Dr Ken Easton OBE founded the British Association for Immediate Care (BASICS) back in 1977 and left behind a huge legacy that has developed from a small number of local schemes into a nationwide charity supporting and facilitating the practice of pre-hospital immediate care.
The association has renamed its headquarters building in Ipswich to Easton House and following this rekindled links with the family and friends of Dr Easton.
In early December 2019, several of the association’s directors and trustees joined with some of the Easton family and friends to celebrate his legacy, and to receive a framed photograph of Dr Easton to be placed in the newly refurbished offices.
Tony Kemp, Immediate Past Chairman of BASICS, who had arranged the dinner, said, “I was acutely aware that Dr Easton’s legacy was becoming lost as time progressed and was keen to maintain his memory through the renaming of the associations office’s. Having his family and Neville join us to celebrate this was a huge honour.”
In his first official duty as the association’s new chairman, Paul Gates received the portrait from the family and remarked, “As an organisation and more widely as a country we owe so much to Dr Easton and his contributions to pre-hospital care. While the landscape of the sector has certainly changed throughout the years, we hope that his legacy will continue to inspire others to get involved with the sector and we will ensure that the picture is hung with pride in our offices.”
A short biography of Ken Easton can be found on the BASICS website at https://www.basics.org.uk/immediate-care-greats/
