Brand new look for EEAST Charity

The East of England Ambulance Service Charity is launching a new look this week, to promote its work and raise public awareness of the impact it has across the region.

The Charity has been operating alongside, and in support of, EEAST for over 12 years, with the aim of raising funds to support the staff, volunteers, and local communities of the East of England Ambulance Service, strengthening the provision of outstanding care to patients.

COVID-19 saw a significant increase in public awareness around NHS Charities, as well as increasing the ongoing support from NHS Charities Together, our membership body, as part of their national strategy. Our Charity built on this, bidding successfully for several significant community grants over the last two years. This has enabled the charity to increase the support it provides to EEAST colleagues and communities across the region through a variety of initiatives, over and above those which would be funded by normal NHS budgets.

Kate Lott, Head of Charity, said:

‘Seeing the development of the charity over the last two years and its increased impact across EEAST has been inspiring. The launch of the separate brand is essential in raising awareness of the Charity, both for our staff and wider communities as we have a real opportunity to expand the work, we do to make a positive difference across our region.’

Neville Hounsome, Non-Executive Director, and Chair of the EEAST Charitable Funds Committee, said:

‘I am delighted to see the launch of our new Charity branding. During my almost 4 years as Chair, I have seen the Charity fund an increasing variety of projects supporting the service our wonderful volunteers deliver to our local communities. The Charity has also been able to support wellbeing initiatives for staff during unprecedented challenges placed on them by a very stretched NHS system over the last couple of years.  Last year I was privileged to open one of our growing number of local wellbeing gardens and I hope that our new brand and the accompanying wildflower seeds continue to signpost the good that the Charity can do.’

Establishing a clear brand for the Charity, which will sit independently of the trust identity is crucial for its future development and growth, which is key to attracting the donations and fundraising activities from our incredible supporters, generosity from legacies and income opportunities from grant programmes. 

Read more about our impact over the last year EEAST Charity is making a difference (eastamb.nhs.uk)

What’s funded by the Charity?

Supporting our staff – health and wellbeing initiatives to improve working lives, enriching workplace environments, providing colleague training, development, and access to wellbeing related services. This has included setting up wellbeing rooms and gardens at a number of stations and funding the food and drink for the wellbeing wagons.

Supporting our Volunteers – Our CFRs are supported by the Charity. Donations provide equipment, uniform, and various training aids, including lifesaving defibrillators. They have also helped to allow the rollout of key initiatives such as the roving CFR cars and dedicated falls training NHS Charities Together to fund East of England Ambulance Service community response projects (eastamb.nhs.uk).

Supporting our Local communities – Providing community education programmes, such as the EEAST Heart which educates the public in essential British Life Support (BLS) skills. This vital skill is taught by qualified staff and volunteers from the East of England Ambulance Service and fully funded via donations from our supporters. In addition, the Charity has helped to fund both the introduction of the Unmet Needs Navigator pilot, a community signposting programme for patients with unmet needs to wider community support pathways Community Signposting Services Pilot (eastamb.nhs.uk) and the replacement of intelligent Public Access Defibrillator (iPAD) electrode AED pads as part of a regular annual check.

Published 4th April 2023