The Greenlea rescue helicopter coming in to land at its Taupō Airport base.
It used to have one and a half pilots and a crew of skilled volunteers and its role was to take the patients to the care. Now, it has 12 full-time paid professional staff and takes the care to the patients.
Greenlea rescue helicopter pilot and base manager Nat Every, says the Central Plateau-based helicopter is no longer a machine that picks up patients then makes a dash for the nearest hospital.
Now, Every says, the helicopter is itself "a small flying hospital".
In a change from the days before a national rescue helicopter service reorganisation in 2018, the helicopter now always has its own intensive care paramedic aboard, who also holds an advanced qualification which allows them to sedate a patient and insert a tube into their throat to allow them to breathe, if necessary.
Rather than scooping up the patient into the helicopter as quickly as possible, as in the past, the intensive care paramedic treats the person at the scene, then continues to treat and monitor them during the helicopter journey.
"It's not so much about taking the patient to the care, it's bringing the care to the patient and allowing that to continue while we deliver them to whatever the centre of excellence is where they can get the best care they can," says Every.
The other major change since 2018 is that now, patients are going directly to the best place for their condition, even if it means flying straight past the closest hospital. If it's a stroke, they're off to Auckland. A heart condition goes to Waikato Hospital. A spinal injury goes to Middlemore or even Burwood in Christchurch. That saves time later having to transfer patients for the right care.
Before the rescue helicopter services reorganisation, the Greenlea rescue helicopter was a single-engine Squirrel in Taupō with one full-time and a part-time pilot, plus volunteer crewmen. Up to 10 local paramedics had to be trained to work in the helicopter, and if the on-duty paramedics were busy, the helicopter had to wait for one to become available. Precious time would be spent before missions finding a crewman and paramedic.
Now under the new system - where Hamilton, Tauranga and Taupō-based helicopters serve the entire Central Plateau/Lakes region - the Greenlea rescue helicopter has a BK-117 twin-engine helicopter with a state-of-the-art avionics system and room for a paramedic to treat a patient in-flight. It is operated by a crew of pilot, crewman and intensive care paramedic, and can lift off within 10 minutes of a callout, day or night. Thanks to the Greenlea Foundation, there is now crew accommodation at its Taupō Airport base for them to have a rest or meal while on-call.
"It's definitely better, unquestionably better, 100 per cent better," says Every.
"We've got the resources available here, we had some very dedicated and highly-skilled people helping us in the past but we were at the mercy of a lot of variables that were out of our control, whereas now we're a known quantity. We have these highly skilled paramedics here, specialist crew, knowledgeable pilots and they're available all the time, it's a genuine 24/7, 365-day service with absolutely no interruption."
Now that the service can respond quicker, it is being called out by the Air Desk (which assigns emergency callouts assessed as needing a rescue helicopter response) more and more often. Every says the level of work is "through the roof". In 2018, the helicopter did 299 missions. In 2019, it was 378. Even with a five-week lockdown last year, the helicopter still went on 505 missions. Just recently, on Monday, February 1, the helicopter was called out five times, back to back, an unprecedented number of missions in a single day.
The demand is such that a fourth crew of three has recently been added, making 12 full-time staff.
"Generally, we go through two pilots a day," says Every. "You're fairly well sitting out here waiting for the pager to go off. And at the moment it won't stop going off. It's incredibly busy, with a variety of stuff but we're doing a lot more hospital work. We've never been busier."
Every says because people are almost always not transported back to Taupō after pickup but taken on to other places — Waikato, Rotorua, Auckland — most of the helicopter's missions will take it away from the base for hours at a time.
"The moment we turn a blade you're gone for two or three hours. If you go from here to Tūrangi to Rotorua and back, that's one hour 20 of flying but you might be gone for two and a half hours.
"An hour's flight is a quick one for us. The moment you go to Hamilton, it's an hour and 40 minutes."
Becoming a fully professional service has allowed the Search and Rescue Services Ltd, the company which operates the rescue helicopters from below the Bombays to Wellington, to employ highly-qualified crew like Logan Smith, its newest intensive care paramedic.
