Guest blog: Support our charity, so it can be there for us

Emergency medical technician  Will McFarland, based at Hemel Hempstead, tells us about The Ambulance Service Charity (TASC) - and what it can do for you.

Many of us at times in our lives experience difficulties, whether financial trouble, ill health, mental health problems and stress or indeed a combination of those things. Often it's hard to know where to turn.

The Ambulance Services Charity, or TASC, is the leading UK charity providing support to serving and retired ambulance service personnel, their families and dependents.

Launched in spring 2015, TASC was formed through the collaboration of a number of charities across the UK, including the Ambulance Services Benevolent Fund, to create a national fund for the benefit of ambulance service personnel.

Charity trustees are from ambulance service backgrounds, many having served long careers, so the unique stressors and strains of work in the ambulance service are well understood and can often be related to.

So what support can TASC provide? Whether you're A&E patient facing, patient transport service, control room staff, or support services, they provide confidential, impartial and independent advice and access to a range of support mechanisms, including: rehabilitation when recovering from illness or injury; mental health support; bereavement support; debt and welfare advice; and financial grants.

But in order for TASC to do all this for us, we need to support them; there are many ways to get involved from fundraising and regular donations from salary, to simply purchasing gifts, trinkets or merchandise from their website.

To understand more about the charity and how you can get involved, please see their website at: http://www.theasc.org.uk/

Don’t suffer in silence. For help or advice you can call the support line: 0800 1032999.

Please share with your colleagues and families, rally the troops and support our charity so it can be there for us.

Will

Published 17th November, 2016

Logo credited to The Ambulance Services Charity