55 missions during January for rescue copter team
TECT Rescue Helicopter carried out 55 missions over the busy month of January, which included 30 interhospital transfers, 13 medical events, four rescues, three motor vehicle accidents and five missions to rural or remote locations. The helicopter was seen in the likes of Te Kaha, Whangamata, Tairua, Whakatane and Waih¯ı.
The rescue helicopter crew assisted multiple patients in the Coromandel last month.
Waih¯ı made up over a quarter of the rescue helicopter’s missions, not including interhospital transfers, with seven missions to the area over the month.
January even began with a mission to Orokawa Bay, Waih¯ı, where a woman had injured her ankle on the walking track. She was treated and transported after a team effort from ambulance and Surf Life Saving. The helicopter returned just a couple of days later for a woman in her 20s who had a serious fall and needed urgent care.
The patient had rapid sequence intubation (RSI) at the scene and airlifted to Waikato Hospital in serious condition.
On January 5, the TECT Rescue Helicopter came to help after a boat flipped on the Tairua bar. Several people on the boat sustained injuries.
The crew treated a man in his 60s, who had to be resuscitated twice. Once stabilised he was flown urgently to Waikato Hospital in a serious condition.
On January 23, the helicopter responded to a callout at a popular swimming hole on the lower Kaimais, for a teenager who had fallen on rocks, injuring her ankle.
In just 16 minutes, the helicopter was at the scene and the patient was winched from her location. She was flown to Tauranga Hospital.
A motor vehicle accident in Waimana on January 25 led to the TECT Rescue Helicopter onboard crew assisting an injured man in his 60s.
The patient was transported to Tauranga Hospital. The same day, the helicopter was called to a beacon activation in a native bush walk in Oropi, where a teenager had experienced a medical event whilst walking.
The onboard intensive care paramedic was winched down to the patient’s location and provided treatment.
They were both winched back up to the helicopter and the patient was flown to Tauranga Hospital for further treatment.
Your TECT Rescue Helicopter relies on generous donations to help fund these lifesaving missions. Give the gift of time this summer and donate to your rescue helicopter crew at www.rescue. org.nz.