In a rare insight, the Herald has been granted exclusive behind-the-scenes access to a Westpac rescue helicopter crew. Photojournalist George Heard spent a weekend with the highly trained, expert Christchurch-based crew and flew on lifesaving missions across the South Island.
The crew was still debating another All Blacks loss overnight when the first call came in. Their cellphones pinged in unison.
“Right, we’ve got a job,” said critical care paramedic Shane Lynch, getting up.
They downed coffees , scooped up the tablet with the patient’s details, and made for the locker room.
It was a stunning, blue sky spring day. The crew based at Garden City Helicopter’s hangars at Christchurch International Airport had checked dozens of webcams around the region earlier that morning and discussed the chances of getting a job from one of the ski fields.
Their hunch proved correct. A spinal patient needed urgent help from Mt Hutt ski field after suffering a heavy fall on the slopes. There were also concerns they may have a head injury.
They had less than 10 minutes to get into the air, donning vests complete with personal locator beacons, lifejackets and helmets, before getting into the $15m Airbus H145 emergency air ambulance ready on the tarmac.
Image 1 of 14: Critical Care Paramedics Shane Lynch and Pablo Callejas suit up to head to Mt Hutt. Photo / George Heard
It’s a 27-minute flight across the Canterbury Plains to the ski field.
The patient has already been taken down to a first aid room by a ski patrol. Halfway there, news came in there might be another person needing help with an abdominal issue.
Lynch and fellow critical care paramedic Pablo Callejas discussed over comms inside the noisy machine who will lead the efforts on the ground.
Crowds of snowboarders and skiers who had stopped to watch the red chopper bank and land, made way for the stretching-bearing pair as they hustle for the distressed patient.
It was a pretty typical Sunday for the Canterbury West Coast Air Rescue Trust.
They carry out around 1000 missions every year, operating 24/7.
The trust’s website says the two main benefits of helicopter rescue are speed and access.
“If a patient can have access to the specialist medical care they need within one hour of the onset of illness or injury, their chances of making a full recovery increases by 80 per cent,” it says.
The jobs they get can vary widely from day to day. Around 40% of their callouts are deemed accidents, from nasty car crashes to sporting, leisure, and occupational incidents, to 12% search and rescue tasks, 20% hospital transfers, and just over a quarter (28%) medical conditions.
They’re often used when people get into trouble away from the main centres where there aren’t the same level of emergency services available.
The independent trust, which was set up in 1989, is not fully government-funded and relies on raising $6m a year
They are currently fundraising in Canterbury areas with a higher usage of the rescue helicopter while also seeking support to help GCH Aviation in buying new H-145 upgraded helicopters and to roll out Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) which enables crews to fly in low cloud conditions.
“We have had an excellent response so far as our communities realise firsthand how important this service is. When time is of the essence, there is no alternative,” says chief executive Christine Prince.
It’s 11.53am on Saturday, September 7 and the crew have done all of their morning safety checks when another job comes through.
A middle-aged woman has taken a turn after a fun run in Kaikoura.
Details are scant. St John is with her but the rescue helicopter has been called to come and help.
The crew - critical care paramedics Libbie Faith and Adrian Hurst, along with pilot Brent Frederickson – ditch whatever daily task they were doing and scramble for the awaiting chopper.
It’s a 45-minute flight up the east coast to the seaside resort town.
An ambulance is waiting at Kaikoura Hospital when they touch down at the helipad.
Image 1 of 9: Crews prepare the helicopter. Photo / George Heard
The patient has cardiac problems. She is conscious and alert, able to talk to the crew.
Hurst notices that she is quite sweaty – suffering from diaphoresis – and her heart is going a bit fast but he doesn’t notice any major concerns.
They get her ready for transportation back to Christchurch Hospital and a thorough cardiology checkout.
Before the takeoff again, they get any drugs ready for a “worst-case scenario” during the flight back, while also preparing an external cardiac massage machine that can operate automatically in the helicopter where space would be too tight for them to perform CPR manually if it was suddenly needed.
The return journey is without incident and the woman is off-loaded at the hospital’s rooftop helipad and taken in for assessment.
The rescue helicopter’s job is done and they fly back to base.
It’s more than a job for many of the rescue helicopter crew.
Critical care paramedic Adrian Hurst finds it a very rewarding occupation and especially enjoys knowing that he is helping his community and helps save many lives every year.
“This is what we’re here for,” he says.
“We need to be patient centric and for that to happen is to get them to definitive care as quickly as possible.”
They are a tight-knit crew who often attend traumatic incidents. They rely on each other for peer support and know that they can talk through anything that they have experienced with someone who knows exactly what they are going through.
“It’s one of the most rewarding jobs going. Your office is a helicopter,” says Hurst who joined the rescue helicopter last year after 20 years “on the road” as a St John paramedic.
“We’re like anybody, we just do our job. We do it because we love it and because of the community and I think that’s what drives you forward.”
The Mt Hutt skier is not doing well.
When the critical care paramedics see her, it’s clear that the situation is more serious than initially reported. Two other jobs have also been reported by this time, which requires a second rescue helicopter to be sent up to the ski field and an ambulance to drive down a third patient who had also suffered a nasty fall.
Although awake and responsive, she is showing signs of a head injury. Callejas finds her confused and at times agitated.
Such serious head injuries have them on high alert. Callejas knows they can range from mild concussions to life-altering or even fatal endings.
They provide her with pain management and prepare her for the flight to Christchurch Hospital.
“We like to think that we attend to these patients the best that we can and while not everyone likes flying in helicopters, we do try to make it as comfortable and reassuring as possible,” he says.
“The key thing is that we’re getting them to the hospital in the fastest possible way so they can actually get the really comprehensive care.”
He finds such jobs to be incredibly rewarding.
“It is like a job that rewards you in many interesting ways, not just the typical ones that you might expect,” he says.
“Being able to deliver what I think is some pretty comprehensive and advanced clinical care to any patient in really any part of the region, doesn’t matter if it’s the ocean, mountains, in the middle of nowhere, we can bring that to them.”
On the flight back to Christchurch, Callejas holds the injured skier’s hand, giving her some human reassurance and calm words of encouragement.
“A big part of our job is just doing those things,” he says.
“We can do medications, we can do interventions, but the biggest part is potentially just having that relationship with the patient. She was quite anxious in the beginning and being able to hold her hand and have that brief exchange of words in what is otherwise a very noisy and hectic environment, that was almost enough to settle her down and allow us to do our job and have a safe flight.”
Forty-three South Island co-ed principals have asked the national body to intervene.