Ipswich Prep raises over £7,800 for SARS

Over £7,800 has been raised by Ipswich Prep pupils and staff during this school year to support SARS - Suffolk Accident Rescue Service.

Money was raised through cake sales, raffles, retiring collections at Chapel services, Sports Day events, a sponsored Readathon and sales of an Eco Calendar featuring nature photos taken by Prep children themselves.

Altogether, an incredible £7,820 was raised, and representatives of SARS attended the Prep School’s Celebration Day at the end of June to receive a giant cheque, presented by charity monitors Maisie and Estelle.

Mrs Claire Jackson, Head of Ipswich Prep, said: “I’m delighted that we have raised such a fantastic sum of money for this charity. It really shows how much our core value of ‘care’ is at the heart of the Ipswich Prep community.”

Gina Saunders, Project Officer from SARS said: “We are overwhelmed by the incredible amount raised by Ipswich Prep, a huge thank you from the whole SARS team. It's been wonderful working alongside the school over the last academic year. The funds raised will allow us to buy new medical kit for our volunteer responders and £1,000 will be used to sponsor SARS Critical Care Paramedic Liam Sagi over the next year".

SARS provides specialist volunteer responders to assist the East of England Ambulance Service at the scenes of serious medical emergencies or trauma. SARS responders include anaesthetists, critical care paramedics and other clinicians who are authorised to carry specialist drugs and additional life-saving equipment not found on frontline ambulances. This means that SARS clinicians can provide an additional and advanced level of patient care which helps save lives.

As SARS clinicians live locally, it also means that they can be on scene before any other medical resource - a speed of response which can be vital for time-critical patients. Over the last year, SARS has been mobilised 525 times to serious medical emergencies. Ipswich is one of their busiest areas with 100 mobilisations in the town. 32% of the time SARS is the first medical resource on scene. SARS receives no central government funding and relies on voluntary donations and fundraising to maintain its charitable activity.

For more information about SARS please visit www.sars999.org.uk