Going through a medical emergency, where urgent critical care from an air ambulance crew is needed, is intense. For patients and their families, life can change in a matter of minutes and, even after the initial crisis has passed, the emotional journey is ongoing. Our aftercare service offers our former patients, their families and bystanders additional support to help with their recovery journeys and, as part of this, peer support can be incredibly powerful.
Peer support simply means connecting people who’ve been through something similar. It could be another former patient, somebody who is bereaved, or a family member who experienced similar frightening moments while their loved one was critically injured or unwell.
Tracy is an aftercare volunteer. Her husband, Steve died ten years ago, age 51, after collapsing at home. Their daughter performed CPR on Steve before our crew arrived. They cared for him at the scene before airlifting him to hospital – but Steve died nine days later.
“It was an awful time. I came home and Steve wasn’t there. His belongings were, but he wasn’t. What do you do with that?” Tracy explains. “All of a sudden, my world was very different.”
Our aftercare service started in 2016, so it was one of our fundraisers who Tracy built a strong relationship with while she raised money for the charity. She began to meet others on similar journeys when she attended East Anglian Air Ambulance events, such as memorial walks and talks.
“I started to gain support from others, which helped me to work out how to survive when something terrible and unexpected had happened,” Tracy adds.
She later took voluntary redundancy from her job and decided to volunteer in other peer support roles before beginning to support the aftercare team with base visits and support for other people who are bereaved, including on home visits.
“I help people reconnect with their existing network, which can look very different when they’re bereaved. I support people who have been through the same trauma as me. Knowing somebody has overcome it can give people hope. I’m there to help them find some sort of peace, and to provide a safe space as part of the healing process,” Tracy adds.
“My lived experience helps people to open up. They contact me when they feel lost and low, or sometimes for just a check-in. I can’t fix things, but I can walk alongside someone – and that’s an incredible experience and a privilege.”
Former patient, Mark, has supported East Anglian Air Ambulance since 2021 when our crew attended him after he suffered a sudden brain haemorrhage and collapsed, with multiple seizures on Southwold beach during a family holiday with his wife and two young sons. It was a traumatic incident which he says turned his whole life upside down. The East Anglian Air Ambulance peer support aftercare service however gave him an opportunity to start putting the pieces of the puzzle back together and make sense of what had happened to him.
“Not just for me, but for my family too,” Mark says.
He explains that support from others who have experienced similar, often very traumatic circumstances and associated emotions is very powerful, with these connections often feeling like an extended family.
“The air ambulance is the thing that we all have in common, and enables me to give something back to others in an informal way.”
He is especially passionate about the support that can be found through the charity’s peer support private Facebook group and encourages other former patients and family members to join this online support forum.
“When people engage with each other, it’s a powerful thing. You find people who can relate to you and your own journey. It helps to make sense of chaos and support you as you start to put the bits of yourself back together again,” Mark says.
Emily was involved in a road accident in 2024 and was treated at the scene by our crew. Sometime later, she found one of our aftercare cards which had been left with her belongings on the day. She was visited by Natalie, one of our aftercare clinicians, who talked her through what happened on the day, something she found helpful.
Emily had also received telephone support from another charity based elsewhere in the country. While she found this useful, she also felt she would benefit from face-to-face support and had something to offer to others too – so she reached back out to our aftercare team who introduced her to peer support. Emily said she ‘gave it a go’ and within a few moments knew it was exactly what she needed.
“It has given me a sense of local belonging,” Emily explains. “It’s a safe space where I can talk to others and share lived experiences. I can be open and honest about how I’m feeling, and I don’t have to start from the beginning and build from the ground up – because others already have a deep understanding.”
Emily explains that this helps to validate feelings like anger and upset.
“Once you feel validated, you can start to treat yourself with more kindness. By saying ‘it’s ok to feel what I feel’, takes the pressure off and you can begin to feel empowered.”
Peer support can also help with family relationships because it gives you another avenue to talk and share, which makes things a little bit easier between loved ones.
Emily adds, “Nobody tries to fix things, but peer support helps me to see further down the line. And that hope is a really big thing.”
For more information about the support from our service care service, visit: Aftercare support for patients and their families
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