other partners to ensure everyone on the island of Ireland is within 30 minutes of an air ambulance service either provided by the charity or the Irish Aer Corps.

The Irish Community Air Ambulance can bring casualties to the hospital that best suits their life-saving needs, not just the closest geographically. The air ambulance is staffed by advanced paramedics and EMTs from the National Ambulance Service.

The Irish Community Air Ambulance currently has two helicopters at its medical aerodrome in Rathcoole, Co. Cork, only one of which is operational at any one time, the other acting as a backup. A new faster helicopter with larger fuel capacity is due to be delivered later in the year.