LifeFlight base opens
Critical upgrade to service to benefit Maranoa residents
The newly constructed Roma LifeFlight facility has been officially opened, with the Maranoa community to benefit from the critical multimillion-dollar service.
Thanks to a multilateral partnership between the federal government, Maranoa Regional Council and local donors, the new chopper base was delivered at a cost of $3.4m.
Impressively, $2.3m of that price tag was raised through community contributions from local businesses, individual donors, philanthropic and community support and one anonymous donor contributed more than $700,000 towards the project.
LifeFlight South West Regional Advisory Committee chair Kate Scott said the new hangar had “future-proofed the service for our community”.
“The new helicopter had outgrown the previous hangar, and here we are nearly three years later having raised $3m,” she said. “Prior to this we only had the Queensland Ambulance Service, but for me living 50km out of town and on rough country, if we have an accident in the middle of a paddock it’s nearly impossible for an ambulance to get to us.
“So to have a helicopter here, it’s absolutely critical. It’s not just for residents, it’s for tourists, fly in fly out workers, for anyone.”
LifeFlight SGAS pilot Simon Newman, who has been flying for 10 years, said the new facility would help crew members work even more efficiently, with more appropriate space to conduct on-site training, administration, engineering and maintenance activities.
“It’s probably the biggest day of the history of the helicopter out here, it’s exciting,” he said.
“It’s a significant upgrade to our service out here, it’s going to have a direct impact on how quickly we can get to patients and how quickly we can get out the door and in the sky.
“The new facility is tailormade to allow us to do that.”
Mr Newman said LifeFlight choppers responded to farming accidents and road accidents and even helped out with hospital transfers to support the Royal Flying Doctors.
“This aircraft (139) has got the range to fly straight to Brisbane, so for someone who has been hurt on the side of the road or in a paddock, we can get them directly to Brisbane directly to a helipad on top of the hospital in one move,” he said.
He also said the new facility included upgrades for staff areas, which helped draw more workers.
“It makes us more attractive as a company for people to want to come and work here,” Mr Newman said.
“We’re attracting top-level pilots, top-level medical crew to come and work.”
The naming rights sponsor of the new base was also revealed, with the facility to be known as the Lee family and Australian Country Choice LifeFlight Centre.
Additionally, the local ambulance service will have straight-through access to the hangar and apron for patient and medical equipment transfer.
In 2022 alone, the Roma LifeFlight SGAS helicopter crew helped 78 people, with the top five mission categories including motor vehicle incidents (17 missions), animal falls (seven missions) and cardiac/ chest pain incidents (seven missions).
In coming months, the new base will have a visitor centre incorporated, which will offer an immersive experience that connects them with the LifeFlight and SGAS story and build awareness of the importance of LifeFlight’s aeromedical rescue services to the region.