People are being asked to try and 'outrun an ambulance' as part of a virtual fundraising challenge for South Central Ambulance Charity.
By attempting to cover more miles than an emergency ambulance does in a single shift, fundraisers could help support the volunteer Community First Responder and Co-Responder programme.
It follows a successful inaugural ‘Outrun an Ambulance’ event last year where participants raised more than £13,000 for the charity which was put towards keeping some of South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS) NHS Foundation Trust’s 1,200 responders equipped.
The charity funds volunteer responders, who are members of the public trained to support the ambulance service primarily by attending medical emergencies and sometimes providing lifesaving first aid to patients before paramedics arrive.
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In the SCAS patch, people can choose the distance they want to do based on the mileage clocked up by crews during the course of a typical shift across Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Hampshire. Which could be anything between 70 miles to 150 miles the equivalent of six marathons.
Fundraisers can take up to three months to try and beat the emergency services by at least one mile.
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People can walk, run, swim, scoot, cycle or ride anything that is self-propelled to achieve their goal.
Vanessa Casey, chief executive of South Central Ambulance Charity said: “It costs around £300 per responder per year to keep them equipped with essentials such as smartphone line rentals for the app that deploys CFRs to incidents, batteries for defibrillators to support patients in cardiac arrest and observation kits, as well as our vehicles.”
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