Wellington Air Ambulances Have A Very Busy Day

Air Ambulances Have A Very Busy Day

Both the Wellington based Westpac Rescue Helicopter and the Life Flight NZ Air Ambulance Service had a very busy day yesterday.

In the last 24 hours Life Flight has transported 13 patients.

Life Flight NZ Air Ambulance Service Tonight he Life Flight NZ Air Ambulance transferred two seriously ill patients from Nelson Hospital and then another seriously ill patient from New Plymouth while the Westpac Rescue Helicopter transported two seriously ill patients from an accident just South of Peka Peka.

From Nelson: the fixed wing air ambulance was called to assist one patient who was suffering from a heart problem and another who was diagnosed as having an aneurism. The air ambulance, with two specially trained Intensive Care flight nurses and an Intensive Care doctor arrived at Nelson around 5:30pm and transported both patients back to Wellington by around 7:30pm. Both patients were expected to undergo surgery overnight.

Soon after dropping off the two patients the air ambulance headed off to New Plymouth, to pick up a patient suffering from a neurological problem. The plane departed for Taranaki at around 9:15pm and arrived back in Wellington at 12:50am - the patient has been taken to Wellington Hospital and is expected to undergo surgery in the morning.

Also yesterday the Wellington based Life Flight NZ Air Ambulance transported a total of six other patients around the country and the Auckland based Life Flight NZ Air Ambulance transported two others.

Wellington based Westpac Rescue Helicopter At around 1030 tonight the Wellington based Westpac Rescue Helicopter was called to the scene of a one car accident on State Highway 1, just south of Peka Peka. As we understand it the car, with five people in it, was travelling at very high speed when it went out of control, flipped over and hit a bank. The helicopter, with a Wellington Free Ambulance Paramedic onboard was called to the scene along with the Police, Fire Brigade, Wellington Free Ambulance and the Kapiti EMS team.

The Westpac Rescue Helicopter transported two female patients, one 14 years old and the other 18 years old. The two are sisters from Paraparaumu. Both are not believed to have been wearing seatbelts and were ejected from the car. Both are suffering from multiple injuries and are now in Wellington Hospital Emergency Department being assessed and treated.

Around 1:00pm yesterday the Westpac Rescue Helicopter responded to Port Gore in the Marlborough Sounds to help a 63 year old woman who had fallen and dislocated her hip. The woman was transported to Wairau Hospital in Blenheim and the woman was admitted for treatment.

"It was an unusually busy day for all of our teams especially since three of our flights involved carrying more than one seriously ill or injured person" says Life Flight Operations Manager Dave Greenberg. "It's really satisfying to our pilots and crews, the medical teams from Wellington Hospital and the paramedics from Wellington Free Ambulance when we are able to help just one person in a day - to make a real difference to 11 people in a single day is very special".

ENDS

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