THE North West Air Ambulance Charity (NWAA) has appointed Sarah Naismith as its new director of income generation and engagement.
She joins after 17 years as charity director at the Manchester Foundation Trust Charity (MFTC), where she helped grow a fundraising appeal to build a new children’s hospital into an organisation raising money for the largest NHS Trust in the country, funding vital treatment, research and care projects at hospitals across Manchester and Trafford.
Ms Naismith joins NWAA as the new director of income generation and engagement, where she will be responsible for developing and delivering NWAA’s income and engagement strategy. In her new role, she will work across the teams to foster the charity’s focus on the supporters that enable the lifesaving service to remain operational.
NWAA’s crew of highly skilled HEMS paramedics, doctors and pilots man three helicopters and a fleet of rapid response vehicles, attending some of the most traumatic and life-threatening incidents in the region.
They are frequently in action in the Warrington area.
The charity operates 365 days a year, bringing lifesaving enhanced pre-hospital care direct to patients in critical condition across the region. It takes £9.5 million each year to fund these efforts, with the generous support from fundraisers, volunteers and donors playing a pivotal role.
Ms Naismith said: “I’m thrilled to be joining a charity that has such an enormous impact on so many people across the North West. The skills, expertise and resources of the air ambulance can, in a real sense, change patients’ lives, and this vital work is entirely charity funded. It’s a challenge, but one I am eager to support. I’m looking forward to enhancing the brilliant work already underway at the charity, and particularly growing our focus on the people who keep the crew flying and out on the roads.”
