CareFlight Donation Presentation
27 January 2016 / Words by Glenn Thomas, Photos by Bryan Shedden
On 11 December, Bryan Shedden and Glenn Thomas had the great pleasure of representing you while passing on the donations raised, by our Club members, to the Club's nominated charity – CareFlight. CareFlight is an Australian aeromedical charity, established in 1986, that provides the highest standard of rapid response critical care to critically ill and injured people who cannot wait to get to a hospital.
CareFlight doctors and nurses are specially trained in pre-hospital and transport medicine. They care for severely injured patients who need emergency treatment at the scene of the incident. John Legge, who is a CareFlight Air Crewman, explained how the four person crew – Pilot, Air Crewman, Doctor and a Paramedic – worked a 12 hour shift that was aligned to the period of peak demand to maximise support to the community. During this time the crew will typically launch in less than two minutes after receiving 000 call - often finalising necessary details after takeoff. Currently, CareFlight aeromedical teams care for over 5,000 patients a year - a very sobering observation.
Sadly, these missions are targeted at helping high end trauma victims of car or motorbike crashes (typically a 50:50 split). The typical range for the CareFlight missions extends from Sydney to the Central Coast; south through to Bowral and west to Lithgow. It was interesting to note that our $2715 donation represents about a quarter of an average mission ($10-$11k per mission). Fortunately, we have never had to use CareFlight for an MX-5 Club run but it’s nice to know that such magnificent help is there for the whole community.
John Ebbott, the CareFlight Community Engagement officer, also noted that the funds could also be used to support CareFlight's mobile simulation program that teaches rural and remote emergency services volunteers how to better treat trauma patients at accident scenes. What they do in the first few minutes before medical help arrives can have a major impact on the patient's outcome. This training utilises simulators that have cars mounted on a portable trailers that can be inverted to any angle. Aim is for paramedics and doctors to practice extraction and treatment in realistic situations of difficult access.
CareFlight is also about innovation. Flying critical care doctors to the seriously ill and injured; introducing night vision goggle technology for safer night flying; conducting a clinical trial to investigate the benefits of early physician intervention for patients with head injuries; these are all Australian 'firsts'.
Everything CareFlight has achieved has been with the support of the community they serve and you can be proud of your contribution to this outcome. That loyal and generous support at our various fundraising activities has made it possible for CareFlight to conduct life saving missions, train and prepare crew through intensive training and clever and inventive simulation. CareFlight was very appreciative of our support and the contribution it will make to the community - look out for CareFlight display at the next President's Picnic.
