The Rega (Swiss Air-Rescue) is the air rescue service which provides emergency medical assistance in Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

, notably in mountains but also in cases of life-threatening emergencies elsewhere. They will also return a patron to Switzerland from a foreign country if they are in need of urgent medical care. Rega was established on the 27th of April 1952 by Dr. Rudolf Bucher, who thought that the Swiss rescue organisation needed a specialised air sub-section.

The name is an unusual trilingual abbreviation from "Schweizerische Rettungsflugwacht - Garde Aérienne Suisse de Sauvetage- Guardia Aerea Svizzera di salvataggio", all three meaning "Swiss aerial rescue guard", in German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

, French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 and Italian

Italian language

Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

 respectively.

The Rega is a non-profit foundation financed through donations and patronage. Rega maintains 10 own helicopter bases throughout Switzerland and cooperates with three additional partner bases. Its operations centre is located at the Zurich-Kloten airport where all rescue missions are co-ordinated. All of the Rega helicopters carry a medic as well as a paramedic/EMT. Rega also aids alpine farmers during the summer months; they will rescue livestock, as well as retrieving dead animals.

Fleet

.

• Helicopters
  • 6 Eurocopter EC 145
  • 3 Agusta A109 K2
    Agusta A109
    The AgustaWestland AW109 is a light-weight, twin-engine, eight-seat multi-purpose helicopter built by the Anglo-Italian manufacturer AgustaWestland...
    
    
  • 10 Agusta A109 SP Grand "Da Vinci"
    Agusta A109
    The AgustaWestland AW109 is a light-weight, twin-engine, eight-seat multi-purpose helicopter built by the Anglo-Italian manufacturer AgustaWestland...
    
    
• Transports
  • 3 Canadair CL604 "Challenger"
    Bombardier Challenger 600
    The Bombardier Challenger 600 series is a family of business jets designed by Bill Lear and produced first by Canadair until that company was bought by Bombardier Aerospace in 1986.-Development:...
    
    

External links

• Rega (English homepage)