The Rapid Response Vehicle West Waterford group, which is based in Dungarvan, is trying to collect more than €150,000 to purchase a cutting-edge emergency vehicle with cutting-edge medical facilities to shorten wait times for victims of traffic accidents and medical emergencies.

Such a vehicle would enable volunteer physicians and paramedics to provide emergency medical assistance at the scenes of such occurrences. The volunteers are worried about the number of road and agricultural mishaps that result in significant injuries and fatalities.

It is anticipated that Waterford will be the first county in Ireland to have three of these “Critical Emergency Medical Response Vehicles” once funds have been raised. The fundraising team has begun talks with a medical response charity that currently has two emergency vehicles covering the eastern half of the county.

Doctors in Waterford, who run the pre-hospital emergency medical response charity CRITICAL in the county's east, attended to 97 occurrences last year and have already gone to 67 this year.

Michael Ryan, the group's chairman and spokesperson for the Rapid Response Vehicle for West Waterford, discussed the “critical impact” of these kinds of projects today.

“Our main goal is to gather money to purchase this necessary vehicle, which will definitely have a significant impact on the lives of West Waterford residents.”

“The majority of the roads in this area are in bad condition and the majority of the farmers in this area labour alone. Along with the phenomenal growth in tourism, we have witnessed an increasing number of hikers visiting the picturesque Comeragh Mountains in the north and south, as well as visitors utilising the region's beaches and Greenway in the south.”

“I myself had a cousin who lay unconscious on the ground for two hours from a brain bleed before an ambulance arrived to assist him, and with a health and emergency system under increasing pressure, we want to do our bit to alleviate it and ultimately save more lives.”