Subaru Forester Donation To The Yorkhill Children's Foundation Proves Invaluable

A charitable donation made by Subaru UK to the Yorkhill Children's Foundation earlier this year has proved vital to the charity's emergency healthcare operations, particularly during the recent cold snap.

Back in June 2010, the permanent Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive manufacturer donated a Subaru Forester 2.0 D XC worth £24,995 to the Glasgow-based Foundation, which provides support and equipment for sick children and babies from all over Scotland. Ever since, staff and doctors have been putting the go-anywhere vehicle to good use, and have relied heavily on its All-Wheel Drive capabilities since the winter weather has taken hold.

The Subaru Forester's main activity is delivery of Paediatric Critical Care emergency teams to hospitals around Scotland. The vehicle is regularly in the thick of the action, helping provide rapid, high-speed response to incidents; getting staff to the helipad or airport quickly; allowing Intensive Care Unit staff to provide clinical outreach support to other units; and, recently, wading through deep snow en route to Stirling, Wishaw, and Glasgow's helipad in order to get to a sick baby in Fort William.

Dr Andrew McIntyre, Consultant in Paediatric Intensive Care Medicine at Yorkhill, is full of praise for the Subaru Forester: "The latest addition to the Foundation's line-up is proving invaluable, giving us a speed of response that cannot be matched by the ambulance service. It's great to drive and extremely sure footed even in horrible weather - which we have really been testing during the recent cold snap!

"We've already clocked up over 4,500 miles visiting every children's hospital in Scotland. Not surprisingly, though, it is best known around Glasgow where it is now well recognised and often commented on. We think it makes a big difference to the service we provide to patients."

Marketing Director of Subaru UK, Kenyon Neads, said: "We're pleased, but not surprised, that the Forester has provided so much help and assistance to the staff at Yorkhill over the past few months. As many of our customers around the country have discovered of late, it's often when the weather turns seriously bad that you find out just how capable Subaru vehicles really are. The Symmetrical All-Wheel-Drive system will doubtless come into its own more and more often as temperatures tumble and the snow continues to fall."

The Subaru Forester model line-up starts at £21,295 for the entry-level 2.0 X and rises to £28,995 for the top-of-the-range 2.0D XS Navplus.