First ever 24-hour HEMS outfit launched in outback
The first ever 24-hour helicopter medevac service was recently launched in the Cooper Basin, at the heart of the Australian outback.
The first ever 24-hour helicopter medevac service was recently launched in the Cooper Basin, at the heart of the Australian outback. The Cooper Medivac 24 night vision-equipped helicopter, it is hoped, will save valuable time when ‘delivering critically-ill patients to the Royal Flying Doctor Service at the nearest available airstrip’, according to a statement from Australian oil and gas companies Senex Energy and Drillsearch Energy. The companies have pooled their resources to fund Cooper Medivac 24, in order to ‘make it safer for all the people who live, work and travel in this remote region’.
Based in Moomba, the helicopter is operated by Heliwest, and has already begun serving local people suffering from medical emergencies, including a victim of a motorcycle accident who was airlifted to Birdsville within five hours (this would have involved an overnight trip in a ground ambulance).
“We have a duty of care to our people working in the field,” said Brad Lingo, managing director of Drillsearch, “as well as a broader role in the Cooper Basin community, so we think this is an important initiative to be involved with.”
You can view video footage of the new service below: