Charities 2011

In 2011 the main support from the Rally was for the Phoenix Stroke Appeal and FLEET and as always Lanlivery Parish Church. Despite the unhelpful weather these charities each received £1750. Small funds were also donated to very local organisations i.e. Lostwithiel Scouts, the Village Hall, and Granite Towers (the community magazine for Lanlivery and Luxulyan)

See the information below about the work of the main charities

FLEET

In Cornwall there is little that the emergency crews can do about the time it takes to get to Padstow, St Mawes or a distressed ship in the Atlantic, however, thanks to the work of FLEET and the kind donations received from the people of Cornwall and beyond, they carry the best possible means of stabilising and saving lives.

FLEET is a registered charity that was formed by Cornish Ambulance Staff in 1990 with the aim of upgrading and standardising the equipment carried on all of Cornwall’s Ambulances. With generous help from the Cornish people, businesses and organisations FLEET has raised over £1,000,000 since 1990, all of which has been put into

providing vital equipment that helps save lives across the county.

Since its’ inception the aim of FLEET has widened and the charity now provides equipment to all of the services that provide emergency medical support to the public. FLEET equipment is in constant use on

• all of the county’s emergency ambulances

• emergency response motorbikes and cars

• Royal Naval Search and Rescue helicopters based at RNAS Culdrouse

• Cornwall County Fire Engines

• Cornish HM Coastguard teams

• Cornish RNLI Lifeboats

• Cornwall’s Air Ambulance

More recently FLEET, with the British Heart Foundation, has been instrumental in the creation and equipping of First Responders who are members of the public trained to provide critical life saving treatment including defibrillation in their local area. This has helped to reduce emergency response times by 3% and ultimately save

lives.

Phoenix Stroke Appeal

The Health Secretary says it is vital people in Cornwall who suffer strokes have access to good aftercare.

Andrew Lansley, a stroke survivor himself, has been lending his support to the Phoenix Appeal.

More than 1,000 people a year in the county are admitted to hospital after a stroke.

BBC Radio Cornwall is supporting the Phoenix Stroke Appeal here in the county.

The new Phoenix Appeal aims to raise £500,000 for patients by providing a world class acute stroke unit at the Royal Cornwall Hospital (RCH).

The total raised so far, as of Monday 22 August, is £29,008.15.

The money will enhance and improve the existing services to a "gold standard" by allowing the hospital to buy more and better, specialised equipment.

About 1,150 patients are admitted to the RCH with a stroke each year.

Recovery chance increase

The new equipment will help RCH increase survival rates and independence of stroke survivors, reduce the length of their stay in hospital, and enable their clinical staff to offer more effective care.

Stroke is the third largest cause of death and the single largest cause of adult disability in the UK.

More than 150,000 people in the UK have a stroke each year, and problems following one are effects on movement, speech, thought, emotion, continence, sensation and vision.

Care in a stroke unit - with access to skilled, specialist staff and equipment - is the single most effective intervention for any stroke patient requiring hospital admission.

It can significantly reduce the risk of death or disability and offer the best chance of recovery compared to care on a non-specialist ward