THE first television advertising campaign to encourage people to support the Great North Air Ambulance was launched this week.
Advertisements showing clips of the crew urge people to give 50p a week to maintain the life-saving service.
During the past year, the three helicopters have been on 1,436 missions in Northumberland, County Durham, Teesside, North Yorkshire and Cumbria, funded entirely by public donations.
They are used when people are critically ill. Getting victims of serious accidents to hospital immediately is key to their chances of survival.
Grahame Pickering, chief executive of the service, said: "The charity saw a drop in donations early in the year, after the tsunami appeal and the floods in Carlisle.
"The lack of funds meant we had to ground two of our helicopters. We want to increase our sustainable income, which is why we are asking everyone in the region to give a regular monthly donation."
The air ambulance service is a registered charity, established in May 1991, to provide an air ambulance for the then Northumbria Ambulance Service NHS Trust.
If you would like to support the service, call (01325) 487263 or write to Great North Air Ambulance, The Imperial Centre, Grange Road, Darlington, DL1 5NQ.
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