PROVIDING education opportunities for crew members and young people in the community will be the focus of a £3,500 donation made by ExxonMobil Fawley to Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance (HIOWAA).

The Fawley site has been a long-time supporter of the charity and the latest contribution will once again be used to help fund science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM) activities as part of HIOWAA’s outreach programme. In addition, a portion of the money will go towards crew education.

Due to the pandemic, HIOWAA has had to pause its educational outreach programmes and is currently reviewing how things might look in future.

Ray Southam, HIOWAA Fundraising Manager, said: “Our vision is to develop both our ‘Be a 999 Hero’ and ‘LifeLines’ education programmes to become an online learning platform that will be easy for teachers and students to access and use.

"We want to create an interactive way of engaging students in line with the national curriculum whilst introducing them to the important work of a local life-saving charity. This type of outreach development is currently on hold, but with the continued support from ExxonMobil Fawley we will be able to ensure that we can continue to support STEM development across our communities when the time is right.”

He added: “Our Critical Care Teams each have to complete a series of training modules which are funded by the charity. These modules usually cost around £1,250 and include topics such as pharmacology and research methods for evidence-based practices.

"Investing in our crews’ education helps us to develop a greater level of resilience and keeps our service evolving for the needs of our communities."