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CRITICAL charity honoured by American Chamber CRITICAL charity honoured by American Chamber

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CRITICAL honoured for life-saving impact by American Chamber

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Paul Sweetman, CEO AmCham; Patrick O’Donovan TD, Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport; Liz Cunningham, AmCham 2025 President; David Tighe, CEO, CRITICAL Charity; Karen Frawley Tax Partner, Deloitte Ireland, and Jim O’Kelly, Beneficiary of CRITICAL Charity

Limerick-based emergency medical response charity CRITICAL has been honoured by the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland

critical charity honoured
Karen Frawley, Tax Partner, Deloitte Ireland; Liz Cunningham, AmCham 2025 President; David Tighe, CEO, CRITICAL Charity; and Jim O’Kelly, Beneficiary of CRITICAL Charity pictured as the group were honoured by American Chamber for their efforts.

The Limerick-headquartered charity, CRITICAL, was announced the winner of the 2025 Mid-West Cairdeas Award, presented for organisations that have a significant community impact. The award was presented by the American Chamber at the 2025 AmCham Mid-West Conference and Dinner.

CRITICAL has a network of more than 300 volunteer responders active across Ireland, including pre-hospital emergency physicians (doctors) equipped with emergency response vehicles and high-tech equipment; community first responder (CFR) groups; as well as off-duty paramedics and emergency medical technicians (EMTs).

The award was accepted by David Tighe, CEO of CRITICAL and Jim O’Kelly from Killavullen in North Cork who told attendees that CRITICAL is the reason he is alive today. He suffered a heart attack on Easter Sunday, and Edward Walsh, a volunteer responder with the charity, was one of the first people at the scene.


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Edward’s emergency rapid response vehicle is equipped with an ECG Monitor, enabling him to determine quickly how serious Jim’s condition was and alert ambulance control. It meant that when the ambulance arrived, they were able to bring Jim immediately from his home to the Cath Lab at Cork University Hospital to have a stent placed to open the blocked artery in his heart.  

David Tighe, CEO of CRITICAL, said, “Jim is an example of the power of skilled volunteers working to support the emergency services. He was in the Cath Lab within 90 minutes of his wife calling emergency services, despite living in a rural part of North Cork. We know that every minute counts in situations like this, which is why we are rapidly expanding our network of emergency responders to additional locations. We rely on fundraising and public donations to do this, and we’re so grateful to the American Chamber of Commerce in Ireland for recognising us with this award.”

Paul Sweetman, AmCham Chief Executive, said, “On behalf of the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland, I am delighted to congratulate CRITICAL on receiving the 2025 AmCham Mid-West Region Cairdeas Award. The Cairdeas Award was established by AmCham to recognise individuals and organisations in the not-for-profit sector that make an exceptional contribution to their communities, reflecting the spirit of friendship, partnership, and community that AmCham and our members deeply value. CRITICAL truly embodies the spirit of this award through its exceptional work delivering community-based rapid first response and highly specialised, life-saving medical interventions across the country, and AmCham is proud to honour their remarkable impact.”

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