Have you ever wondered what a day in the life of the CareFlight helicopter crew might be like?
CareFlight will open the doors of its Westmead operations base to the public this Saturday, when visitors can go on a simulation-based walkthrough seeing what it’s like to receive the initial emergency call, arrive at a scene, treat and airlift a patient to hospital.
For anyone who has suffered a trauma injury within a 100-kilometre radius of CareFlight’s base on the grounds of The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, chances are you have met some of the crew already.
CareFlight, which began as a trial in 2005, transports more than 5000 patients every year, costing the service somewhere in the vincinity of $10,000 to $15,000 per job if you include crew wages, petrol etctera. They have six pilots and three Sydney helicopters.
‘‘It’s overwhelmingly trauma, car and motorbike accidents, [falls from] horses that we attend,’’ the charity service’s general manager, Mark Lever, said.
For example, CareFlight responded to an accident involving two women, 84 and 79, who had crashed their car into a house at Carlingford on October 6, causing the house to partially collapse onto the car.
‘‘The helicopters can probably handle four jobs a day, but if they did that every day we’d probably need more resources,’’ Mr Lever said.
‘‘We’ve been out 12 times in the last four days [as of October 13].
‘‘Engine time is the biggest cost because that’s maintenance.’’
As a general rule of thumb, CareFlight attends incidents north of the Great Western Highway, NSW Ambulance deals with incidents south of the highway.
‘‘We probably go to the Hawkesbury region more than any other,’’ Mr Lever said.
‘‘So what happens is the phone [Ambulance NSW] rings, it’s answered by our paramedic, after the call air traffic is called and police, to see if they can secure a landing area.
‘‘We’re normally in the air in three or four minutes.’’
CareFlight continues to liaise with the local fire brigades and SES enroute and work out where the nearest trauma centre is, which is where they will fly the patient.
CareFlight’s national footprint includes Australia’s only dedicated rapid response trauma helicopter.
Hosted by the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network and operating 24 hours, the Newborn and Paediatric Emergency Transport Service (NETS) provides expert clinical advice, clinical co-ordination, emergency treatment, stabilisation and inter-hospital transport for very sick babies and children aged up to 16 years across NSW and the Northern Territory.
‘‘We provide the contract for the service,’’ Mr Lever said.
Since January 2013, when the contract began, NETS has been tasked to 835 missions transporting 796 patients, mostly through NSW Ambulance funding.
This September has been its busiest month ever, with the service flying 34 missions, transporting 30 children including twins.
CareFlight, which relies almost entirely on fundraisers, also runs an extensive national education and training program.
The free open day will also feature face painting, a sausage sizzle, Doc the CareFlight Bear, tours, and a lucky door prize.
■ Saturday, October 31, 10am-3pm, Redbank Road, Westmead. Includes one-hour tours at 10am, 11am, noon, 1pm, 2pm and 3pm. RSVPs essential: events@careflight.org.
■ CareFlight’s BK117 rapid response helicopter;
■ MediSim Lab trauma care training centre;
■ Car crash rescue simulator and AmboSim;
■ Inverted CarSim car crash rollover simulator;
■ HeliSim training simulator;
■ Demo and Q&A session with a CareFlight doctor;
■ Interactive session with the Trauma Care team.
