Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter Missions

During the past week Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter was tasked to two AUSSAR beacon searches and two primary missions.

MISSION SUMMARY

• Tuesday 25^th January, Primary cancelled due to weather– Tasked to an MVA at Broadwater. Aircraft could not fly due to poor weather conditions. Retrieval doctor was transported to the scene by road.
• Thursday 26th January, AUSSAR Search; Tasked by AUSSAR to search for an emergency beacon signal in the Grafton area. Tasked to start at the Clarence River mouth and search upstream and along feeder creeks. Searched the Yamba area then up the Clarence River to 5nm west of Grafton. Ground search conducted with hand held homer device. No signal found.
• Thursday 26^th, Primary, cancelled due to weather. Tasked to Glenreigh
• Friday 27^th January, AUSSAR Search; Beacon in the Nymboida River area. Two persons located on an isolated property. They had been without food for three days. The female t had chest pains following a fall. Both people and their dog were transported to Grafton Base Hospital.
• Saturday 28^th January – Primary – Tasked to a flood isolated property south west of Coutts Crossing. Transported an elderly male to Grafton Base Hospital with lower leg injuries.
• Sunday 29^th January – Primary – Tasked to a property at Bolivia – 30 kms south of Tenterfield were a male had been squashed by a horse. Male was stabilised and flown to Lismore Base Hospital.

In a very busy week, especially for Primary Missions, Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter attended 5 Primary missions and 5 Secondary missions.

Wednesday and Thursday were particularly busy with two ‘back to back’ Primary missions on Wednesday and a Primary mission on Thursday which saw the Helicopter on task for over 8 hours.

These particular primary missions occurred in the southern and northern areas, respectively, of our 40,000 square kilometre flight region.

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Monday 9th January to Sunday 15th January 2012

During the past week Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter attended a total of 9 missions – 8 of which were Secondary Inter Hospital Transfers. Three of these were carried out ‘back to back’ commencing at 4.15pm Wednesday through to 6am Thursday 11th January.

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Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter has had a very busy 2 week period conducting a total of 19 missions, 9 Primary, 7 Secondary and 3 Search & Rescue.  In addition to these the Service was tasked to three primary missions which were all cancelled en route and also performed 8 training flights for pilots and aircrew.

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In a quiet week for missions, Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter completed one search and rescue mission, a hospital transfer, and was tasked to three primary missions which were all cancelled en route.
Missions can be cancelled for a number of reasons which can include – patient being transferred by road; or injuries found to be not as serious as first thought.
Our missions and any cancellations are directed by the Medical Retrieval Unit (MRU) of the NSW Health Department who task the Service and assign relevant ambulance services as required.

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Missions Summary: During the week Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter was tasked to assist police in two separate search and rescue operations off the coast.

On Monday 5^th and Tuesday 6^th December the Service joined in the search for a teenager missing in the surf off Cabarita Beach.

On Sunday 11^th December the Service was tasked to assist police in the search for a person reported missing at Main Beach Byron Bay. The Helicopter searched the area from The Pass to Tyagarah and seaward for one kilometre and found no sign of the missing person.

Training:

New pilot underwent two training exercises.

Summary:
During the week Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter was tasked to two primary missions – one search and rescue, three  inter hospital transfers (secondary)* and carried out two training exercises. On Monday 28th helicopterLRH  was flown to Redcliff, Queensland for paint touch up work following installation of new equipment.

Further details:
Primary
Monday 28th November: Tasked to airlift a 57-year-old woman who fell from her horse on South Ballina beach. (Photo left: Woman being attended by paramedics ready for airlift to Lismore). The woman was hit in the back by the horse’s hoof and hit her head on the hard sand. She was unconscious for approximately 5 minutes. Paramedics treated the woman at the scene before she was airlifted to Lismore Helibase.

Search and Rescue
Tuesday 29th November: Tasked to assist police in the search for a missing 22 year old male in the Huonbrook, Upper Coopers Creek area. The man walked into a nearby farm house and did not require further assistance.

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Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter had a busy weekend, airlifting a car accident victim, a newborn baby and carrying out two hospital transfers.

On Sunday 27^th November the Helicopter airlifted a woman from a motor vehicle accident near Grafton.  The woman was trapped after her vehicle hit a cow and collided with another vehicle. The woman was airlifted from the scene to the Lismore Helibase and transferred by road ambulance to Lismore Base Hospital.

A newborn baby girl was airlifted to Royal Brisbane Women’s Hospital with a specialist neo natal team on Saturday.

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TUESDAY 15th November
Time: 11.09 AM
Mission Type: Secondary
Summary: Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter was tasked to airlift a 38 year old cardiac patient from Grafton Hospital to Prince Charles Hospital, Brisbane.

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FRIDAY 11th November
Time: 6.37 PM
Mission Type: Secondary
Summary: Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter was tasked to airlift a 63 year male cardiac patient from Tenterfield Hospital to Gold Coast Hospital.

Pilot: Rob Moore
Aircrew: Mick Kerry
Patient Care: Paramedic, Jason Wann

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