News and events from CareFlight.

Issue 61 | Autumn 2013 CareFlight flying more ill children ational aeromedical charity CareFlight is flying ill babies Nand children across NSW after being selected by the NSW Government to provide helicopter services to the Newborn and Paediatric Emergency Transport Service (NETS). Since New Year’s Eve, CareFlight has provided two helicopters to fly NETS medical teams to specialist in Newcastle and to bring intensive care treatment to sick babies and children. CareFlight is used for those missions which are time-critical and within a band from the outskirts of Sydney to approximately 500km away. The first mission for CareFlight was The NETS doctor and nurse place the newborn baby onboard CareFlight at Orange Base in the new to fly a NETS team to Orange to treat operation’s first mission. and stabilise a sick newborn infant. After stabilisation, the infant was transported 54-month contract has two pilots on board Colenbrander said. “In just the first two to the neonatal intensive care unit of a as well as a specialised doctor and nurse weeks from start-up we flew 15 missions Sydney hospital in a $300,000 mobile life team provided by NETS. The service is on and helped to save the lives of critically ill support system carried in the helicopter. call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. babies and children. Many, many more In a busy start to 2013 the new “CareFlight’s new service is fragile young lives will benefit this year operation flew babies and children from already making a huge difference,” Mr alone.” the Central West, , South and North Coast to specialist hospitals. At the same time CareFlight’s own rapid- response trauma service flew to injured Trauma training extends across Australia children on the Central Coast and across Over this year CareFlight will roll out educators will travel more than 40,000 Greater Sydney. our unique MediSim trauma training km of often dusty and sometimes CareFlight Chief Executive Officer program with 36 workshops around remote roads in this remarkable outreach Derek Colenbrander said CareFlight has Australia. program to deliver the courses at no cost a long history of providing aeromedical An estimated 500 emergency to participants. services for children. services personnel will be trained in In mid-April the MediSim, at the “The first two flights made by their local community at courses held request of park rangers, will be held for the CareFlight in July 1986 were to children in Tasmania, , Western first time in the NT’s popular Uluru and injured in a car crash near Lithgow who Australia, , Kata Tjuta locations west of Alice Springs. were transported to hospital in Sydney,” and the . The training then will move north he said. CareFlight MediSim is a mobile to workshops scheduled at Borroloola, “That tradition continues today with medical simulation training program Katherine, Jabiru, Darwin, Dundee CareFlight flying to a large number of which is delivered to emergency service Beach, Gapuwiyak, Maningrida and at child trauma cases in Greater Sydney. officers in rural and remote communities two cattle stations. “Additionally CareFlight medi-jets are where they operate. The program From mid-May the MediSim program used to transport ill and injured children provides high quality trauma training will be held for the first time in Western across Australia, while we transport delivered by experts with many years of Australia’s vast north-west, at Kununurra, children through the Northern Territory experience in this demanding work. Fitzroy Crossing, Derby and Broome. Medical Retrieval Service which CareFlight Thanks to generous support from Then in June training will be delivered to operates for the NT Government.” companies, clubs, trusts and caring The operating helicopter under the individuals, the CareFlight trauma Continued on page 2...

