Priti Patel MP presents a donation cheque to Essex & Herts Air Ambulance in memory of the late Dennis Miller
Priti visits the Essex & Herts Air Ambulance Trust Airbase at Earls Colne to pay tribute to Witham constituent Dennis Miller
The MP for Witham, Priti Patel, has visited the Essex & Herts Ambulance Trust (EHAAT) airbase at Earls Colne, to thank the staff and volunteers for their work and to give her personal support to their efforts in remembrance of her constituent, Mr Dennis Miller, who was tragically killed following a road traffic accident while cycling on Maldon Road in Witham, last December.
Priti presented the donation cheque at a special ceremony on Friday 21st April, attended by Mr Miller’s wife Sue, and his daughters Sarah, Claire and Lisa. During a tour of the airbase and the air ambulance facilities, Priti and the family met the Chief Executive of EHAAT, Jane Gurney, along with other members of the senior leadership team as well as the ambulance staff who regularly attend emergency situations.
Speaking after today’s visit, Priti said, “Losing a loving husband and father in this way is beyond heart-breaking and my thoughts and condolences continue to be with Dennis’ family. Dennis was a wonderful man whose personality brought great cheer to those who knew and loved him. Essex & Herts Air Ambulance provides the most incredible service in emergencies and the medical and operational teams help to save lives each day. They are remarkable and I would like to thank them for all they do.
“I wanted to give my support to them through this donation as I know how much the service did to support Dennis and his family. This tragedy on one of Witham’s busiest roads has highlighted the need for essential road safety improvements to tackle speeding on Maldon Road, and I am directly working with the Cabinet Member for Highways at Essex County Council on the deployment of speeding measures on this road, including TruCam.”
Sue, Sarah, Claire and Lisa said: “As a family, we would like to express our heartfelt thanks to the Air Ambulance team for their work on the day of the accident last year. They were unbelievable, not just with our Dad, but with us as his family. Without their swift, expert response, we would have lost him that day which would have been even more horrific than what we eventually went through. Thank you also to Priti for today’s contribution. Contributions like these will save lives.”
EHAAT Chief Executive, Jane Gurney said: “We are very grateful for Priti’s donation and for the opportunity to meet and talk to Mr Miller’s family. Members of our Patient & Family Liaison and Clinical teams were able to spend some time with them and we hope that their visit and tour will have been of some comfort.”
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