A five-year-old boy critically injured in a trampoline accident in Tauranga is in Auckland's Starship Hospital after a mercy dash involving Northland's Lion Foundation Air Ambulance.
Northland Emergency Services Trust chairman John Bain said the youngster was hurt while playing on a trampoline about 5pm on Friday. He was taken to
Tauranga Hospital but doctors decided he needed specialist surgery involving surgeons from Auckland's Starship Hospital.
Mr Bain said pilots Pete Turnbull and Nicky Ross flew with a paramedic to the Auckland hospital about 12am on Saturday to pick up a medical team and ``bulky'' medical equipment before flying on to Tauranga to pick up the boy. After a three-hour operation to stabilise him, the boy was flown back to Auckland.
Mr Bain said because of the boy's condition, the air ambulance had to fly at a low altitude, about 50m, to ensure altitude pressures did not affect the child.
That meant flying around the Coromandel Peninsula rather than taking a direct route to Auckland. After dropping off the boy and medical team in Auckland the crew returned to Whangarei about 9am on Saturday.
Mr Bain said the helicopter had been bought specially because it was capable of carrying out long-distance missions, needed to service the Northland region.
While the crew were trained to fly at night with instruments, specially fitted night- vision goggles were an extra safety feature that helped the crew in Saturday morning's rescue.
Mr Bain said the trust flew about 550 missions a year and while most were in Northland because of its long-range capabilities it was not uncommon to be called to incidents out of the region.
The helicopter had recently flown to Rotorua and could make the journey from Whangarei to Wellington in 2 hours.
"We have said we will go anywhere in the North Island if we are able to help save a life," Mr Bain said.
The boy was in a critical but stable condition in paediatric intensive care, a hospital spokesman said today.
Mr Bain said the surgery required involved a neurosurgeon.
"The whole thing was a remarkable example of fantastic team effort with each arm of the emergency services coming together to deal with a very distressing incident."