FOLLOW US ON CareFlight major 1 partners CareFlight MyCareFlight Community

Festivals, shows, fetes and events

irtually every weekend during Sussex Inlet Choppers weekend 2013 will have an event Three days of fun-filled family Vsomewhere across Australia community activities are lined up for involving CareFlight in a community – what is the best weekend you could hope helping to raise funds for our charity. for on the South Coast in late February. Over the past few months CareFlight It’s a whole-of-town involvement had a great involvement in events to raise funds for CareFlight, boosted including the Granville Family Festival, by sponsorship from Bendigo Bank and ’s 23rd Annual Police & Sussex Inlet RSL Club. Citizens Golf and Bowls Day, the Sydney Barefoot bowls with a sausage sizzle V8 Supercars, AvLaw Golf Cup, the NSW opens the event on Friday 22 February Sports Aircraft Club Open Day, Mercedes from 1.30 pm at the Sussex Inlet Club, Benz Concours d’Elegance, Cops and followed by a nine-hole golf challenge Rodders at Engadine, Hills Grammar the next day. For golfers and occasional School Fete, Land Rover Clubs Expo, players, this is a three-person Ambrose Blackmores Sydney Running Festival, event at the Golf Club starting at 9 am. Crestwood Fair, Festival of the Winds, A trivia night is in store at the RSL Club Bstreetsmart, Markets, on the Saturday night from 7 pm, with cash Gove Peninsula Festival and regional prizes totalling a minimum of $650. shows held at , Picton, Seymour, The big event takes over The Inlet Griffith, Temora, , Young, on Sunday 24 February. Variety stalls Top: Wisemans Ferry bowls action. Middle: Stands at Forbes, Parkes and West Wyalong. open from 9 am before the annual street the Festival of the Winds. Bottom: CareFlight Venture parade from 11 am. The parade features action. motor bikes, cars, emergency services including the town’s Rural Fire Service One-day 4WD wonder heroes, bands and floats. CareFlight is pleased to announce the For details call Graham Quinton One Day Wonder Tour Venture which on 0439 687 804. community engagement co-ordinator John Ebbott says is a great way to March bike ride for Todd experience what has made CareFlight To mark the tragic death of Harley Ventures so popular. Davidson’s national service manager “Many have said they’d love to Todd Peisley last year, his widow Nicole participate in a CareFlight Venture, but Peisley and CareFlight are holding a haven’t been able to take the day off charity motorbike ride from Homebush work to attend one of our three-day to Wisemans Ferry on Sunday 3 March. events,” John said. “Now we have the Todd died in Bali only three days after solution for you, the One Day Wonder Participants at a CareFlight MediSim training course. getting married. CareFlight International Tour Venture.” Air Ambulance flew to the island but The cost has been set at just $100 per MediSim goes unfortunately it was too late. car, and we will be having some special All proceeds of the event will go to activities. national CareFlight so we can keep saving more lives. Put Saturday 6 April in your calendar Continued from page 1... Please note club colours are not to be worn. now. More details and entries on our To find how to take part in this fantastic website. communities in the south-west of WA event, go to http://careflight.org/get_ at Bunbury, Albury, Norseman and the involved/events/ and follow the prompts. Woodford Classic in June goldfields town of Kalgoorlie. Now’s the time to mark this favourite in CareFlight MediSim co-ordinator CareFlight online shop your diary. Colin Brown said that by the end of CareFlight now has an online shop! This This year’s Woodford to Glenbrook 2013, CareFlight will have delivered is your opportunity to support a charity will be held on Sunday 30 June. Entrants almost 80 MediSim courses to over that saves lives, by purchasing CareFlight will run or ride 25 km of the Oaks 1,000 personnel in two and a half years. merchandise. Everything from our famous Fire Trail through the beautiful Blue “We run these workshops for bears to aircraft models, caps, mugs, Mountains National Park from the one very good reason – to continue umbrellas and more. To check it out go to town of Woodford down to the Euroka CareFlight’s 27 year objective to save http://careflightshop.com/main_menu/. Clearing near Glenbrook. lives in your community,” Mr Brown Around 1,000 participants are expected said. along with their families and supporters, in “Emergency service volunteers may For full details of upcoming this great day out for the whole family with be the first to arrive at a trauma scene events, check our website food stalls at the finishing line. 2 and their skill can make a difference.” at www.careflight.org Check our website for entry details. Missions

Trauma skills save biker against all odds

nly the swift and expert intervention of the team on ODarwin’s helicopter saved a young man in a remote field between property outstations 100 km south of Biker’s critical injuries The CareFlight doctor said the Darwin in October. A motor bike rider was critically injured 30-year-old man, from Hurstville, was The 19-year-old man rode his in a crash with a car at Engadine (photo dragged several metres down the road by motorbike at speed through a barb above) in November. the bus before becoming trapped in the wire fence near Batchelor, on the edge A CareFlight rapid-response critical wheel arch. of Litchfield National Park. care team landed to join ambulance The force tore the man’s neck paramedics, police, fire-rescue plus a Young boy hit by car open from ear to ear and he was near passing nurse and doctor treating the A young boy was seriously injured death when the team landed after a P1 patient. when he was struck by a car while (highest priority) response. The CareFlight doctor said the crash walking across the old Two CareFlight doctors, specialist left the man, believed to be aged about at in the NSW Southern Matt Hope and registrar John Roe, 30, unconscious at the scene. Highlands in November. supported by flight nurse Lee Whitley He placed the man in an induced A CareFlight trauma team landed on immediately started resuscitation in coma, and on a ventilator to control an adjacent sports field (photo below) to their race to save the man’s life. his breathing, as a pre-hospital start of support ambulance paramedics treating The battle for survival pitted intensive care treatment. the five-year-old boy. medical skill against a neck that had Because of the mechanism of injury been ripped open, with massive blood Flight to Jabiru crash the CareFlight doctor flew the five-year- loss and with no airway to allow him to A critically injured man was flown from old boy to the Children’s Hospital at breathe normally. Jabiru to hospital in Darwin following a Westmead, accompanied on the flight by Knowing patients rarely survive fatal car crash in December. the boy’s mother. from such terrible injuries, the medical A CareFlight doctor and nurse flew to team had to insert an artificial airway Jabiru, 220 km east of Darwin, to team Croc bites boy on leg then place the man on a ventilator to with health clinic staff treating the man. A teenage boy bitten on the leg by a control his breathing before they could When the CareFlight aircraft landed crocodile was flown from Arnhem Land work out the safest way of moving him in Darwin the man was taken under to Darwin for treatment in December. from the paddock. continuing treatment by the CareFlight A CareFlight aircraft on a flight from The situational awareness and medical team, in a St John ambulance, to Groote Elyandt was diverted to fly the organisational skills of air crewman Royal Darwin Hospital. boy from remote Ramingining, 440 km Ben Inglis and pilot Troy Alder while east of Darwin. on the ground were critical during this Man trapped under bus The 16-year-old boy suffered leg mission. On the return flight they were A CareFlight trauma team flew to the wounds when bitten on the leg by the able to thread a course around areas Sydney CBD to team with emergency one metre long crocodile while hunting of turbulence back to Royal Darwin services treating a man hit and dragged at a billabong. The boy kicked the Hospital. under a bus in the city in December. crocodile as his father rushed to help The man had extensive emergency Emergency services were called to the bring him to safety. surgery after which one of the surgeons corner of George and Bridge Streets after He was treated at the local health clinic sent his praise to Dr Hope and the receiving reports that a pedestrian had which called for him to be flown to Royal team. been struck by a bus. Darwin Hospital for further treatment. “I want to pass on my thanks to you all, but also to commend you on the great treatment you provided the patient,” an RDH surgeon said. “I couldn’t believe how well you had all done in the situation.” Another specialist doctor at the hospital also sent a message back to the team: “What a lucky man. Hope he gets to thank you one day! Cheers.” A month later the patient had his trachea repaired and was walking around the hospital. 3 Missions – NorthernInternational Territory

