RESCUE CHOPPER FLIES 11 MERCY MISSIONS SINCE FRIDAY
January 23, 2023
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RESCUE CHOPPER FLIES 11 MERCY MISSIONS SINCE FRIDAY
RACQ CQ Rescue has flown 11 missions since Friday including the airlift of an injured motorbike rider and two flights to Bowen and two to Clermont on consecutive days for seriously ill patients.
The Mackay-based rescue helicopter has now completed 39 missions in the first 22 days of 2023.
RACQ CQ Rescue was tasked by Queensland Health to fly back-to-back missions to Clermont on Friday to transfer two patients to Mackay Base Hospital including a two-year-old child with a serious abdominal condition who was accompanied by their mother. A patient was also transported from Dysart to Mackay Base Hospital with a cardiac issue.
That same afternoon, a woman in her 60s was airlifted from Victor Island, about 48km south-east of Mackay, after being bedridden and alone for two days. The helicopter landed on the beach at sunset and the medical team walked to the island homestead to treat and administered pain relief to the woman. She was carried to the aircraft, flown to Mackay Airport and transferred to a waiting ambulance to be taken to Mackay Base Hospital.
Overnight Saturday, two patients were also airlifted from Bowen to Mackay Base Hospital.
About 10.30am on Saturday, RACQ CQ Rescue was tasked by Queensland Health to airlift a dirt bike rider seriously injured in a crash at Yalbaroo, about 70km north-east of Mackay.
The 47-year-old man attempted to cross a culvert flowing with water on a remote dirt road in the Cathu State Forest, but a concrete slab underneath had dislodged in recent flooding, causing the rider to be thrown violently from the bike.
An RACQ CQ Rescue crewman said the force of the impact would have been like “hitting a wall at speed”.
The unlucky rider suffered injuries including a seriously dislocated hip and had to be relocated out of the water while they waited for the helicopter to arrive. Incorrect coordinates delayed the landing of the chopper at the scene, but it finally touched down on the dirt road about 500 metres from the accident site. The rider was treated and transferred to Mackay Base Hospital in a stable condition.
A helicopter Rescue Crewman was able to assist the local paramedic at the accident scene who was suffering heat exhaustion while tending to the injured dirt bike rider. The crewman drove the ambulance and his colleague back to the station at Calen.
Three training flights for new Queensland Ambulance Service paramedics joining the aeromedical team were also conducted on Sunday around the Mackay region, as well as the airlift of a patient from Proserpine hospital to Mackay.
RACQ CQ Rescue completed 638 missions in 2022, making it the second busiest year on record for the Mackay rescue helicopter service.
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A 47-year-old dirt bike rider was injured in a crash in the Cathu State Forest on Saturday and was airlifted to Mackay Base Hospital.
Please credit any released photos and video footage to RACQ CQ Rescue.
Please note: Full title of rescue service is RACQ CQ Rescue.
For further information please contact:
Naomi Noy
RACQ CQ Rescue
Ph: 0417 578 182