Great North Air Ambulance Service celebrates 20 years of helping people across Cumbria

Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) is celebrating 20 years of helping people across Cumbria.

The first air ambulance named the 'Pride of Cumbria' was unveiled on 7 August 2004.

The charity now operates every day of the year and hopes to have their night-time vehicle service working 24 hours a day later this year.

Lee Salmon, from Penrith, has seen the charity progress since 2005 when he was a paramedic for GNAAS.

Now working as Head of Operations for Cumbria and the Isle of Man, he said: "Over the years I've seen a lot of changes in the charity.

"We've switched from a very basic small aircraft to a larger modern aircraft, and progress from being a simple air ambulance transporting patients to having highly skilled doctors and paramedics on board who effectively bring the hospital to the patient.

"Due to the continued expansion of our service, in 2023 our critical care team experienced their busiest year on record after being deployed more than 2,200 times to incidents across the region, including 603 in Cumbria.

"We know that our service isn't something that people want to use, but every business, resident and visitor to Cumbria can be reassured that our team will be there in their time of need."

The organisation needs £8.5m of funding a year to remain operational across Cumbria, the North East, the Isle of Man and North Yorkshire.

Lee added: "We are incredibly appreciative of the support we have received from the public over the years.

"Whether that's by taking part in sponsored challenges, buying tickets for our raffle, or simply liking and sharing our posts on social media, it all helps.

"Hopefully with the public's continued support we'll be celebrating even more big anniversaries in the future."

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