Formerly a flight paramedic in Queensland for 12 years, Smith says he enjoys being a rescue helicopter paramedic because it allows him to put his advanced skills to full use.
"The retrieval service in New Zealand is where you do the critical care. You see all the sickest patients, you see them more often and you see them for the longest period of time.
"This is where you get the best opportunity to do the work. Where we are, there's no big hospital, everyone has to be taken somewhere.
"And we cover such a huge area. In two days last week we went from Raglan to Whanganui and back up and all around."
Pilot Simon Miller is also new, joining after a career in New Zealand and overseas.
"I was doing agricultural work in the Coromandel for a small family business and then I was flying in Papua New Guinea, doing all sorts: from lifting stuff in jungles to offshore work, aid projects and gas and mineral exploration support."
He says one of the things he's enjoyed most since has been the opportunity to do night flying, something he hadn't done a lot of before and "you get to see parts of New Zealand you hadn't seen before from the air".
Crewman Jess Earnshaw, a former RNZAF paramedic with search and rescue experience, says the crewmen operate the winch and assist the pilot. All the crewmen are also paramedics or studying paramedicine, which allows them to assist the intensive care paramedic as needed.
Earnshaw's role gives her the opportunity to mix her aviation background with her paramedic skills.
"My goal was always to be an ICP (intensive care paramedic) on a rescue chopper but the opportunity came along to be a crewman because they were looking for people with a paramedic degree so I jumped at the chance."
David Wickham is secretary of the Philips Search and Rescue Trust, which fundraises and markets for the Greenlea rescue helicopter.
He is confident, and Every agrees, that the communities of the Central Plateau and Lakes district are getting as good as, if not a better service, than before by delivering expert medical help directly to people and then getting them to the right place.
"If you get a stroke victim to definitive care within four hours, the likelihood is that person will make a miraculous recovery. The recoveries are absolutely remarkable. I've heard stories of, when a patient gets that clot pulled out of his head he literally wants to get back in the helicopter and go home."
But that comes with a hefty price tag, Wickham adds. While there is government and sponsor support, the Philips Search and Rescue Trust still has to fundraise because the government contribution only covers around 75 per cent of the full cost. Wickham says while the Government should receive credit for providing funding for the increased demand, and naming sponsor Greenlea Premier Meats has been a steadfast supporter, the Greenlea base's operating budget for this year is $4.78 million which equates to a large chunk of community fundraising to cover the shortfall. The average per mission cost is $9500.
While Wickham is talking, the helicopter returns from a flight to Waikato Hospital. Earnshaw the crewman refuels it, Smith the paramedic restocks it and within 10 minutes they are off, this time to a road accident near Taihape. The Palmerston North helicopter which would normally attend, is at Wellington Hospital and the Greenlea helicopter is being sent because it is the closest, most appropriate response. From there, it will take the person to the right hospital - maybe Whanganui if they're not severely injured, otherwise Palmerston North or Wellington hospitals, maybe even Christchurch if it's a spinal injury.
Wickham watches the rescue helicopter fly off with obvious pride.
"It is about better patient outcomes, getting the intensive care paramedic to the patient so treatment can begin sooner. It is a team effort. These are all enormously skilled people committed to delivering these fabulous services to whoever needs them in the community."
The Greenlea rescue helicopter open day scheduled for Sunday, February 21, has been postponed until further notice.
"We're an emergency service and we need to protect our team and the public. It's a shame to postpone, but it's the best thing to do at this stage," said Philips Search & Rescue Trust marketing manager Sharni Weir.
Sharni says the Greenlea rescue helicopter services the Central Plateau and Lakes region 24/7, 365 days a year, and will continue to be there for the community throughout the busy summer months.
"The on-duty crews have been working around the clock recently, performing on average two missions a day.
"With the service steadily increasing, it is now more important than ever to give generously, helping to keep your community rescue helicopter operating and in the air."
To donate go to www.rescue.org.nz.
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