A team of nine Northern Irish agri-business leaders have teamed up to promote the work of the Air Ambulance NI (AANI) charity and encourage support within the agricultural sector.

Speaking on behalf of the group, Barclay Bell, a trustee of AANI and the person behind gathering the ‘Agri-business Group’ together explained the charity needed to raise £2 million a year to run its pre-hospital critical care service.

“This life-saving service is already a major benefit to farmers and rural communities. In isolated rural areas it can be difficult for medical services to reach, treat and transport people,” Bell said.

“The air ambulance helps tackle that and aims to save lives, brains and limbs.

Bell who is a farmer on a mixed farm in Rathfriland, Co. Down, is a past president of the Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) and actively involved with several other farming organisations.

During his tenure as UFU president, he helped raise £200,000 for the Air Ambulance NI charity and said: “Our agricultural sector has really embraced the work of air ambulance and this group are bringing their skills, experience and passion for their community to help Northern Ireland maintain its only air ambulance service.”

The Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) for Northern Ireland is delivered by a partnership between the charity Air Ambulance Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service.

It’s a service that responds to critically ill and injured patients on average twice a day and can be the difference between life and death.

Glenn O’Rorke, operational lead for the HEMS said, “Our very first call-out was to a farming incident and farming and agricultural incidents account for up to 11% of call-outs. This includes accidents involving farm machinery, slurry or cattle.

“We are really touched that the rural and agricultural communities are continuing to support and thank everyone involved in the newly established agribusiness group.”