A north-east charity dedicated to providing rapid medical care in rural areas across the country, has raised nearly £40,000 in support of their vital service.
The Sandpiper Trust secured the funds to purchase life-saving equipment for their volunteers, following a week-long online auction at the beginning of December.
Celebrating the very best of Scotland, the auction included a design your own tweed or tartan experience, a woodturning course at Chippendale School of Furniture, a signed Scotland 6 Nations rugby shirt and many more.
It was held instead of the charity’s anniversary ball at the National Museum of Scotland in March, which was cancelled due to the pandemic.
The fundraiser will help supply up to 40 GPs, nurses and paramedics, who live in remote locations, with much needed Sandpiper bags to help save lives.
The charity’s Basics responders work in conjunction with the Scottish Ambulance service and Basics Scotland to provide emergency medical treatment to patients in rural communities when ambulances are out of reach.
Charity Manager, Lorna Duff, said the service is of great importance to emergency patients across Grampian and the Highlands and Islands.
She said: “Our responders provide a huge amount of resilience in these remote and rural communities by being a really valuable medical resource.
“Some areas in the north and north-east are pretty remote and the weather can be very challenging as well, so that makes it even more important that there is a strong network of very local Basics responders with Sandpiper bags to give that front-line medical response.
“Raising such a remarkable total in support of their service is fantastic and I’m so grateful to our supporters, sponsors and to everybody who spread the word about it.”
