Westpac Rescue Helicopter crews sent to five New England North West emergencies in a day

It is unusual, but nothing the life-saving team can’t handle, Westpac Rescue Helicopter community liaison officer Barry Walton said.

“When you look at it, we never know where we’re going until the phone rings,” he said.

“I think the number of call-outs is slowly increasing all the time.”

A horse accident in Glen Innes saw an 11-year-old girl who was trampled flown to Lismore Hospital on Tuesday.

Not all jobs are critical, crews are sent out by the Ambulance NSW control centre in Sydney and can be returned just as quickly when patients are well enough to be taken by road.

It frees up the life-saving service for the next job Mr Walton said.

“If the car arrives on scene they can call us off, but now we have a doctor and clinical team it means we can give the patient the once-over before they are transferred to hospital,” he said.

That was the case at Tuesday’s infant airway obstruction rescue in Hanging Rock and a dirt bike accident in Inverell.

Crews were also tasked to two medical retrievals, with a two-year-old girl suffering a medical condition taken from Armidale to John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle.”

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A 40-year-old woman was taken to Newcastle at around 6pm on Tuesday night.

In the last year, the Westpac Rescue Helicopter was tasked to 334 missions in the region.

“At the end of the day it’s the community’s service because their donations go a long way to saving lives,” Mr Walton said.

“The community’s support is outstanding.”

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