Rescue Helicopter news
The Waikato Westpac Rescue Helicopter had a demanding workload during the Easter weekend holiday being tasked to 13 missions in total. The holiday began with medical emergency transports. Two inter-hospital transfers were undertaken on Good Friday. A 55-year-old female was transported from Rotorua Hospital to Waikato Hospital and a Waikato ICU team flew to Gisborne Hospital to transport a 15-year-old male in a time-critical flight. He had sustained a traumatic brain injury as the result of a motorbike crash. On Saturday, the rescue helicopter flew to Otapaurau, Coromandel to transport a 9-month-old infant, who was suffering a medical event, to Starship Hospital and a 6-year-old child was transported from Rotorua Hospital to Auckland Hospital.
Easter Sunday and Easter Monday saw the Waikato Westpac Rescue Helicopter attend several motor vehicle, motorbike and quad bike incidents. A 59-year-old male who sustained fractures in a motorbike crash, was flown from Tapapa to Waikato Hospital. On Easter Monday, a 43-year-old male sustained fractures in a campervan collision with a car on State Highway 1 at Wairakei. The driver of the campervan was flown to Waikato Hospital by the Waikato Westpac Rescue Helicopter and an 11-year-old boy, a passenger in the car, was flown by the Greenlea Rescue Helicopter.
A 54-year-old male sustained fractures and a collapsed lung when he fell from his motocross bike on a farm in Glen Murray, and shortly afterwards on the same day, the rescue helicopter was tasked to assist a 14-year-old female who was involved in a quad bike rollover at Marokopa and had sustained abdominal injuries. An inter-hospital transfer from Taumarunui Hospital to Waikato Hospital finished the Easter holiday weekend’s workload on Monday evening.