WE have to adapt to the needs of each patient we help treat.

Those were the words of one of the East Anglian Air Ambulance’s (EAAA) doctor Katalin Fernando, as she supports The Ipswich Star’s campaign to raise �10,000 for the vital cause.

The charity’s crews regularly take to the skies above the region to attend medical emergencies, serious crashes and incidents, able to transport critically injured patients to hospital faster than land ambulances.

Ms Fernando told The Star about the vital role of the air ambulance in ensuring a patient is given the necessary care.

The 34-year-old said: “When we arrive at the scene we have to take on so many different roles. We have to be the anaesthetist, the surgeon, and anything else that we have to be. You have to have all these different abilities rolled into one.

“You have to learn about each patient very quickly so that you know which treatment they need.”

The varying role of the EAAA team was highlighted when they arrived at the scene of a crash on the A14 which claimed the life of Carmen Bucur.

The money raised through the Lifesaver Campaign will buy crucial equipment to enable the service to carry out their life-saving work 24 hours a day.

The charity, which operates two helicopters, Anglia One and Two, serving Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire, aims to raise enough money to buy around ten wireless communications kits for crews to wear, to improve the service ahead of the launch of their night service this winter.

Ms Fernando appeared on last week’s Channel 4 show 24 Hours in A&E, a series highlighting life in a high-pace hospital. She said: “I spent six months working at Kings College Hospital and I was asked to be on the show.

“I think the show was great because it really reflected the reality of accident and emergency and it also showed the importance of the care patients receive before they get to hospital.

“The air ambulance is a great example of that because often the air crew and paramedics are the first on scene assessing injuries.”