Malaysia honours pioneering CareFlight doctors

he first medical helicopter service in Malaysia has started, thanks Tto support and training from CareFlight experts. It is operating to reach native people (Orang Asli) living in remote areas with limited access to health care, from a base in Ipoh. Already the Vice President of the Society of Aeromedicine in Malaysia, Dr Gunalan “Guna” Arumungam, is working to have this extended to

respond to road and freeway trauma CareFlight doctors Steve Walker (left, at the conference opening ceremony) and Ken Harrison (receiving his patients. About 7,000 people die on honorary membership). Malaysian roads every year, many because ambulances are delayed in reaching number of UN medical staff. Walker, the Society of Aeromedicine serious crashes. Australian Foreign Minister, Senator Malaysia has extended special recognition. In acknowledging this modest start, Bob Carr, said the project was funded by “We have also decided to do Dr Arumungam thanked CareFlight for a grant through the Australia-Malaysia something special for Steve and Ken who our vital support. Institute of the Department of Foreign have been instrumental in teaching us The helped Affairs and Trade. from the first course,” he said, “so we meet the cost for CareFlight to provide “I just wanted to reach out to express honoured them both with an honorary helicopter emergency medical services my appreciation for the support that membership of the Malaysian Society as a training to Malaysian medical and CareFlight has given me and my team in token of our appreciation. military personnel in November. Malaysia,” Dr Arumungam said. “On a personal note, I would like to Our expert team comprised Drs Steve “We had close to 170 participants record my appreciation to Steve who has Walker (team leader), Ken Harrison and taking part in the course this time. I spent countless nights with me tweaking Claire Barker and pilot Wayne Vardanega. thank CareFlight for making available the the course content and making all the They helped train 150 participants over medical team that did a great job.” necessary arrangements for the CareFlight five days, including doctors from all In recognition of the efforts of two team and to Ken for making sure that Malaysian states, the Malaysian military, a CareFlight specialist trauma doctors the course was delivered in a manner that group of physicians from Singapore and a in particular, Ken Harrison and Steve impressed the participants.”

Every cent helps to keep CareFlight in the air

Title, First Name, Surname Here is my single gift of: $25 $35 $55 Other $ Street Address Yes, I would like to become a CareFlight Support Crew Member by giving: $20 a month $30 a month $50 a month Other $ Suburb By: State Postcode Option 1: Cheque (Made payable to CareFlight) Option 2: Direct debit (Monthly donations only. An authorisation form will be sent to you) Option 3: Credit card: Mastercard Visa Amex Diners Email Credit card number: Home Phone Mobile Phone

Name on card: Work Phone

Signature: Expiry date: I would like more information on including a Bequest to CareFlight in my Will

Please remove me from your mailing list Donations of $2 or more are tax deductible 13APF Occasionally CareFlight allows other like-minded organisations to contact you with information. If you prefer Please return coupon with donation to:  not to receive such communications please tick here. CareFlight GPO Box 9829 In Your Captial City 4 Privacy Information: CareFlight recognises the importance of your privacy and safeguarding your personal information. All precautions are taken to protect your details and we use them to contact you about fundraising, our work, events, merchandise and other issues we feel may be important www.careflight.org to you. To change the type and frequency of information you receive call 1800 655 876. ABN: 18 210 132 023 Toll free: 1800 655 876 Fax: 1300 788 786