'I still have my son thanks to the air ambulance'

Cillian Rogers, pictured with his mum Courtney and dad Daniel, has recovered well after suffering serious injuries in 2019

The mother of an eight-year-old boy hit by a motorbike near his home has said he would not be with her but for the air ambulance.

Air Ambulance NI turned six at the weekend - during that time it has attended more than 3,500 incidents.

It responds, on average, to two emergency calls every day.

One of those call-outs was to Newtownards in Easter 2019 to treat the then four-year-old Cillian Rogers who had suffered multiple injuries.

They included a fractured skull and a bleed to the brain.

"If it wasn't for the air ambulance we wouldn't have him with us today," Cillian's mum Courtney McCoubrey Rogers told Good Morning Ulster.

"He's just doing so well compared to what we thought it would be.

"He probably wouldn't have survived long enough for regular medical care; he probably wouldn't have made it to the hospital.

"It was really, really vital for the air ambulance to be able to bring their hospital care to the scene for him."

Northern Ireland's air ambulance service marked its sixth birthday at the weekend

The first patient treated by the service was 11-year-old Conor McMullan, on 22 July 2017.

Conor was working on the family farm in Castlewellan when he was struck by a tractor trailer and suffered a serious head injury.

The Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) team which is provided by the air ambulance was able to immediately give critical care interventions to Conor and stabilise him.

Glenn O'Rorke, the operational lead of HEMS, said they treat about 70 children every year.

He said Northern Ireland has a lot of remote, rural areas and the air ambulance is able to get to anywhere in NI in 25 minutes from its base in Lisburn.

"You say two patients a day, but those are the most seriously ill or injured patients in Northern Ireland at that time," he said.

"We are ready to respond, we train every day, we look at all the previous calls that we've done to make sure that our next patient gets the same gold standard care as our previous patient."

He added: "We are always prepared to treat anyone of any age, and carry specialised kit which is size appropriate, and clearly labelled by age for ease of access when every second counts at scene." 

The first patient treated by the Air Ambulance in Northern Ireland was Castlewellan boy Conor McMullan in 2017

As a local charity, Air Ambulance NI aims to raise £2.5m each year to maintain the service.

During the current cost of living crisis, the charity has seen an increase to its running costs ,with its daily fundraising target rising from £5,500 to £6,850.

Courtney McCoubrey Rogers said she could never thank the service enough.

"Because of the air ambulance and because people donate to the air ambulance to allow the service to run, I get to tuck my baby into bed every night, I get to send him off to school," she said.

"It's never something you think as a family you're going to need, until you do - and I am so glad it was there. It needs to continue."