AIR AMBULANCE WOULD BE FITTING MEMORIAL
Air ambulance would be 'fitting memorial'
OMAGH should have a permanent 'flying doctor' service and should be the central location for accident and emergency services for the West of the Province.
These are just two of a number of proposals formulated locally, in the aftermath of the horrendous bombing of Market Street on August 15, and circulated in a three-page document.
They would provide a fitting memorial to those who died, were maimed or injured, in the attack, said Mr. Geoffrey Simpson of Viewback Auctions.
And he urged that a group be established in Omagh to develop the initiative sooner rather than later, and as a focus for the goodwill and desire to improve the community currently abroad, nationally and internationally.
"It is imperative that a group be set up immediately, to harness the offers made by Devon/Cornwall Health Trust, Mr. Raymond Shannon, of South Yorkshire Health Trust, and others," added Mr. Simpson.
Mr Shannon, a native of Omagh, has offered to send an adviser to his home town to assist in establishing an air ambulance service at Tyrone County Hospital.
Top of a six-point agenda in the proposals submitted by Mr. Simpson, on behalf of a number of people locally, is the concentration of A&E services at the hospital, and the upgrading of its cardiac unit, both of which, it is claimed, would facilitate rapid response to emergencies.
It is then argued that the response be beefed up by siting an air ambulance helicopter at the 'County', and asks 'what if' the bombers had chosen Castlederg, Fivemiletown, or Carrickmore, without a hospital or helicopter available?.
"It is fortuitous the army has concentrated their aerial system in the Omagh garrison. Omagh is geographically the most convenient centre for operations covering the western counties, and, with the non-contentious inclusion of a cross-border element, goodwill emanating from south of the border, in the wake of the deaths of three Buncrana children, can add weight to the proposal," Mr Simpson said.
OMAGH should have a permanent 'flying doctor' service and should be the central location for accident and emergency services for the West of the Province.
These are just two of a number of proposals formulated locally, in the aftermath of the horrendous bombing of Market Street on August 15, and circulated in a three-page document.
They would provide a fitting memorial to those who died, were maimed or injured, in the attack, said Mr. Geoffrey Simpson of Viewback Auctions.
And he urged that a group be established in Omagh to develop the initiative sooner rather than later, and as a focus for the goodwill and desire to improve the community currently abroad, nationally and internationally.
"It is imperative that a group be set up immediately, to harness the offers made by Devon/Cornwall Health Trust, Mr. Raymond Shannon, of South Yorkshire Health Trust, and others," added Mr. Simpson.
Mr Shannon, a native of Omagh, has offered to send an adviser to his home town to assist in establishing an air ambulance service at Tyrone County Hospital.
Top of a six-point agenda in the proposals submitted by Mr. Simpson, on behalf of a number of people locally, is the concentration of A&E services at the hospital, and the upgrading of its cardiac unit, both of which, it is claimed, would facilitate rapid response to emergencies.
It is then argued that the response be beefed up by siting an air ambulance helicopter at the 'County', and asks 'what if' the bombers had chosen Castlederg, Fivemiletown, or Carrickmore, without a hospital or helicopter available?.
"It is fortuitous the army has concentrated their aerial system in the Omagh garrison. Omagh is geographically the most convenient centre for operations covering the western counties, and, with the non-contentious inclusion of a cross-border element, goodwill emanating from south of the border, in the wake of the deaths of three Buncrana children, can add weight to the proposal," Mr Simpson said.
Further Information
Publisher: TYRONE CONSTITUTION
Ref: TC/1179
Published Date: 10-Sep-98
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