Page 5 - Volume 12 Number 6

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by Kim Blonigen
Conservation worker, and critically injuring four more. NZFDS transferred medical teams from Christchurch to Grey Base Hospital in Greymouth, located near the scene of the accident, and the only facility on the West Coast that offered the specialized services needed in this situation. Once the immediate needs of the survivors were attended to, NZFDS transferred the patients to Christchurch for further treatment and provided ongoing critical care inflight.
The disaster reinforced the need for a flying doctor service that could travel to the most remote regions in New Zealand and administer time-critical care enroute to a more specialized treatment facility. John Currie, who was already operating Garden City Helicopters in an emergency rescue capacity, had the foresight to start the Flying Doctor Service. “Although we were operating the rescue helicopter in the South Island at the time \[of the Cave Creek Disaster\], it was evident that there were times when you needed more than a rescue team and a helicopter,” he said.
He saw that those who were very sick and required a specialist’s care needed to be transferred to a hospital that could provide advanced medical treatment. Sometimes the distances were substantial, and at other times the need for a pressurized airplane was required to fly over the Southern Alps. The pressurized aircraft was also needed to keep the patient at sea level cabin pressure, which is critical for very sick patients. “Most of all, \[the patients\] need to have intensive care right through the journey from one hospital bed to another until specialized treatment is available at the destination,” Currie explained.
When NZFDS began, it was staffed by paramedics, but soon after a specialist and nurses were employed so patients would receive the same level of care throughout their transport. Today, the medical flight service operates
JUNE 2018
KING AIR MAGAZINE • 3
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