More than 50 new sites for landing the lifesaving air
ambulances have already been established with the potential for 300 across
the nation. Clubs eager to get involved can fill in the questionnaire made
available at MyWRU.
The Wales squad helped launch the initiative at WRU
headquarters last week and WAA clinical and operations manager Jason Williams
says he has been overwhelmed by the response so far.
He said: “We are extremely pleased and encouraged by the
amount of clubs who have signed up to the scheme so far. Already, the new sites
we are establishing will make a real difference to the lifesaving work of the
Wales Air Ambulance service.
“It is vitally important for our pilots to have a network of
sites across Wales, which will have been fully surveyed for use. With every new
club which comes on board we will be further enhancing that network.
“We are very grateful to those clubs so far who have
responded to our survey, and look forward to many more coming in to us over the
coming days.”
Questionnaires have been sent out to all 302 WRU member
clubs, and are available on MyWRU, asking them to indicate whether their
grounds are suitable for emergency use at night by the helicopters.
A large selection of the 300-plus rugby pitches in Wales
have been identified as potential landing sites in emergencies. If clubs
respond positively to the WAA questionnaire, on site visits will take place to
assess the potential of the pitches as landing sites.
Mr Williams added: “As an air ambulance operation, our crews
can land anywhere during a mission, but having dedicated landing sites that are
already surveyed means we can land safely in the heart of communities a lot
faster.
“Having a register of well-lit pitches also means we could
potentially land in poor visibility or even at night.”
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