Irish Community Air Ambulance

irish community air ambulance charity currently runs ireland’s only charity helicopter emergency medical service (hems) air ambulance. it works in partnership with the national ambulance service and responds to serious incidents and medical emergencies from its base in rathcool, co. cork. the charity also funds a fleet of ten rapid response vehicles on the ground in counties like mayo, donegal and dublin. these vehicles are staffed by volunteer critical care doctors and also by community-based gps. the hems air ambulance is staffed by advanced paramedics and emts from the national ambulance service. it brings patients to the hospital that best suits their life-saving needs, not just the closest geographically. the helicopter was launched in 2019 and serves a population of 1.5m people, primarily in the munster region. it has been tasked more than 1,300 times since then.