LifeFlight Australia has come to the aid of more than 81,000 people since the aeromedical service launched 44 years ago.
The 2022-23 financial year was another record-breaking 12 months for LifeFlight Australia, with the service’s rescue helicopters, air ambulance jets, critical care doctors, flight nurses and paramedics helping 7,349 people in need.
LifeFlight traces its proud history in Queensland back to 1979 on the Sunshine Coast, when the rescue chopper took off on its first mission from a base at tourist attraction, the Big Cow on the Bruce Highway.
Since then, the fleet has expanded to multiple helicopter, fixed-wing and medical bases around the state.
Crews on board the RACQ LifeFlight Rescue and LifeFlight Surat Gas Aeromedical Service (SGAS) helicopter fleet helped 2,299 people and were called into action to assist Queenslanders in emergencies ranging from search-and-rescue operations in the outback, winch rescues offshore or in rugged terrain, to medical emergencies in remote locations.
The Brisbane aeromedical team was part of the multi-agency response to the tragic Sea World helicopter crash on the Gold Coast in January, first landing at the crash site then airlifting a primary school-aged child to hospital.
The most common reason for rotary crews to be tasked directly to an emergency scene, was to attend serious motor vehicle incidents, involving two or four-wheeled vehicles, both off and on-road.
Motorist and road safety advocacy organization RACQ has seen the number of fatalities and vehicle incidents increase, throughout its 30 years as naming right’s sponsor of LifeFlight’s community helicopter fleet.
“It’s simple. When you’re behind the wheel, make a commitment to get back to basics. Take road safety seriously and do everything you can to get to your destination safely,” said RACQ spokesperson Lauren Cooney.
Queensland total (top five mission categories in 2022/23 financial year) for RACQ LifeFlight Rescue helicopter and LifeFlight SGAS helicopter fleet were:
1. Cardiac/chest pain (311 missions)
2. Motor vehicle incidents (277 missions)
3. Medical other/illness (251 missions)
4. Respiratory (not COVID-19) (128 missions)
5. Neurological (115 missions)
LifeFlight’s helicopters spent a total of 4,110 hours in the air.
On every mission, patients receive the highest level of medical care from the moment a LifeFlight rescue chopper lands at a location, as well as in-flight, thanks to the service’s critical care doctors, flight nurses and flight paramedics.
“They are able to go to the roadside scenes to stabilize patients and provide definitive care, like they would in a tertiary hospital or tertiary intensive care unit. Essentially, our doctors, nurses and paramedics carry pretty much a mobile intensive care unit where they can do lots of procedures — whether that’s on the side of the road or within a small hospital, to stabilize patients and bring them to that higher level of care,” said Dr Jeff Hooper, LifeFlight director of clinical services and governance.
While there have been numerous dramatic rescue missions, much of LifeFlight’s aeromedical work involves inter-facility transfers (IFT) — moving patients between medical facilities — which ensure all communities have equal access to the best possible healthcare, no matter where they are in the state.
“I think that the work we do for IFTs is really important to the people of Queensland — the majority of Queensland is a rural environment and people are a long way from really high levels of care,” said Hooper.
“Our feeling is that every Queenslander deserves that opportunity to be rapidly transferred to a world class standard of care.”
This press release was prepared and distributed by LifeFlight Australia.
