A 26-year old British aid worker, who fell three floors from a balcony in Tirana, Albania, has been brought back to the UK by air ambulance. Courtesy of the combined resources of Northern Executive Aviation (NEA) and Bristol-based Wings, Vanessa Baxter-Jones was flown home at the end of March in a specially configured Lear 35A.\rWhile information surrounding the cause of the fall is still vague, colleagues at the Balkan Sunflowers organisation, for whom Vanessa was working, are said to have heard a loud noise and found her seriously injured on the ground. Because of a very basic insurance policy, Vanessa could only be flown to the nearest point of good medical work, which was in Rome. Vanessa's mother, Lisa Baxter-Jones, told EBAN: "I first got in touch with Wings through the National Service Helpline, who put me on to Assistance International, who in turn put me on to Wings." \rWings repatriates in excess of 1,000 people a year, offering its clients fully qualified doctors, nurses and all the necessary life-sustaining equipment. The company often works in conjunction with charter operators such as Manchester-based NEA, principally on insurance cases. The former supplies the medical know-how, the latter the aircraft and pilots, and between them the job is done. Margaret Nicholas, Wings' operations manager, told EBAN: "In this particular case we spoke to the treating doctor at San Camilo hospital in Rome, who gave us a clear picture of Vanessa's medical condition and her requirements for transfer.\r"We were a bit concerned about the limitations of a commercial flight, even though it was a short flight and even though I knew the financial constraints of the family.\r"The perfect solution came via NEA, who basically did the flight for nothing. We ourselves also cut off making any profit, with our staff taking reduced rates. Although we're here to make money as a private company, we do pride ourselves on being a bit of a soft touch and try to help people out wherever possible." \rNEA's Peter Bucksey told EBAN: "We do a lot of work with Wings and that is why we've specifically based one of our Lear 35s at Bristol. It carries out normal charter work there but is in Bristol primarily for Wings' use.\r"As far as we are concerned, it all went well. We picked Vanessa up from Rome and there were no problems on the flight. It was a normal trip for us."\rWhen Wings first reached Vanessa in Rome, she was suffering from hemiparesis (partial paralysis) of the left side, was conscious but extremely drowsy and not well orientated. In addition, she had a rib fracture and contusions of the lung, which says Nicholas, seemed to have recovered well. \rNicholas said: "Inflight, Vanessa's neurological state needed careful monitoring. She was given additional oxygen and because of the tracheostomy she had undergone in Rome - a normal procedure for someone who has been unconscious for a long time - this needed to be kept clean with frequent sucking to clear any secretions. Otherwise, she was being fed though a tube though her nose, which the crew obviously had to attend to as well."\rThe journey from Rome to Bristol took just over two hours, from where Wings provided its own road ambulance, free of charge, to take Vanessa to the Royal Gwent hospital in Bristol.\rMrs Baxter-Jones added: "Vanessa had taken six weeks holiday from her normal job to work with children in Albania. She was also making a documentary while she was out there. "She's done a lot of charity and aid work before, all in her spare time."\rRegarding the service Vanessa received between Rome and the UK, she said: "They were wonderful, both Wings and NEA, doing the job professionally and just for cost."\rNEA says that the busiest time for work of this nature is during the summer, when the Mediterranean in particular plays to host to many a tourist accident, a lot of which involve mopeds. That apart, NEA is called out to Tenerife on a regular basis and has been as far afield as New Mexico in the West, Zimbabwe in the south and Bali in the east, in order to repatriate injured parties.\rBucksey said: "A lot of the time, we will have two or three days notice of the flights. The patient will be stabilised before being put on the aircraft. Only in 'do or die' situations, do we bring them back not stabilised." \rNEA's own fleet currently comprises two Lear 35s, although the company will soon be managing a Challenger 604 which is due to arrive "by the end of the month". In addition, it currently manages a Falcon 900 at its base in Manchester, which will shortly be going out to charter. Said Bucksey: "We're putting this aircraft on our AOC and hopefully in the next two months, it will be available for charter.\rMargaret Nicholas, a former nurse herself, said of Wings' usual work: "It can vary from heart attacks to premature babies to strokes to multiple injuries."\rOf the company's relationship with NEA, Nicholas said: "When we fly, particularly with Northern Executive, our staff and their pilots have an excellent rapport. If our people say we need to increase the cabin pressure, they understand the medical necessities and work in very close cooperation with us. We've been working with them for years now."