Today, West Way presented a Nissan Juke Visia to the HELP Appeal, the only charity in the country dedicated to funding life-saving hospital helipads. This is the first time that a car has ever been donated to the charity and it will be an enormous boost to help raise the charity’s profile.
West Way, which is the largest Nissan dealer group in the UK with 15 branches across the UK , presented the car to HELP Appeal fundraiser Jason Dennis, at its dealership in Ardwick, Manchester. Jason, who has worked for the charity for eleven years, will use the car to travel thousands of miles to help raise money for more hospital helipads across the country, including the £1,365,000 pledged towards Manchester University Hospitals’ helipad, which is due to open in 2019.
Jason Dennis, HELP Appeal fundraiser commented: “We were delighted when we heard that West Way were going to provide us with a car. Every week I travel very long distances to raise funds and awareness for hospital helipads and this car will help the charity to reach audiences that may not have heard about the HELP Appeal. Over 9,000 landings have already taken place at hospital helipads funded by us – and we need to continue raising money to build more helipads across the country including a new rooftop helipad at the Manchester University Hospital Trust".
Sara Harris, West Way’s Marketing Director said: “We are proud to be supporting a charity that provides such a critical service supporting hospitals, air ambulances and the general public. The HELP Appeal has had an impact on many lives and we are pleased to support it by providing a vehicle to its fundraising team. The air ambulances and helipads are services that we hope our staff and customers never have the need for, but rest assured that if they do, the best possible facilities can be made available to them in the event of an emergency with the support of the HELP Appeal. We look forward to working closely with them in future.”
The HELP Appeal is funding hospital helipads across the country including Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT), which will serve the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital, Manchester Royal Infirmary and Saint Mary's Hospital.
The HELP Appeal has also funded a Deck Integrated Fire Fighting System (DIFFS) which will be integrated into the new helipad at MFT. DIFFS is a cutting-edge technology that can extinguish a fire quickly and effectively, protecting the helipad and hospital, ensuring the safety of those on deck and avoiding the need for a hospital evacuation.
Jason Dennis added: “We are enormously grateful to West Way and if it’s safe to do so, we’d love the public to take photos of our car which has the HELP Appeal and West Way logos, and tweet it to @helipadhelp and @westwaynissan or post to our Facebook pages with the hashtag to help raise awareness about our work.”
Click here to find out more about HELP Appeal
